Vegas vs Movie Studio

[JDługosz]

I see on their page a product feature comparison grid. Are the two tiers "the same" in terms of User Interface, workflow, etc. and I just pick the point that has the features I care about?

Or, is it like Adobe's products where the consumer end is really watered down and has a somewhat different UI?

[sanlyn]

Go with Vegas. Pinnacle sucks. Always has.

Adobe is watered down? Are you comparing Vegas/Adobe in their $100 dumbed-down average consumer editions, or the Pro editions? In the cheaper packages, both are watered down. In the Pro Editions, Vegas Pro is a "sort of" (but not cheap) version of a combo Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects Pro, but with just a subset of the features from both. For final encoding, there are better encoders than any of these apps, but they suffice for most users.

Your mileage might vary. Depends on how advanced you want to get. Pinnacle won't take you very far.

[JDługosz]

I don't know what you are referring to by Pinnacle.

By watered-down, I mean regular $$$$ Adobe vs $ Adobe "Elements" version. I'm wondering if the pro/consumer split implied by the different names (Vegas vs Movie Studio) means that there are UI/workflow differences that are more substantial than what their comparison matrix shows (e.g. number of tracks, effects included, etc.)

Based on the produce matrix, I chose the $130 (list price) version and started the demo. But I can't figure out how to use a different encoder with it, as I explained on another thread. I wonder if that's another feature difference, or a demo restriction, or what?

[sanlyn]

Oh, that "Movie Studio" (sometime people use that as a generic term for some Pinnacle stuff. Sorry). Vegas Movie Studio is no more watered down than Adobe Elements. Since more advanced apps aren't what you're after, stick with what you've chosen.

[budwzr]

Are the two tiers "the same" in terms of User Interface, workflow, etc. and I just pick the point that has the features I care about?

The Vegas software does have the same GUI, Workflow, nomenclature, etc.

The Pro version has more compositing tools, but the learning curve is steep.