Vegas 8 Pro Disk only at B&H, $129?

[Mike Kujbida]

It is the full version but it’s Vegas Pro 8 only.
DVD Architect is not included and, since Sony now bundles them together, you can’t buy it separately.
If you really want it, what you can do is get it by buying the upgrade for $235.00.
Add that to the B&H price and you’re only saving $35.00.
You’d now have two copies of V8 Pro though.
Documentation is only available as a PDF on the Sony site.

[Kent Clark]

Mike, thanks for helping me out.

I’m still tempted, even without DVD Architect. I haven’t really found anything that I need that the standard DVD Architect won’t do but that isn’t the case for Movie Studio Platinum.

And having the doc only on pdf is no problem. I’m not sure what hard docs come with the standard Pro version but they can’t be any worse than what Sony has done in VMS8. My version 6 came with two nice spiral bound quick start books, one for Vegas, one for DVD Architect. A 380 page complete Vegas manual in pdf was on the installation disk as well as another complete pdf manual for Architect. Version 8 comes with two bifold stapled quick start pamphlets. They are so small the screen capture illustrations are almost unreadable and they won’t stay open by themselves so you can consult as you use the program.

Plus these pamphlets have left out many topics that the version 6 books included. And there is now no complete manual available in pdf, either on the installation disk or by download. All you have besides the quick start pamphlet are the help screens. I personally like to have a document in front of me while I learn a program but with VMS8 it’s not possible.

Maybe you can answer this question. That 16,000+ feet of 8mm film translates into about 21 hours of video on MiniDV tape. I want to create an Excel file that shows the contents of each tape with time code positions for each new segment on the tape.

In VMS I would have to create this document manually. If I create named markers in my files can I use the Edit Decision List function in Pro to make an EDL with those named markers and their time code? Can I copy that EDL into Excel? That alone would justify the $130 for Pro.

Thanks again for you help.

[Mike Kujbida]

[Kent Clark] “Can I copy that EDL into Excel”

You sure can!!
(BTW, it works with Open Office too).
I had to wait until I got home and could fire up a big project on my home computer (the office machines don’t have any MS Office stuff on them).
The only drawback to doing it your way is that all you get is the timecode position and the marker name.
The following procedure is more work up front but potentially a timesaver down the road.
Log all 21 hrs. of material before you capture it (I know, it’s a LOT of work).
Then do batch captures giving each tape a number and each clip a name.
After capturing, bring all clips from tape 1 into Vegas, drop them on the timeline, open Edit Details and do a copy/paste into your spreadsheet.
You’ll get a LOT more info this way: Track #; Start; End; Length; Number of Takes; Active Take Name; Take Start; Timecode In; Timecode Out; File Path; Tape Name; Select; Mute; Loop; Lock; Normalize; Snap Offset.
For example, here’s the Edit Details info from a music video some students are working on (/ used to denote different fields).
41 / 00:02:38;29 / 00:05:13;05 / 00:02:34;04 / 1 Studio-2 – Clip 015 / 00:00:00;00 / 00:02:38;29 / 00:05:13;05 D:\CapturedFiles\MusicVideo\Studio-2-new\Studio-2 – Clip 015.avi / Studio-2

[Mike Kujbida]

I forgot to add that you can download the Vegas Pro 8 manual and look at a screenshot of the Edit Details window on p. 25.

[Sebastian Alvarez]

Also, what you can do is try to find a Vegas 6 or 7 original on eBay and then buy the Pro 8 upgrade from B&H at $150, and the upgrade does come with DVD Architect.

[Kent Clark]

Mike, thanks for taking the time explain that so thoroughly.

Sebastian, good idea. I’ll have to see what I can find.

[L. Kevin lane]

CompUSA carries the Vegas8 upgrade disk for $99 plus S&H. Complete upgrade Vegas8 and DVDa one disk, no manuals, on line at CompUSA.