[Al Bergstein]

The notion of being able to open multiple versions of VV (I noticed I was able to do that, and wondered what advantage that gave me over just opening it once), is really important. If Sony rewrote the code for 64bit correctly, this should make background rendering quite a bit more useful if you have a ton of RAM in your machine (looks like I’ll order more now!). RAM is cheap enough on desktops to make that worthwhile. (Just ground yourself before inserting the RAM!). The fact that you can batch stuff is great news.

And yes, I’ve been in the computer business long enough to know that, especially on Windows, that if you have a machine primarily working on one task, set it and don’t change it! Computers are cheap enough in the Windows world that creating a single purpose machine or something close to it, and not upgrading every time MS or someone wants you to, is worthwhile. That’s one of the beauties of the Mac, in that the underlying OS handles multiple addons with much better plug and play. Protools was my learning experience there, on both platforms. I would never try using it on Windows again. Just too much hassle.

So I’ll continue to push forward with this dedicated box to VV, push in more RAM and get these plug ins. Thanks to everyone that posted on this, and others feel free to add to this thread. Maybe we could push it over to “basics” forum (where I thought I published it originally), so that new folks considering entering this area could better understand the real choices.

Alf

[Al Bergstein]

Just remember that upgrading to 64bit if you are running an older machine is about more than buying the software. Your best bet is to buy a newer machine, with a lot of RAM. I have an older laptop that came with 2GB RAM and windows Vista 64, it’s always been a dog, and I ‘upgraded’ it to Windows 7 32 bit and it runs like a champ! However, for running Vegas I bought a cheap ($600) HP Pavilion w/ Windows 7 64 bit and 6 GBs RAM, and it runs really well. 64 Bit Windows will probably need 3GB of RAM just to be similar in performance to 32 bit on the same box. So more RAM should be an advantage with 64.

I don’t yet use tons of plug ins, but you are right Kris, about perceived performance. If the plug ins aren’t written in 64 bit, Windows will be using an emulation mode to execute the code, and that can slow the code down, so it might seem that your 32 bit system is running faster. It will all depend on how well Sony rewrites into 64 bit and whether they are taking advantage of the ability to address the extended memory. And if you are starving the OS by not having enough RAM, it will start using the disk more, which radically slows stuff down as opposed to running it in memory.

I’ll try and post some comparisons of various processes, like rendering and see how it’s addressing the multiple cores on my machine in 64 bit.

Alf

[Al Bergstein]

I think of lowlight situations as encompassing both high contrast (shooting music with spotlights) and low contrast (shooting in very dark situations). The camera would obviously have different results.

When I was considering the HMC150 (which I bought recently), I found a variety of reviews out on the net, more than one with actual footage of the camera under very low light conditions. Stationary shots seemed to be fine. You might want to poke around.

Comparisons directly against other cameras are harder to find, given the vast array of other cameras, and as said before, your personal definition of what you need in a camera. I, for one, have found the 150 to be a spectacular camera for me needs, and have yet to find the boundary of what I can or can’t do with it. You might want to create your own tests and compare. Others here might find those tests really valuable. For me, with limited exposure to the wide range of cameras out there, I’d be thrilled to see some real one to one comparisons. Might need another camera someday, to add to the toolbox.

Alf

[Al Bergstein]

Thanks. These thoughts by you and Kris certainly make me feel better about not spending the extra money at this point. I’ve been working through basic video training on it all day, and my initial explorations seem pretty good. I think i need to get seriously stopped by some limitation that I know that FCP does not have before I’d put out the extra money. At least for now. But the seamless way that my SD card files were brought in, edited and rendered back out was pretty convincing. Now to try something harder.

Is there any specific add ons that you two think are, or might be, ‘required’? Ease of use tools, special keyboard, external box (beyond my 500 GB external USB drive)?

Alf

[Al Bergstein]

Thanks for the great write up. In reading a lot of the reviews for the latest VV 9.0c, it seems that a few downsides show up:

• Batch rendering is available in FCP (do I really need this now? Is there a way to do this via command line in Windows for VV?)
• Accessories – Are there as many accessories for simplifying the editing as on FP, like I see the ads for Euphonix…etc.
• Background rendering – I assume I know what this is, but is the workaround on this to setup on maybe another Windows box? I have a newer Dell laptop,and could concieveably use that to help render if this is distributing the load. Does that realistically lower your rendering time signficantly enough to make it worth doing?

“alf”

[Al Bergstein]

I agree, that you should be running quad core, and that should mean upgrading to the 64 bit version of the software. Unfortunately, XP is not a great way to go here, as it really was an early implementation of 64 bit by MS and needed much rework. I would consider moving to 64 Bit Vista, or better yet Win7, which I’m running. Not sure how compatable all the plug ins, etc are with Win7 yet, as I’m not a heavy user of the product.So check it out before moving. You will need to erase your hard disk to install Windows 7 over XP, and to avoid that if you must (I recommend erasing first), then I would pay to upgrade first to Vista 64 then to Win7.

Anyway, I’m very pleased with Win7 over Vista 64, it literally gave me a new laptop by installing it, as Vista 64, depending on processor, could be very slow. My desktop is a new Win7, 64 bit, quad core, 6GB RAM, HP machine. A very fast machine. And cheap. $600. But I’m probably going to need a much faster graphics card, which I’ve resisted just yet. I’ll let you know if I find one that works well with VegasP.

[Al Bergstein]

I had the exact same question, thanks for the post. However, one last question on this. If I’m recording a hand held device, audio only (maybe I do a digital recording in the field of a narrator saying something about an issue), will I need the AES??? I don’t think so, but…I usually just import that digital file in separately.

I just don’t know exactly what devices I might be using that might need to do AES/EBU. If I bring in something off a mixer at a musical event, and want to run the audio off the mixer directly in while I’m also recording live with the camera? that might be a real situation…as I can be shooting musicians on a small stage live. I would think that I’d need timesync for that though… Sorry to be so dumb on this, but changing over to this kind of input method is a bit confusing..

I’m currently using Lav’s via xlr into the camera, so it seems like I won’t need the more expensive box…but live recordings of musicians playing on stage is a likely use I’ll be doing in the near future….