[Bob Rice]

Justin, I use Vegas, FCP, and Premiere. My recommendation is a big waffle, because your preference should be based on your needs, not so much the opinion of people like me. 😎

In terms of speed (of use, rendering, application of effects, etc. Vegas wins hands down. Vegas will also accept a wide variety of input formats, something I have to contend with. Shallower learning curve and tight, easy integration with the rendering tools all speak to Vegas.

I find FCP to be next in terms of ease of use. Rendering is slower (by a lot). I also see a slight edge over the other two in terms of pleasing color rendition. Excellent toolset.

If you want a totally integrated package with various external tools (the entire CD production set), then Premiere is your tool. It’s also great at creating for the Flash and online markets. Learning curve is steep, while overall integration with the toolset is unsurpassed.

In the end, the majority of my work is in Vegas, as mostly speed is essential, and most of my work is straight video. When color rendition is the most critical, I opt for FCP. My team grabs Premiere when they are working on the growing number of projects we tackle that need a broad variety of high-quality renditions in all formats. We don’t do this a lot yet, but the demand is growing. Neither Vegas nor FCP is quite in that league yet.

Other users will have a hundred other reasons for their preference, and they will be wedded to it. So, look carefully at what you need, and grab many grains of salt as the opinions roll in.

Good luck.

Bob Rice
Frameworx Media
frameworxmedia.com

[Bob Rice]

Another option for extracting video from the DVD is MPEG Streamclip from Squared 5. It’s a free app that does a good job extracting video in a form you can use in Vegas. I use it often for that purpose.