[Tom Burgess]

Just thought I’d mention this:

I’m strapped for time lately so I miss lots of details. It finally dawned on me to click the two links at the bottom of JOHN ROFRANO’s posts.

YOW! There’s a TON of useful information there, as well as John’s amazing VASST augmentations for those of you knowledgeable/talented enough to make use of them. I don’t belong in that category, ha. Clint Eastwood in the character Dirty Harry Callahan said, “A good man knows his limitations.” Words to live by.

So little time. So much to learn.

[Tom Burgess]

[John Rofrano] “I’m sorry if you misunderstood…2010 Mac Pro’s start at $1,049.00 and run the latest macOS so you don’t need to spend $2K plus.”

That misunderstanding is entirely on me. It falls under the heading, “We see what we want to see” or perhaps, “I’ll see it when I believe it” (as opposed to “I’ll believe it when I see it”). I wanted to believe in the $500 Solution. Ha!

[John Rofrano] “I would not purchase a new Mac Pro right now…a new Mac Pro may be coming next year. 7 year old 2010 Mac Pros can still run the latest macOS 10.13. Now that technology has slowed and everything is 64 bit, I’m guessing that hardware will be compatible longer.”

PURE GOLD. This information forms the basis of My Mac Plan.

[John Rofrano] “I run Windows programs on my Mac inside the free VirtualBox with VMware Fusion for Mac all the time. That’s how I maintain the plug-ins that I wrote for Vegas Pro. That’s an advantage of owning a Mac. You can run Windows programs in a virtualized environment if you need to.”

MORE GOLD. I like Windows 7 Pro 64-bit, and don’t want to use Windows 10. Assuming The Mac World doesn’t spin off its axis in the meantime, I’ll find a Mac Pro (new or used) that can run 64-bit OS and AV software apps for 5+ years. For the few Windows programs I continue to rely on I’ll run Windows 7 64-bit on the Mac by way of free VirtualBox with VMware Fusion for Mac just as you do. Sounds great!

BTW, that’s some very interesting footage in your Vegas Pro screenshot there… =]

[John Rofrano] “I use Affinity Photo to replace Photoshop and Affinity Designer to replace Illustrator so you won’t need to run Windows to get outstanding graphics programs for the Mac. No subscription. Only $49.99 each. They even have an iPad app that is outstanding.”

$50 each and no subscription = TOO GOOD. Thanks very much for the links. I see both are also available for WINDOWS(!) Man, you are really rocking my world here. HA! If the two Affinity programs turn out to be right for me I may go ahead and buy the Windows versions in the meantime. I can’t tell yet whether I’ll have to buy the Mac versions additionally. Even if that’s necessary, being familiar with the software when I switch to Mac will be a big advantage and worth an extra $100.

I have to bide my time due to budget and the anticipated Mac developments you describe, so I took advantage of BlackFriday to update Vegas Pro from v9 to v15 (just $25 per version) and that should hold me until I’m ready to take the Mac Plunge. And yes, I’ll implement your “Gift Card Discount Strategy” then. Ha.

I much appreciate all this perspective, John, but there is a downside…now there’s a damned iPad in my future, as well. Ha! Actually there are lots of reasons to get one, not the least of which, my audio recording software (PreSonus StudioOne) enables remote control of all transport operations and more via iPad. That alone would be reason to invest.

Sounds like a plan, man. =]

[Tom Burgess]

I just read this online article which discusses the five options listed below:
https://www.howtogeek.com/187359/5-ways-to-run-windows-software-on-a-mac/

1. Virtual Machines
Paralles ($80) or Virtual Box for Mac (free)

2. Apple Bootcamp
Excellent performance, but a dual-boot approach that does not enable running Mac and Win apps together

3. Wine
Apparently a potentially buggy Linux compatibility layer. Probably not a good option.

4. Crossover Mac
GUI and other improvements added atop the Wine Linux core…. Probably not the best option.

5. Remote Desktop
Makes it possible to access a running remote Windows machine from the Mac desktop.

I want to run Windows apps alongside Mac apps, and don’t play 3D games. The free Virtual Box for Mac is said to provide mediocre (even troublesome) 3D performance, but that shouldn’t be a factor.

Can you recommend any of these from personal experience?

[Tom Burgess]

Ah, and there’s the rub. Refurbished Mac Pros for $500-$600 is great, but they’re too old to run the current OS. My limited looking around suggests that new Mac Pros cost 5X that: $2,500 to $3,000. That’s a horse of a different color…

If I were to purchase a new Mac Pro at approximately $3K, how long would I likely be able to run current OS upgrades and software apps? Three years? Five years? Longer?

I enjoyed your “How I Came to Mac” story. I get it, and it points out the eternal relationship: If you don’t have money, you have to bridge the gap with effort and time. It looks like I’m destined to “moonlight” as my own Windows IT Hack for the foreseeable future…

Money won’t buy happiness, but it buys LOTS of convenience. =]

The $400 software combination you suggest sounds GREAT, and I like the way you think…HA! Your Gift Card Scheme is a stroke of genius and I’ll definitely put it to work when I finally enter Macdom. Too good.

Most of my core audio and visual software is Mac/PC compatible, except for CorelDRAW and its bundled apps. CorelDRAW runs circles around Adobe Illustrator, but will likely NEVER be ported to the Mac. Do you have personal experience with any reliable and quick method of running Windows graphics apps inside the Mac OS?

Thanks, John. Your advice is priceless,
Tom

[Tom Burgess]

Nigel ==

I much appreciate your willingness to assist me.

As you describe, in Vegas Pro 9 I have always been able to “click the blue TV icon above the main preview screen. It should then display the video that appears on the preview as full screen on your secondary monitor.” That’s not always convenient, though, so I tried dragging the Preview Window to Monitor2…but only ever saw a still image displayed there.

Having finally found the Trial Downloads page, I installed the Trial version of VP15 Edit. It works just fine with my existing graphics card. Of course, my source video is just 1280×720, but v15 works as well as V9 ever has. And for whatever reason, v15 DOES display motion video in the Preview Window when I drag it to Monitor2.

WOOHOO!

I read from another source that you can use pretty much any graphics card with VEGAS Pro (which has been my understanding all along) but you will not realize speed advantages unless you use one of the cards for which VEGAS Pro 15 is optimized. I can live without the increased speed, so it looks like I’m good to go.

I went ahead and purchased the Upgrade with NewBlueFX ColorFast2 for $149. I was able to take advantage of the SALE, thanks in part to your assistance and advice. Excellent timing! I appreciate the help.

John Rofrano has convinced me to “Go Mac” but I do like VEGAS Pro, and this should serve me well for a while,
Tom

[Tom Burgess]

One more development:

In all the TONS of marketing Magix has dumped on me, they never once mentioned a Trial Download Link.

A trial download would have answered most my questions…

HERE’S THE LINK for anyone interested:
https://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/ca/trial-versions/

They really need to hire a Marketing Director.

[Tom Burgess]

My secondary reply to your previous post.

Thanks for doing research I should have done myself regarding my hardware, especially as it pertains the the graphics/display adapter. Time flies and I can’t believe my computer is already fading into the past… The fact is, I don’t care what hardware I’m running as long is it works. I don’t even think about it.

My video work does not tax the system much. Perhaps that’s why I’ve had no problems with video playback, other than the aforementioned inability to view motion video in the Preview Window when it’s located on my secondary monitor. BTW, per your comments I swapped the cables and found that I could display motion video on both monitors, but could not get the two displays to reflect the actual locations of the physical monitors – Mon2 above Mon1, vertically stacked. I knowl. Duh… It seems the Win7 settings and display card driver/controller app don’t understand one another. I never got it straight, and finally returned the cabling to its original configuration (and original limitation)

I want to upgrade to Magix VEGAS Pro 15, but I won’t if it means I’ll have to buy a new (expensive) display adapter.

QUESTION: The VP15 Minimum Requirements mention just 3 or 4 cards, each of which is far superior to my card. Will I likely be able to continue using my “very substandard” graphics card, or will I be forced to buy one of the cards suggested by Magix?

Magix marketing leaves a lot to be desired. The reason I haven’t upgraded to v15 already is that the information they provide is always so limited (and weird…). This matter is a case in point: Do I need a specialized display adapter, or can I use my existing adapter? Is VP15 simply optimized to provide hardware speed advantages with those particular cards? Will my card work, but not afford me any speed advantage?

Magix is not helping itself by making everything vague for new users.

[Tom Burgess]

Yikes.

Thanks for furnishing so many good, reasonable options for this “New Mac Reality.” I’m looking at what’s possible in terms of personalizing the basic computer with drives, memory, displays, etc. I hope my options are not too limited. BTW, thanks a LOT for the links. A tremendous help at this stage of “My Conversion.” =]

If I had figured all this out a month ago I might have been in a position to take advantage of some BlackFriday / CyberMonday deal. Oh well…

The 27″ Mac Retina 5K is very interesting, though I’m reluctant to put all components in a single housing. If one component goes down, it all goes down. And I haven’t seen that $1599 price you mention – I see $1799. But then I’ll likely be more comfortable with a refurbished Mac Pro, per your link.

QUESTIONS FOR YOU, JOHN

1. As a Windows user I’m pretty much assured of being able to run a new OS on my old box, within reason. It worries me that a newly released operating system can render a recently-purchased refurbished Mac Pro obsolete. The price for a refurb 2008 or 2009 Mac is lower than I thought it would be(!) but those machines are 9 and 10 years old. Are they likely to survive the next Mac OS release?

2. If not, I’d be forced to remain with the existing OS for a year or two.
Is that a viable option?
Does running the previous Mac OS cause security issues?
Would it be difficult/impossible to update/upgrade audio/video software applications?

3. Are these the two applications you use and recommend for video editing?
a. Final Cut Pro X @ $300
b. Motion 5 @ $50

I’m not a videographer; I use video to further my work in other areas. If those two applications are all I’d need, $350 for both is a good deal. It makes the purchase of a Mac Pro make real sense.

4. I see Final Cut Pro X online for as little as $95. Is that legitimate, or just a Problem Waiting to Happen?

I never thought I’d seriously consider a Mac…but here we are.

[Tom Burgess]

Thanks for your in-depth reply, Nigel.

I hope it’s not the display adapter, and really hope it’s not the motherboard. Upgrade/replacement is not in the cards at present.

My video needs are not very involved. I shoot 720p with only YouTube in mind. That’s a pretty low threshold.

If that video plays well on one monitor and doesn’t play at all on the other monitor–and both monitors are attached to the same display adapter–it seems to suggest the problem is not the display adapter. In other words, the display adapter can handle that level of video playback. And if that’s the case, the problem must be a setting in Vegas Pro…

I suppose the problem could be that the HDMI out can handle it and he DVI out cannot, or vice versa… I’ll try switching the connections and see if that enables Preview Window motion video on the second monitor. If there’s no change, it suggests the display adapter is up to the job.

Or does it?

[Tom Burgess]

Can anyone here suggest a setting in Vegas Pro 9 (or in any Vegas Pro version)

that would cause the Preview window to display a static image (rather than motion video)

when the Preview window is located on the secondary display monitor

of a dual-display system?