Sony Vegas Movie Studio 6.0

[Gig-O-Ram]

I've never done this whole review thing before, so please bear with me! It's occurred to me that I've never really contributed a review on anything to HL, so why not start with our new software toy!

My wife has wanted to get started doing video editing for some time, and so we went to Best Buy and chose a software package that we thought would be good. We chose Sony’s Vegas Movie Studio 6.0, and for its $80 price tag, I think it's a pretty good deal. But let me take you into the program a little bit, and then you can decide if you think it's a good video editing application.

Initial thoughts:
For starters, Vegas Movie Studio is essentially Windows Movie Maker on steroids, for lack of a better way to put it. WMM is a good program if you don't have anything else, but I found that it can lock up sometimes and freeze my whole system. I then have to shut it down, and reopen the program and possibly redo anything I hadn't saved to that point. I learned quickly to save quite often in WMM. Vegas Movie Studio is not like that. Saving your project or not while working, it will not freeze up your system (at least it doesn't freeze my system - your results may vary, LOL!). The only time it froze up on me is when I attempted to utilize .vob files that were ripped straight from a DVD. I've been playing with some of our DVD movies and trying my hand at making music videos.

The program will allow you to import .vob files, but when you try to do anything with them, the app and the entire system will freeze, I think, because of the enormous size of the file. The box does not list .vob files as something you can use, but I wanted to see what it would do with them to see if I could eliminate a step in the file conversion process. I use DVD Shrink to rip the files, and then I use Alive Video Converter to change the .vob files into something I can use, such as .mpeg or .wmv files. In AVC, this can be a lengthy process, as it seems most DVDs have about five .vob files that make up the movie content. It takes roughly 15-20 minutes for AVC to convert one .vob file. But once that part is done, then the fun can begin.

Sony Movie Studio will let you burn your projects straight to DVD, VCD or CD Rom. You can publish straight to the web, to your DV camera, send it in email, or you can just do what I’ve been doing and save it to your hard drive. Just make sure you have the space, though, as some of the videos I’ve made in a Video for Windows (.avi format - for clarity) are over 1GB in size. You can reduce that if you choose .MPEG-1 or .MPEG-2 formats. You can also choose QuickTime 6 (.mov) or Real Media 9 (.rm), or Widows Media Video V9 (.wmv). Before rendering, it also offers different template settings, where you can choose NTSC or PAL formats, or just choose the default template. The templates vary depending on which initial format you choose, ranging from options to stream to different settings for varying internet connections. For our $80 we also got included with the software, Sony’s DVD Architect Studio 3.0, which allows you to create your own custom DVDs complete with menus that you create. But as I have not ventured into that arena yet, I will not be discussing it here. It’s a cool bonus, though.



Let’s see…Minimum System Requirements:

800 Mhz processor, 256 MB RAM, 200 MB hdd space for the program, Windows 2000 or XP, windows compatible sound card, directX 9.0c or later (included), IE 5.0 or later, OHCI compatible IEEE-1394 DV card (for DV capture and print to tape), supported CD recordable drive (for CD burning), supported DVD –R/-RW/+R/+RW for DVD burning.
I’m sure most of you can meet these requirements.
My system, with the DFI nF4 board, 3700+, 2GB DDR PC3200, 120/250GB hdds and 7800GT handles it just fine. My wife’s system, with ASUS PT880 combo, P4 3Ghz, 2GB DDR2 533, 160GB hdd and a FX5500 has no problems with it. Installation of the software was straight forward and hassle free.

Need help?
In addition to the two main pieces of software, the package also comes with video clips, title cards, borders and music beds, over 1,000 sound effects, the Quick Start Manual (which is huge!). And in case you’re completely unfamiliar with the software or hate going through books, the program features completely interactive animated video tutorials that take you step by step through the process, ranging from the basics to help with audio and video. These tutorials are set up in an easy to use linked menu format that pops up when you launch the application, giving you links to individual topics. You can also access it at any time while you work by hitting the ‘Show me how’ button located on the top menu bar. Sometimes, these kinds of tutorials can be very helpful, and it was what sold my wife on the program. Should you need it, the software also offers online help.



Now let’s get to the meat of the program.

The Interface:
The interface is somewhat similar to Windows Movie Maker, but there are differences. Where in WMM, your timeline for audio/video is on the bottom, as you can see, Sony puts it where it’s more user friendly – on the top. Besides the six tracks already available, which include Text, Video, Video Overlay, Voice, Music and Sound Effects, the software allows you to add and name additional tracks for more video and audio options, which WMM does not seem to. You can (if you want to) rearrange the tracks to your liking by dragging them to the desired spot. The audio mixer allows for editing of your soundtrack, but at this writing I have not explored it, so I cannot comment too much on it. All of the different areas of the interface (timeline, audio mixer, preview window, etc.) are resizable, so you can customize your workspace, and they can be expanded or closed at your desire by hitting the appropriate button in the corner of the window. The Play/Pause buttons below the timeline can be a bit confusing, as there is one for playback from the spot you’re working on, and one for playback from the beginning of the project located right next to it. Sometimes I want to hit one, but hit the other instead. I think a little more thought into arrangement or placement of these buttons might have been helpful, but it’s not a huge issue. Moving the timeline cursor around your project is easy as dragging it to where you want it. If you have your cursor in the middle of the project and then hit the ‘Play from Start’ button, you can return to where you were previously by hitting the ‘Play’ button, and vice versa.



Importing media:
Importing project media is as simple as clicking the import button and you can keep track of all the different elements in the “Project Media” tab to the lower right. You can also import audio direct from CDs, get media from the web and capture from a camera. As in WMM, adding transitions and effects is a fairly simple matter, just by click and drag action. Beware though, that transitions and other effects are difficult (but not impossible) to remove, since they require that two pieces of video be overlapped. When that is the case, in my wife’s experience, whenever you want to add another transition/effect, the software adds the previous effect instead of the new one you want. It’s just difficult to remove them since you need to zoom in the timeline enough to be able to see where your effect is. Zoom in/out is simple though, with the appropriate buttons near the corner of the timeline. By clicking certain buttons in any track, you can add effects directly to the track, mute, record and control video and audio levels.

As I said earlier, I have made a few music videos using footage from some movies we have, and as I learn more about the software, it has become easier. Something I find frustrating is that when I make a “split” in my video track in order to cut scenes together, my imported audio track gets “split” as well. This makes it so that when I’m done editing scenes together, I have to go and delete all the pieces of the audio track and put the original audio file back, so that I don’t get the miniscule audio drops caused by the splits. I would say that this is my biggest complaint about the software. I haven’t figured out yet if there’s a way around it, beyond just not using an audio track until I’m done with the video, but I like to use audio and synch scenes together with the music in mind.

Special effects:
While you can add effects and transitions by dragging them into the timeline, my favorite thing to do is use the video overlay feature. This allows you take one piece of video and lay it directly over another. By adding a piece of video to the Video Overlay track, you can make really clean scene cuts, or you can reduce the opacity of one scene and create a dual image effect that you can adjust to your liking. Or you can use two identical scenes and have them synched slightly off from one another and make cool echo effects. If you do this, along with creating nice fade effects, you get something that looks really good in the final product. The only complaint I have on this feature is that when you are previewing it (pre-final render), the two overlapped images will lag a bit. This could be a limitation of the software, or it could be a system limitation. I can’t be sure, since I only have my system performance to go on. But, in the final rendered product, the lag is nowhere to be found. Something else you can do at the end of your project is add rolling credits, which can either be done on a standard black background, or you can do a clear background that lets you have the text rolling over your video. You can make the text in any color, size or font that you like, and there are options for placement as well.



How does it render?
On my system, I rendered a 7:30 video in about fifteen minutes using the .avi format. That said, if you have something to render that’s on the order of an hour long or so, expect it to take twice as long to do, depending on your system capabilities. A newer, faster system might be able to do it more quickly, but in the case of my video, I can live with that amount of time. An .mpeg takes less time, of course, because it’s a smaller file. Take note that while Movie Studio is rendering a project, if you have any video overlays, the software takes a little more time to get through those parts.



Audio?
Even in an .avi format, my seven plus minute video (done to Iron Maiden’s “Caught Somewhere in Time”) has some audio issues. However, I don’t think it has anything to do with the software, so much as it has to do with the song itself. It’s from an older CD (1986) and I had the audio originally in an mp3 format, and it didn’t sound that good with drops in the audio here and there. I tried it again with the song in a .wav format, and had the same issues, so I concluded it just has to be that particular song.
One thing you need to remember to do before you render your project, is to “Loop” it. This is done by clicking just above the timeline, and dragging two little yellow arrows across the entire length of your project, so the software knows what you need to render. I went to render a project and forgot to do that. I was surprised that my 4:30 minute video rendered in about one second flat! Of course, when I opened the file, all I got was a loud “Blip” in the Media Player, because probably only one or two frames got rendered! Ooops!

Conclusion:
Is it a good program? Is it effective? Is it easy to use? Is it worth the $80 I paid for it? With the exception of some minor complaints I have talked about, the answer is yes on all counts. It’s a powerful, yet simple to use program and I think that with its built-in animated tutorials and its online Help feature, any of your questions or problems can be answered, or if you do what I do and just open the app and mess around with it for awhile, you will find that it’s head and shoulders above what comes bundled with Windows, and for the money, in my experience, the end product is very satisfying.

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by Panda Man

Very nice review Ram, I'm tempted to try the program out now =D

[JazzyJake]

i'd like to share that as a user of vegas since 7.0, (i used every update from 7.0 to 7.0d) and just getting 8.0 today, it's an awesome piece of software.
With probobly 150 hours infront of this GUI, it really is a pleasure to work with, and very very fast at editing. I've also only experienced ONE lockup

[Gig-O-Ram]

So what you're telling me is that I reviewed an old piece of software??

Once I get my video media converted, I really have a lot of fun with it. I spent time over four days working on one video (the 7+ minute one). And though I said that I hadn't ventured into the DVD maker software yet, that changed as of yesterday. I'm working on a menu based DVD project that will contain the videos I made in the other program. So far it's looking pretty cool. I may write a review on it once I get more familiar with it.

If you're interested, check these links for the videos I've done with Movie Studio:

My 7+ Minute vid

One I just did

[Tyreal]

Thanks for this review Gig "O". My dad just bought a new camcorder and I was looking for a program to edit the videos.

[JazzyJake]

Originally Posted by Gig-O-Ram

So what you're telling me is that I reviewed an old piece of software??

More or less. But if it's any consolation, many of the vegas users i edit with/amongst use 6.0 because they prefer the subtle differences in the GUI, and they don't use many of the other features new to 7.0x

[Gig-O-Ram]

Originally Posted by JazzyJake

More or less. But if it's any consolation, many of the vegas users i edit with/amongst use 6.0 because they prefer the subtle differences in the GUI, and they don't use many of the other features new to 7.0x

Hmm, well 6.0 is what we found at the store, so I assumed it was relatively new. It's so hard to keep up with software and stuff anymore. My sister got PhotoImpact 11, and it's got a lot of differences to our PI 8.5. I guess we're behind.

You said you've used updates since 7.0 - did you register it and get the updates online, or did you just buy newer versions of the software?

[JazzyJake]

Originally Posted by Gig-O-Ram

You said you've used updates since 7.0 - did you register it and get the updates online, or did you just buy newer versions of the software?

I registered it, and they sent me an entire new installation file that was independent, but once you have 7.0, it just reads the serial and reg. data from the first install, and installs the updates, but if you have a serial for 7.0 it will work on any of the installs. So i have a CD with the ripped 7.0, and each update since then, just cause.