Sony Pictures Digital Vegas 5.0 Editing Software Review (page 2)

Media subclips allow you to trim a larger clip in several ways and save each trimmed clip as a subclip in the Media Pool (bin). This is a very handy new feature that will undoubtedly be useful on a daily basis. The ability to import Flash movies lets Vegas incorporate high-quality vector based art and animation right into the timeline, which is a great feature if you have a Flash artist on your staff. Vegas also has very up-to-date support for many hot formats, including 24p (with 3:2 pulldown conversion) and HD resolutions (although you'll need a plugin for the HDV format).

We found that we immediately incorporated several of the new Vegas 5.0 features into our everyday editing routine, including organizing media subclips, customizing the workspace and the keyboard. Other new features we've used on a per-project basis, such as the great subtitle editor, the Bezier mask tool and the 3D track motion tools. Beyond that, solo Vegas 4.0 users will need to assess whether the new features are worth the $200 upgrade price, while users of earlier versions will find $200 to be a worthwhile investment. Production houses may find the advanced networking and batch rendering tools invaluable, provided they are ready to manual configure a custom system. And anyone looking for their first serious editor is in for a treat: all versions of Vegas, including this one, are suburb video editing tools with unsurpassed audio capabilities and impressive advanced compositing features.

Version: 5.0b (build 160)
Platform: PC
Operating System: Windows 2000, XP
Processor: 500MHz
RAM: 128MB
Hard Disk: 60MB
Additional Requirements: OHCI FireWire card, CD-ROM, DirectX 8, Microsoft .NET framework (included)
MPEG Encoding: Main Concept
Audio Encoding: PCM, MPEG, 2-channel Dolby Digital
Printed Manual: none
Demo Version: 30-day, no third party codecs
Upgrade: $200

• Advanced compositing tools
• Professional batch rendering, scripts
• Complete customization options

• No timeline nesting
• Complex manual configuration for advanced features

High-end professional features make Vegas 5.0 more than just a popular editor for the serious hobbyist.

D. Eric Franks is Videomaker's Technical Editor.

Sony Pictures Digital Media Software and Services
1617 Sherman Ave.
Madison, WI 53704
(800) 577-6642
mediasoftware.sonypictures.com
$560

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