Vegas  Pro 14 Review
MAGIX's Vegas Pro 14

After months of speculation of what Sony was going to do with Vegas Pro, this announcement began the new life of Vegas Pro, and just three months after, we have the software’s newest iteration: Vegas Pro 14.

First Impressions

We were curious what new things MAGIX would bring to the table so quickly after its acquisition from Sony. That would be a huge concern if Sony had just released a new version in the last year or so, but Vegas Pro 13 hit the market in April of 2014, so it’s likely version 14 was in development even prior to the sale to MAGIX, but that’s just speculation.

Vegas Pro 14 introduces a long line of new features with its new hover scrub technology, smart upscaling technology, smart zooms, RED camera support and 40X video velocity. There are three versions of Vegas Pro 14 available. The first is Vegas Pro 14 Edit, Pro 14 and Pro 14 Suite with costs of $400, $600 and $800 respectively. Next is the Vegas Pro 14 and higher introduce NEWBLUEFX looks and proDAD Mercalli V4 image stabilization. Last, there’s the Vegas Pro 14 Suite which also includes Boris FX BCC Match Move Unit, 3D Objects Unit, Titler Pro 3 and Key and Blend Unit.

What’s with this new stuff?

There are a few observations we have made regarding the long list of new features. The first is if you take out the word technology from the new features, you get options that are and have been included in many other video editors. Things like hover scrub technology is really just a new hover scrub feature — hardly noteworthy. Next is smart zooms and smart upscaling. This is not really cutting edge stuff here, but it’s very usable nonetheless. We should note though, although the outcome isn’t anything revolutionary, the usability of the features and how well they work is at least noteworthy.

The overall theme in all of the marketed new features are that they are third party add-ons included to improve the overall competitiveness in the marketplace and keep Vegas Pro 14 relevant. We would hope that the next version will have these more deeply integrated as part of Vegas Pro.

NEWBLUEFX seem to be everywhere right now and included in many other editors, but let’s not discount it just because they are more available now. The NEWBLUEFX Looks is a strong tool and very usable.

Vegas Pro 14 does feature proDAD Mercalli V4 for image stabilization
Vegas Pro 14 does feature proDAD Mercalli V4 for image stabilization. Image courtesy moviestudiozen.com

If Vegas Pro 14 did not come with some type of image stabilizer, it would be behind the times. Good thing proDAD Mercalli V4 is included because it does a great job. It offers some really usable features, including helping correct the distortion created by using CMOS sensors. With the inundation of drone footage out there, image stabilization is a must to make that great shot perfect.

With the inundation of drone footage out there, image stabilization is a must to make that great shot perfect.

By far the most complete option is Vegas Pro 14 Suite. With this option you gain robust tools from Boris FX like BCC Match Move Unit, which gives you a strong motion tracking tool that can even combine two clips through analyzing the motion of one clip and connecting it to the motion of another.

Another Boris FX Unit included is BCC 3D Object Unit. Use 3D space for dissolves to text or graphics to up the production quality of a logo or other element. Pair that up with the NEWBLUEFX Titler Pro 3 and you can create some bold and eye-catching 2D and 3D titles.

Last but not least is the Boris FX BCC Key and Blend Unit. Getting a good chroma key can be very difficult. It’s key to use the right tool for the job, and Key and Blend Unit won’t let you down.

Value in the Marketplace

Vegas Pro 14 is for PC only so it should go without saying that Final Cut Pro X won’t be considered as a competitor. However, there are many others video editors out there that are in the running when up against Vegas Pro 14.

Lets first consider the gorilla in the room: Adobe Premiere Pro CC. Because the Creative Cloud is subscription based, you will need to do a bit of math to see how they compare cost wise. You can either pay $20 a month when paid for annually or $30 if month to month. Premiere Pro CC is best aligned with Vegas Pro 14 Suite, so if you divide $800 by the more expensive number of $30 a month, you would need to use the program for almost 27 months before it would be a better buy than Premiere Pro. That’s more than two years, and it’s likely that the program might not be worth its original cost when it’s that old of a program, but if it still does what you need it to do, then it’s no issue.

Next, let’s put it against Avid Media Composer. The UI from Vegas Pro 14 feels like a slightly more hip version of Media Composer. Media Composer costs $1,300. However, you can lease it like Premiere Pro CC and pay $50 a month or $75 a month, depending on if you pay annually or monthly. With that said, in just a bit under 11 months, you would be paying the same to lease Media Composer as it would cost to buy Vegas Pro 14 Suite.

The best value, of course depending on your need, seems to be squarely on the shoulders of Adobe Premiere Pro CC. A cheaper monthly cost and a longer duration before you get to the total cost of Vegas Pro 14 would get our vote on the better value. We must however put the caveat on what you intend to do with the product, because this could change how you view the value.

Final Thoughts and Recommendation

Vegas Pro 14 does what it says it does and, depending on your use, could be a great value. It doesn’t have the sexiest UI, but it does have all the utilities needed for pro editing. We’re excited to see what MAGIX brings to the next version of Vegas; so far, they’re on the right track.   

MAGIX
www.vegascreativesoftware.com

MAGIX’s Vegas Pro 14 Edit – $400
Vegas Pro 14 – $600
Vegas Pro 14 Suite – $800

Strengths

  • Powerful third party software included
  • User friendly and easy to learn

Weaknesses

  • UI is a bit ugly and utilitarian
  • Lacks differentiation from its competition

Summary

MAGIX just bought Vegas Pro from Sony. With the new release, they included some great third party software to make it a robust editor.

Recommended Users

  • Everyone

Tech Specs:

OS: Microsoft® Windows 7 (64-bit), Windows 8 (64-bit) or Windows 10 (64-bit)
Processor: 2 GHz (multicore or multiprocessor recommended for HD or stereoscopic 3D; 8 cores recommended for 4K)
 RAM:4 GB RAM (8 GB recommended; 16 GB recommended for 4K)
Hard drive space: 500 MB hard drive space for program installation; Solid-state disk (SSD) or high-speed multi-disk RAID for 4K media
Graphics card: Supported NVIDIA®, AMD/ATI® or Intel® GPU with at least 512 MB of memory (1 GB recommended for 4K and GPU-accelerated video processing)
Internet connection: Required for registering and validating the program, as well as for some program functions. Program requires one-time registration.
Supported GPU
NVIDIA: Requires a CUDA-enabled graphics card and driver 270.xx or later. GeForce GPUs: GeForce GTX 4xx Series or higher (or GeForce GT 2xx Series or higher with driver 297.03 later). Quadro GPUs: Quadro 600 or higher (or Quadro FX 1700 or higher with driver 297.03 or later).
AMD/ATI: Requires an OpenCL-enabled GPU and Catalyst driver 11.7 or later with a Radeon HD 57xx or higher GPU. If using a FirePro GPU, FirePro unified driver 8.85 or later is required. Radeon HD 7xxx or higher recommended for native 4K editing.
Intel: Requires an OpenCL-enabled GPU (such as HD Graphics 4000 or higher).
Supported formats
Import: 4K XAVC S, 4K XAVC, XDCAM EX, XDCAM Optical, DV, HDV, AVCHD, NXCAM, MOV, MP4, WMV, MPEG-1/2/4, H.264/AVC, WAV, FLAC, AAC, MP3, OGG, WMA, Surround Sound/5.1, BMP, PNG, JPEG, TIFF, OpenEXR-, DPX- and WDP image sequences
Export: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, AVCHD Disc, (DV-)AVI, MJPEG, MXF, MOV, WMV, XAVC, XAVC S, MPEG-1/2/4, H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, WAV, MP3, BMP, PNG, JPEG, TIFF, OpenEXR- , DPX- and WDP image sequences

Chris Monlux loves coffee and if you know him, you know he doesn’t need more caffeine. He is also Videomaker’s Multimedia Editor.