Summary: Vegas Pro 9 offers incremental improvements over its predecessor, with a new darker user interface, 64-bit Vista compatibility, support of the RED ONE and Sony XDCAM EX cameras, and innovative timeline editing improvements that could make your life much easier.
What It Costs You: $699.95 (or try it for 30 days free). Upgrade from Vegas Movie Studio to VP9, $499.95 packaged or $484.95 download. From Vegas Pro 8, 7, or 6 to Vegas Pro 9, $249.95 packaged or $234.95 download
Target Apps: Video editing for industrials on up to 4K film projects. Works without external editing hardware, handles a variety of file formats.
What’s Cool: Further refinements make Vegas a smooth operator. Editing niceties and that darker interface make your work easier on the eyes and brain. And finally, we 64-bit users get to use Vegas with Vista.
What’s Missing? No 64-bit version of Vegas for Windows XP. And if you don't like that darker user interface, there's no way to change it back to the old, lighter cream color and light gray way of doing things.
System Requirements
* Microsoft Windows XP 32-bit SP2 (SP3 recommended) or Windows Vista 32-bit or 64-bit (SP1 recommended, this review conducted on SP2 64-bit)
* 1 GHz processor (multicore or multiprocessor CPU recommended for HD)
* 200 MB hard-disk space for program installation
* 1 GB RAM (2 GB recommended)
* OHCI-compatible i.LINK connector/IEEE-1394DV card (for DV and HDV capture and print-to-tape)
* USB 2.0 connection (for importing from AVCHD, XDCAM EX, or DVD camcorders)
* Windows-compatible sound card
* DVD-ROM drive (for installation from a DVD only)
* Supported CD-recordable drive (for CD burning only)
* Supported Blu-ray-recordable drive (for Blu-ray Disc burning only)
* Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 (included on application disc)
* Apple QuickTime 7.1.6 or later
There's a fresh update to Sony Vegas Pro now available, and this ninth version of the esteemed editing software is better than ever. Refinements, most subtle but one not, are evident in the user interface, and you'll find new niceties on the editing timeline as well. Under the hood, there's even more compatibility with file formats and devices, and further evolutionary enhancements all around. It's a worthy upgrade for some users, but if you're looking for revolutionary changes, you won't find them here.
The most obvious change is Vegas's new darker look. The overall feel of the interface now involves an ominous-looking gray that's designed to focus attention on the media without distraction. There are pleasingly dapper white borders around the drop-down menus to keep things pretty, along with welcome design upgrades to the effects controls. Overall, it's an appealing, updated look. My only complaint is that the new darker shade is set in stone and there was no way to adjust the background shade, as you can in other editing applications. However, you can always revert back the previous brighter UI if you're used to the way Vegas has always looked.
Golden Nuggets
Digging beneath the surface, I found some golden nuggets added to the Vegas interface, which I've grown to love after first encountering them in Vegas Video 1.0 way back in 1999. Now Vegas Pro 9 sports a couple of nifty keyboard/mouse combos, and I started using them constantly as soon as I found out about them. (The first is an abbreviated way to split clips, using the mouse, as you hit Control/Shift/alt. Hover your cursor over the clip, and you've split a shot just like you did by pressing the "S" key in previous Vegas versions. But now, hold that key combo and you can drag the edge back or forward, splitting and trimming frames as you go. Neato! Another new trick: drag a clip as you press Aalt/Shift, and if you drag the clip to the left, it chops off frames at the beginning of the clip. Drag to the right, and frames from the end are incrementally reduced. Great idea, Sony.
64-bitness, Improved 32-bit Floating Point
Vegas also improves its compatibility with modern operating systems with this latest version. It now runs on the 64-bit version of Vista, basking in all the increased bandwidth available to that double-wide OS. That's fortunate, because now you can throw lots more memory at Vegas's hungry maw. For instance, I had a veritable cornfield of memory in my machine—12GB of RAM—giving Vegas a lot more headroom for whatever I wanted to do. Also obliquely related to that operating system advance is Sony's improvement of the 32-bit floating point processing mode it started with version 8, now playing nicely with garden-variety 8-bit graphics with its new color level and contrast compatibility.
New Effects
Being the effects nut that I am, I couldn't resist fiddling with Vegas 9's new lighting effects, taking for a gleeful joyride the spacey-looking rays, glints, starburst and fill light routines lurking inside. The most useful was the fill light, which will forgive a multitude of lighting sins and efficiently flatten out a scene when you need it most. Those rays look positively nuclear, too, but I'm sure I'd be looking around for somewhere to use them, perhaps submitting to temptation where no effects were warranted. Still, I'm glad to see these new tricks, along with soft contrast and starburst effects, lying in wait for that time when I might actually use them appropriately.
RED ONE
Rounding out the modernization of Vegas Pro 9 is its compatibility with those trendy RED ONE raw files (as well as Sony's own XDCAM EX), handling the huge frames (and others with 4K resolution) with the aplomb you'd expect. Now all we need is a PC capable of smoothly playing back these behemoths—even with a monster 8-core workstation packing an nVIDIA Quadro FX 4800 beast of a graphics card, Vegas still lagged when playing back RED clips with choppy hesitancy. But Vegas did better than I thought it would, helped along with its new ability to "adjust size and quality for optimal playback." Clever idea, and one I'd like to see in other editing software.
Vegas Love
It's hard for me not to like Vegas Pro 9. This upgrade is nothing earth shattering, though. Its interface is slightly improved, but some users might not like the color change. Its newfound high-res alacrity might be appreciated by some, but it's no big deal for those of us still mired in DV production. Those editing niceties are welcome, but not really worth the price of admission. Also welcome is its sophisticated Blu-ray production capabilities courtesy of DVD Architect 5.0, and disc-burning prowess from the Vegas timeline. But if you're not a Blu-ray author, that won't matter, either. Summing up, Vegas will delight first-time users, but upgraders: If, financially, times are tight, you might want to wait for the next go-round, when it may more likely be worth the price of admission.
Charlie White, a regular Studio/monthly contributor, is a television producer/director with 34 years of experience. He is the deputy editor of the NBC technology and consumer electronics site DVICE.com and the co-host of the Coolness Roundup on Sirius satellite radio.
The new UI features a dark gray background and gives Sony VP9 an appealing, updated look. It's also better in darkened edit suites. But there is no way to change the color, which you can do in Adobe Premiere.
Now you can choose 32-bit processing on just the video levels of the frame, or over the full range of video and color.
Comments (10) for "Sony Vegas Pro 9"
1.
I think Vegas Pro is a very robust software based NLE with many great features. But perhaps one thing that has always puzzled me is the user interface. To me the user interface could be simpler and I hate relying on "shading" buttons to indicate a selection...why can't they just be highlighted with red or rose or pink insetead of "grey"? A lot of us edit at long stretches and eye-fatigue is common. They designers could go a lot further than they have in this regard. They should make things "really stand-out" instead of muted. That's my2Cents
Posted by Chuck Smith on Tuesday, July 14, 2009 @ 01:07 PM
2.
Hi,
I just want to say- I was preparing to do a music video for a client. I had a choice of Premiere or Vegas. I only had Vegas 6, but I noticed the upgrade to Vegas Pro 9. That upgrade made this video and was the best return I've ever gotten on a purchase. Vegas Pro 9 with its new effects, 32 bit color space and comfortable HD workflow made this project look beyond fantastic. The interface was so lightning fast. The client LOVED it. It has gotten rave reviews. I have Vegas to thank for that. Period.
Here was the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jui9J909iXk
I can assure you, from this point on- Sony Vegas! Why is this awesome program not used more on major productions??!!
Posted by Avery Lanier on Tuesday, July 14, 2009 @ 01:56 PM
3.
Hello Avery,
I saw your video and I was really impressed by your work. If I may ask, what camera did you shoot with?
Keep up the good work.
Chris
Posted by Chris Eddins on Tuesday, July 14, 2009 @ 05:46 PM
4.
I wish I could take credit for the awesome Director of Photography, but that was a gentleman by the name of Brendan Hoffman (brendanhoffman.com). I simply edited/ mastered/ encoded.
Posted by Avery Lanier on Wednesday, July 15, 2009 @ 04:08 PM
5.
Been using Vegas since version 6 and just bought the upgrade. So far I'm very impressed. I chose Vegas because it had the most intuitive interface without sacrificing power. Ten times better than Premiere.
Posted by Frank Z on Friday, July 17, 2009 @ 11:17 AM
6.
UI not really set in stone.
To change the UI color... OPTIONS, PREFERENCES, DISPLAY TAB,Uncheck the "Use Vegas color scheme" box. Have fun.
Posted by Keith K on Friday, July 17, 2009 @ 11:26 AM
7.
Thanks for the article. I have been a sworn Vegas user since 3 after having learned NLE on Premiere.
I think I will take the advice and stick with Vegas 8 and wait for a bigger upgrade than what 9 offers. I am already an Architect 5 user and Bluray burner and Vegas 9 offers no upgrade to Architect so I dont see any reason to migrate to 9.
Good to see others who are convinced that Vegas is a superior NLE though.
Posted by John W on Saturday, July 18, 2009 @ 12:36 AM
8.
I have to say that V9 is a snoozer for me. I was hoping they would improve the Protitler to make it easier to use and upgrade the multi camera function. I think it is a major shortcoming not to have intergration with Adobe After Effects. They should include the latest version of Cineform as an intermidiary codec. I am sitting out this one, but a always I hope next time to get what I didn't get this time
Posted by Jim on Saturday, July 18, 2009 @ 03:19 PM
9.
Take the PLUNGE! Vegas 9 blows version 8 away. I just wrapped up a concert DVD. About 1 hour & 53 minutes. I did portions in V8, and it was good. I just installed V9, so I didn't want to go heavy into it. I did the DVD menus in V9, about 9 trax of effects and compositing. V9's render chomped it up and spit out quicker than any version of Vegas I have ever seen. I'll be uninstalling V8 this week! :P
Posted by Ed L on Monday, July 20, 2009 @ 05:18 PM
10.
Yes, there is a way to change the new color scheme back to the old one. Go to Tools - Options - Appearance (I believe). Check the box that says either don't use Sony scheme or go back to old scheme. Restart the program and you're back in Kansas. I hope this helps.
Posted by Peter Michael on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 @ 08:17 PM
