I'm having a tremendous sense of Déjà vu, because it wasn't that long ago that I was talking about the tremendously affordable Vegas Movie Studio 10, and how it was so much like its big brother Vegas Pro 10, you might just go ahead and get Movie Studio, now here I am reviewing Vegas Pro 10, and it's so close you might not even realize you're using something different.
The first step is admitting there's a bias. Right now that bias is towards Final Cut Pro, which is rapidly replacing Avid as THE go to digital editing system. Hell, Fincher edited The Social Network on Final Cut Pro. Adobe's Premiere Pro might've been largely forgotten in the mix, if Adobe hadn't started giving away so much of their other software along with it in their Production Premium bundles and then finally cross-platformed the franchise.
For folks who want a more traditional video editor look, you can customize Vegas Pro radically.
But there's one climbing up the rear, a lean and mean tough competitor that is, for my money, right on par with its far more well known variants. That is Vegas Pro from Sony.
I've used the Vegas Pro program since 2006, starting with version 5. I edited my feature directorial debut White Out on it, following that up with several high definition shorts. Every time a version of Vegas Pro rolled off the assembly line it was more polished and refined than the last. Now in its 10th incarnation, let's see what the once humble editing suite designed by sound editors has for us.
Vegas audio mixing console is very powerful.
Ease of Use
Any user of Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere will know that there's always a steep learning curve when you jump in. Even reading through the manual won't get you started as quickly as digging in and searching things out. Every editing program has specific things that are the same, and much of your time when first digging into Vegas Pro is spent sussing out where these things are.
If you want a clip to be shorter, you drag it shorter, if you want it to be in slow motion, you hold control and drag it longer, these things may not sound like a big deal, but once you get into the editing flow, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that there is no other editing program that feels as natural as Vegas Pro.
Importing clips is as simple as finding them in explorer and dragging them to the timeline, if you're the kind of person who wants to cut your clips BEFORE adding them to the timeline, there's a great editor for that as well.
Vegas Pro's track layout is quite simple as well, though you may be taken aback at first by the audio tracks up top video on the bottom default. (Don't worry, it's very easy to change.) A major upgrade from the Movie Studio line is the number of tracks. Vegas Pro 10 supports unlimited video and unlimited audio tracks, which is a huge leap up from Movie Studio's limit of 10 video and 10 audio. (While many users won't need more than 10 video tracks, audio track completely different. MFM's editor-in-chief, Jeremy Hanke, was telling me that in one scene in their upcoming short film, Day 419, of the new Depleted franchise, he had something like 32 channels of audio.)
You can tweak the Vegas Pro preview pane readily.
The preview window can adapt to your computer speed too, so if you're editing a 1080p 60fps project (the 60fps is a new functionality in 10) the preview window can dumb itself down to be able to show you a reasonable approximation of what you're working with. Don't let yourself be kidded, though, if you're doing any powerhouse work in Vegas Pro 10, you're going to need a powerhouse computer all the same, but it's a nice function if you're creating a rough edit.
Almost every pane in the Vegas Pro window can be torn off. For a person like myself who cannot imagine not working with two monitors, having the ability to put my mixer, my file explorer, my preview window, all on the secondary monitor by just clicking and dragging is fantastic and tremendously intuitive.
Vegas Pro also makes transitional and simple video effects quite easy by having a tab that shows examples of the effect in small thumbnails what can be clicked and dragged to your video file on your timeline.
One could use Vegas Pro for years (as I have) without ever needing some of the more in depth options and effects, but when you're ready to go deep, Vegas Pro is ready to go there with you. Just avail yourself of some of the many "How to" videos online.
Video effects include mini previews for you to see.
Depth of Options
As I just mentioned, there is so much on the Vegas Pro plate that it's hard to even encapsulate. For non-Vegas users or newbies, the answer is simple. Vegas Pro can do just about everything that the other big boy power players in the industry do, and if this is your first major editing suite, you'll likely find the controls and options very intuitive.
For past Vegas Pro users, the question is more of "Why should I buy 10?" This question is tougher. As someone who has upgraded almost every generation, this is the first one that I'm on the fence about. The upgrades being touted are in general not making me too giddy. Stereoscopic 3D support just reminds me how much I hate the fact that 3D is still trying to take back over, and I'd wager that the VAST majority of those using Vegas Pro are indie filmmakers uninterested in trying to create and release a film in 3D.
Vegas Pro 10 was the first 64Bit video editing software on the market. And the 64-bit is a nice incentive that helps the system run more smoothly and process better, but this isn't a MAJOR upgrade , more like what Sony used to release with a letter after it. (ie Vegas Pro 9d) The one thing that I can't use yet, but would agree as the most interest to indie film users of Sony Vegas is full RED camera support and 4K project support up to (4096x4096) bringing Vegas Pro in as a full on competitor with the big-uns.
One thing to remember, and an important selling point about Vegas Pro in general is, because it was developed by audio engineers , it's a pretty tremendous sound editing package, making Sony's companion Sound Forge rather redundant. The audio effects and filters offer a very robust collection of options for any kind of user, and ability to create full soundscape 5.1 AC-3 tracks with film style panning is pretty gangbusters.
Examples of text generators in the Vegas Pro.
Performance
The 64 bit version of Vegas Pro 10 was what I used for this review, and I'll say I noticed a minimal speed bump from Vegas Pro 9 with a full 720p HD render. In general performance hasn't seen much of a change at all between versions. The glitchiness and crashes that happened in 8 and 9 will still happen here, but its auto save and autorecovery are pretty solid. (Before you fanboys gloat, let's all admit that glitches and crashes are par for the course in ANY editing software suite)
The renders coming out of Vegas Pro 10 are crisp and solid, and I had no issues conducting a full test. (ie, Re-rendering my feature out, burning a disc.)
Value
Now here comes the question. With every successive version of Vegas Pro, Sony seems to be edging themselves closer and closer towards the (let's all admit absurd) price points of Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro. Now with the download at $599 and the boxed version at $699 , I'm a bit hesitant.
This all depends on your needs, of course. If you're a budding filmmaker, shooting with a DSLR, or even a point and shoot, trying to get a quick and dirty editing system together to show your ideas to the world, I'd recommend dropping $100 and grabbing Vegas Movie Studio.
If you're the kind of person who'd take full advantage of high resolution processing, use the RED camera, do extensive audio editing, want an included DVD creation software (it includes DVD Architect), need the Dolby Digital Pro encoder (which comes with Vegas Pro), or have one of those wonderful jobs where a nice writeoff like this would suit you come tax time, go ahead and drop the $600-$700 to get Pro.
But Sony, you're pushing it…
Final Comments Having used so many incarnations of Vegas Pro at this point, I know it like the back of my hand. I can do anything I need to, and if I can't figure it right out, usually I can find either some official tutorials or some quick and dirty help online . As its price point approaches the big leagues, though, I wonder if it'll still be able to compete. We're getting close to the point, however, where Vegas Pro can stand alongside Final Cut Pro, and simply allow for the question of Mac or PC?
Don't believe me? Sony still offers 30 day free trials with no watermarks or restrictions. That's long enough to edit a flick, right?
Ease
of Use
8.5
Depth
of Options
10.0
Performance
9.0
Value
vs. Cost
8.0
Overall Score
9.0
David B. Grelck is a filmmaker and photographer. His first film, White Out, is being distributed on DVD worldwide, and the short film he wrote, produced and starred in “Gnome Man’s Land” is a web sensation.
I'm having a tremendous sense of Déjà vu, because it wasn't that long ago that I was talking about the tremendously affordable 
