Vegas Pro 8 is Sony’s latest version of its award-winning nonlinear editing (NLE) PC software. Designed around a new, 32-bit floating-point video engine, Pro 8’s final output has increased quality and accuracy, compared to past versions, giving you the tools to deliver broadcast-ready, high-definition content.

Vegas Pro 8 also includes DVD Architect Pro 4.5 and Dolby® Digital AC-3 encoding software to help you integrate all aspects of your professional video, audio, and DVD production. These tools help you to edit and process DV, AVCHD, HDV, SD/HD-SDI, and all XDCAM™ formats in real time. In addition, you can tweak your audio and author surround sound, dual-layer DVDs. If you own a Blu-ray burner, you can even burn Blu-ray discs directly from the timeline for high-definition delivery.

Vegas Pro 8’s other great DVD tools allow you to create standard DVDs with multiple video angles, subtitles, multiple languages, and a running commentary.  Tools for tweaking your DVD include the ability to apply brightness and contrast, auto levels, crop, anti-flicker filters, and setting CSS or Macrovision® copy-protection flags for masters.

The Vegas Pro 8 interface provides a fully customizable workspace that can handle a wide range of production requirements. You can dock multiple windows across multiple monitors and save your layouts to fit specific editing tasks.
You can also do some very high-end things, like nesting Vegas projects within the timeline, customizing and saving keyboard commands, and using application scripting to automate repetitive tasks.

Cool system media management tools include the ability to speed up rendering times by using multiple computers and networked drive arrays to render complex projects. Vegas Pro software also supports 24p, HD, and HDV editing, which is pretty much the standard these days.

One particularly nice feature is the program’s precise control over complex DV, HDV, and XDCAM projects, as well as its powerful tools for editing material shot in multi-camera environments. Additionally, Vegas Pro 8 is capable of handling a 10-bit serial digital interface (SDI) at full capacity for transmission of uncompressed SD/ HD.

Generally, editing in Vegas Pro 8 is what you would expect from any professional editor: the usual drag-and-drop SD or HD video, mouse and keyboard trimming, ripple editing, and the ProType Titler.

I did, however, find many impressive, advanced features like multi-camera editing tools, 32-bit floating point video processing, color-coded snapping, A/V synchronization detection and repair, and auto-frame quantization. I personally found the new ProType Titler, a vector-based title generator, to be very useful for a number of text overlays that I recently used for a 90-second promo spot. The result looked great and I did not have to go outside of Vegas Pro 8 to get the results I wanted to achieve.

I have always liked the audio engine in all versions of Vegas, but it just seems to get better with each version. What sets this software apart from many of the others is that it’s so easy to get professional results when editing audio tracks.
Vegas Pro 8 now has great audio features like unlimited tracks, 24-bit/192 kHz audio, punch-in recording, 5.1 surround mixing, effects automation, and a time compress/expand feature. Now I can apply customizable, real-time audio effects to my tracks. With so many third-party DirectX® and VST audio plug-ins available, I can get “master” quality tracks right in Vegas Pro 8.

I have always thought that knowing how to use your software is more important than simply owning NLR software. Sony did a good job of making Vegas easier to learn.

In addition to a comprehensive help system, there are detailed interactive tutorials that provide walk-through demonstrations of common features and functionality. These tutorials provide an easy, step-by-step method of learning the product and the workflow necessary to complete most common tasks.

When you need to find some extra footage for a project, it can sometimes be a time consuming process. To help with this challenge, Sony came up with Thought Equity™ Motion Footage Search. Thought Equity™ is an integrated plug-in designed to streamline the acquisition of stock footage. It includes content from Sony Pictures, National Geographic, HBO, and more ─ with a special section provided for registered Vegas Pro 8 users.

With all the new features and improvements over previous versions, Vegas Pro 8 is a great way to go for amateurs and professionals alike. The GUI is easy to learn and the program itself is one of the user-friendliest NLE programs I’ve ever tested.

Everything about Vegas Pro 8 has been kicked up a notch, which should benefit both pros and non-pros. If you need something that is quick, cost effective and user friendly, look into Vegas Pro 8.

MSRP: $599.95 for boxed version, $549.95 for download.
Contact: www.sonycreativesoftware.com