In Review: Vegas Movie Studio 8 Platinum Edition
DV by By J.R. Bookwalter 
Disclaimer: I’m not a Windows virgin, but I have  prior to this review  only limited exposure to NLEs on such systems, compared to my extensive use of first Adobe Premiere, then Media 100 and, lastly, Final Cut Pro on the Mac. Enter Vegas Movie Studio 8 Platinum Edition, Sony Creative Software’s latest entry into the expanding world of home video creation. While Sony is bringing a lot to the table with this release (including HDV and AVCHD editing, 5.1 surround, export to PlayStation Portable and follow-along tutorials), the result is powerful only for those willing to wade the murky waters of the program’s interface, which sometimes leaves a lot to be desired. INSTALLATION & CAPTURE The program installed without a hitch on my HP s3100n PC, which is tied into a Samsung 50†HDTV by way of the VGA port. That system came with Windows Vista Home Premium Edition preinstalled, and, despite a lot of the griping that I’ve read on the blogosphere, Vista has mostly been a positive experience for me. After launching Vegas Movie Studio and completing the registration, the program notified me that a downloadable update (8.0c) was available, and that too installed without incident. The printed manual covers only the basics of the program  the rest is featured in the online help functions  which was fine for me because I’m a “figure it out on my own†kind of guy who later reads the manual cover-to-cover. read more...
Disclaimer: I’m not a Windows virgin, but I have  prior to this review  only limited exposure to NLEs on such systems, compared to my extensive use of first Adobe Premiere, then Media 100 and, lastly, Final Cut Pro on the Mac. Enter Vegas Movie Studio 8 Platinum Edition, Sony Creative Software’s latest entry into the expanding world of home video creation. While Sony is bringing a lot to the table with this release (including HDV and AVCHD editing, 5.1 surround, export to PlayStation Portable and follow-along tutorials), the result is powerful only for those willing to wade the murky waters of the program’s interface, which sometimes leaves a lot to be desired. INSTALLATION & CAPTURE The program installed without a hitch on my HP s3100n PC, which is tied into a Samsung 50†HDTV by way of the VGA port. That system came with Windows Vista Home Premium Edition preinstalled, and, despite a lot of the griping that I’ve read on the blogosphere, Vista has mostly been a positive experience for me. After launching Vegas Movie Studio and completing the registration, the program notified me that a downloadable update (8.0c) was available, and that too installed without incident. The printed manual covers only the basics of the program  the rest is featured in the online help functions  which was fine for me because I’m a “figure it out on my own†kind of guy who later reads the manual cover-to-cover. read more...
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