HD For Indies

Sony Creative Software Unveils Powerful New Vegas Pro 8 Editing Solution Offering Comprehensive Industry-Driven Professional Features

This link is the press release, which I found via FreshDV via DigitalCamcorderNews.

Biggest thing (to me) - 32 bit float video processing engine - begone, 8 bit pixel bit depth limitations! It'll now handle and properly process 10 bit stuff without bit truncation. GOOD.

buncha improvements to make digital signage, which isn't exactly my first love, but they also have multicamera editing support, which is helpful, a better titler, and an interesting sounding search engine to look for stock footage from Sony (duh), National Geographic, HBO, etc. - very very interesting feature to add, I'm sure a revenue stream for Sony, and a novel feature to add into an NLE.

Native long GOP editing, AVCHD read/write, Blu-ray burning of timelines, XDCAM FAM mode trimmed conform (??), single monitor full screen preview, available Sept. 10thf or $700. Upgrades available for current users.

Mike's Comments - I'd kinda written them off since they were limited to 8 bit last time I'd talked to them at NAB. For my particular niche interest, independent digital moviemaking, that bumped them out of viability. From the limited amount I know of it, though, I still wouldn't recommend it for long form editing - Avid and FCP are better choices there. But I've always heard their audio capabilities lauded, Blackmagic cards work with it for I/O (AJA too? Can't recall off top of my head), the price is nice. Doing short form industrial work and need stock footage and good titling and digital signage stuff? Sounds like a good fit there. Cutting a music video? Perhaps that as well, based on the limited info/history of it.

-mike