I'll Wait for Pro X6...native 64-bit

[wstagner]

Look what Corel announce 3/20/12: http://www.corel.com/corel/product/inde ... lUS_CDGSX6

Obviously Corel put their $ where the sales are. I can't blame them for that.
Native 64-bit is a BIG task, ie it costs many man hrs.

I continue to say Corel could have an upscale version for $149 that does nearly everything on people's wish list and get lots of business.
There's currently only 1 product in the $125-200 price range and that's Avid Studio @ $169. It's not that good and doesn't have native 64-bit support.

[TonyP]

While Avid Studio does not have native 64bit support, it is optimized for 64bit. It works and renders faster than any version of Pinnacle Studio. Still not as fast as VSP, but I think that is the nature of their rendering engines.
I would have to disagree with you on it not being good. I have had the product for close to a year (being an ex-Avid Liquid user waiting for it's replacement). Unlimited tracks, hundreds of transitions, effects, filters, Montage, Motion Titles, background rendering with full preview, and Red Giant feature set make it a formidable prosumer NLE. SmartSound is a plug-in that you have to pay for, but for me, it allows me now to use SFP to edit and then import the music seamlessly to the timeline.

Yes, there are issues with it as with any other NLE.

I do happen to like VSP X4 a lot, and now with X5 having more tracks, it makes it better in that respect. Eye candy is nice, but I would rather have a full featured editor than the latest whiz-bang plug in, but that's me. From a selling point, it makes sense. I love what it can do and it certainly is a step up in editing as far as Pinnacle Studio is concerned and for the same price or less (depending on which version you buy).

You would think that being a native 64bit program would allow for a faster workflow, but reading about the differences in rending times (I dont have this info handy), there really isn't that much at the present. But making use of all the RAM (I have 16gigs) has to be a plus. Making full use of all the multi-core processors and the GPU are things I would like to see to help speed up editing.

[wstagner]

You seem VERY experienced, and it's great to have you posting here.
Do you agree that there's a good place for Corel @ $149 provided they truly took the product up another notch, ie added 64-bit, built-in audio editor and the stuff on the x6 wish list? With all the deals that Corel has historically offered on VS, they too know that the actual price paid for the product is about what it's worth.
Their competitors, Cyberlink, Magix, etc. consistantly sell for more than VS. I'd think Corel would be thrilled to consistently get more than $100 for VS ProSumer version.

[TonyP]

I stumbled upon VSP when I got it as a "deal" when I purchased PSP X4 Ultimate. I needed a photo editor and wanted to experiment with HDR. I decided to give it a whirl and I like it! It's tough to make a product that a novice will find easy to use, yet can grow with it. VSP is a good "starter" program that offers some growth, but not enough, at least for me, and it appears others. It's a great "down and dirty" program (I still get frustrated with the momentary delays when moving around the editor performing functions) that again, offers more than Pinnacle Studio (I own also PS15 Ultimate Content), but not as much as Magix (which has 3 levels of software, each building on the prior version) and PowerDirector.

I want to clarify about the "eye candy". It is a selling point that sells software. It was like the "Kiki Effects" with the Amiga Video Toaster (oh was it fun doing a/b roll and operating the Amiga!).
Playing with VSP for me was easy enough to not look at the manual. What would be good are some VSP sponsored tutorials to get a beginner up and running on the Corel website. To have Introduction, Basic editing, Transition and Effects Basics, Basic DVD Menu and Burning, Title Basics, etc., I think would be better to help new people. Oh, and that background music (what you wanna do...) I really hate.

I agree with what you said about raising the price for features that we want (in the Wish List). Maybe have 2 levels of software. One for the beginners (lower priced to be competitive) and one for the more advanced user where it is built upon the "beginners" version. That would make the transition a lot easier to the more advanced software which has more features (and bling of course )
You are right, the competition certainly asks for more money, but they also offer more. I think that Corel should look a little further up the ladder to keep current customers that are looking for more. Mind you, these are the minority customers. Many people are just happy with the way VSP is now. Corel usually ranks pretty high in the reviews that I read before I took the plunge. Mercalli was a big point being that it is a great stabilizer.

As for Avid Studio, it still, in its present form, offer secondary color correction, multicam, multi-trim, and dynamic time warping (things that I miss in Avid Liquid) and smart rendering. As a side not, Avid Studio rendered a project faster than the same project created in Sony Vegas Pro 64bit. This was done by a Vegas user. That gives you an idea on the rendering capabilities of VSP.

[wstagner]

It is said by Corel that X5 is faster.
I'd like to see some X4 vs. X5 file render benchmarks (with various files) along with some DVD render time comparisons.

I didn't understand the last graph of your previous post. Did you mean to say that VSP outperforms SVV-64 bit and AS?

[TonyP]

My last paragraph was mistyped. Sorry. Here is the original:
"As for Avid Studio, it still, in its present form, offer secondary color correction, multicam, multi-trim, and dynamic time warping (things that I miss in Avid Liquid) and smart rendering. As a side not, Avid Studio rendered a project faster than the same project created in Sony Vegas Pro 64bit. This was done by a Vegas user. That gives you an idea on the rendering capabilities of VSP."

It should have read:
"As for Avid Studio, it still, in its present form, needs to offer secondary color correction, multicam, multi-trim, and dynamic time warping (things that I miss in Avid Liquid) and smart rendering. As a side not, Avid Studio rendered a project faster than the same project created in Sony Vegas Pro 64bit. This was done by a Vegas user. That gives you an idea on the rendering capabilities of VSP."

As for the rendering speed. Avid Studio rendered the same clip/effects/filters faster than Sony Vegas Pro 9 64bit, hence, it's faster than also Sony Vegas Movie Studio.
In magazine reviews that I have read where they have compared the rendering speeds of various NLE's, VSP X4 is faster in rendering the same clip/effects/filters than Avid Studio by a good margin.

To quote PCMag "In a rendering test using my 3.16GHz dual-core, with 4GB RAM running 64-bit Windows 7, I used a 4:34 second movie consisting of the same four clips of mixed types with the same transitions outputting to 720p MPEG2-DVD format in each program. VideoStudio took 4:11 minutes, which was darned close to the previous performance leader PowerDirector's 4:07. In fact, most editors took longer to render the movie. Avid Studio took 7:02 minutes, and Sony Vegas Movie Studio needed just under 8 minutes. "

Mind you, I have not ran my own tests. My computer is a lot more powerful than the one used in the tests along with the fact that Avid Studio will make use of the GPU in rendering some transitions and effects. I will put together some clips with dissolves and color corrections and see what happens. For editing, Avid Studio does perform faster (there is no delay or slip second pause) than VSP. Because of the background rendering, you can continue to edit as if nothing is happening.

As I said previously, VSP is a very good program. In the end, it is the editor telling a story that matters. You can have the fastest computer and the most costly software, but that doesn't mean you can "tell a story".

[wstagner]

Thanks, Tony. I'll say you have a fast computer!
Wish I had it.
So, you've not tried X5 then yet?

I'd still like to watch some pros that edit for TV assemble/produce vids. Granted, they're not burnin DVDs.

[TonyP]

Sorry, I have not tried X5 yet. I will probably try the trial version before making any decisions. I built this computer last year before I left the States and came to Poland. It would cost me a lot more to build it here!!! I have been fortunate to get most of the computer when either NewEgg or TigerDirect have specials going. Then I buy.
I know a lot of people the render out their AVCHD footage to mpeg2 for easier and faster editing. I just leave it as is and edit away.

[wstagner]

I downloaded/installed the X5 trial and rendered some 720p avchd digicam video to mp4/ipad. You can see the my hardware configuration.
I observed no render time performance increase over rendering the same file in X4. It's not much but it is a start.

[TonyP]

I looked at what VSP X5 offered, how much the upgrade price cost and really, whether I need the features or not. I decided to hold off on purchasing it. VSPX4 does much of what X5 does. And with the NewBlueFX plugins that I already had for Avid Studio (now updated and called Pinnacle Studio 16 Ultimate) that will install into VSP X4, it makes the program more usable with more features for me.
If I didn't have what I already have now, VSP X5 is a great program.
One thing about going native 64bit, you will lose any backwards compatibility with previous versions since they were written in 32bit code, unless there are two versions. Remember, everyone does not have a 32bit system, but all 64bit ones work with the 32bit ones.
A side note. Pinnacle Studio 16 does use "optimized for 64bit" and recommends a 64bit computer (not XP 64) because some of the features will use the additional RAM your computer will have.