Vegas+DVD: Sony Pictures Digital debuts an extraordinary NLE.(Video Editing)

The nonlinear editor (NLE) market is crowded and competitive. With everyone claiming to be the best, feature sets expanding, and the level of power and flexibility exploding, it is becoming more and more difficult for professionals working with digital video and nonlinear editing to make a decision about which NLE to buy. Sony Pictures Digital has been trying to simplify the decision-making process. With Vegas + DVD, it has succeeded.

The installation was painless. Upon launching the application, I was presented an interface laid out in a logical fashion: the timeline window across the top, a tabbed section of pallets in the lower left, and a preview window in the lower right.

My first mission was to customize the interface to my way of working. Vegas + DVD enabled me to choose which windows to display for easy access and which to hide. Because windows can float and are dockable, I could select features that I regularly use, such as histograms and the surround panner, and dock them to the work area for easy access. At the same time, I hid features I used less often. Next, I chose Split View for the Preview window to view my video side by side in a before-and-after style.

Those new to video editing should expect a learning curve. Yet, Vegas + DVD does a good job of flattening that curve by enabling users to work in as simple or as complex an environment as suits their comfort level. Editing video in Vegas is as simple as dragging a file from the Explorer window into the Trimmer window and high lighting the selection by dragging the cursor. Alternatively, users can click the cursor where they want the clip to start and hit the I key (for "in"), click the cursor where they want the clip to end, and hit the O key (for "out"). Upon striking the A key (for "add"), the trimmed clip is added to the timeline.

The Transition tab in the lower-left window lists transition styles on the left and thumbnails on the right. To see an animated preview of the transition, you move the mouse over the thumbnail. You then drag a selection to the timeline, and you're done. When finished editing clips, you can print to a tape or burn to a CD directly from Vegas. That's Vegas + DVD at its simplest, yet it just scratches the surface of the power within.

Moving beyond the basics, Vegas + DVD offers many advanced features that are new to Version 4, such as video scopes (Vectorscope, Waveform, Parade, and Histogram), ...