A fresh take on the traditional video editing program is VEGAS Pro 19. New name, new features, but is VEGAS still the same under the surface? VEGAS has always involved some dice-rolling. In our evaluation of VEGAS Movie Studio 17, the video editor received a definite 2.5-star average (the same goes for VEGAS Movie Studio 15).
We criticized the software, saying that it was "not as good as the VEGAS name would have you believe." Although some tools are incorporated in a very brilliant, innovative, and intuitive way, on the whole it feels too restricting away from your most basic demands. Your alternatives are restricted, or excessively concealed, overly complex, or unclear.
However, we are all still developing. In the same way, VEGAS Pro 19 offers a number of new tools that are suited for both novice and experienced video editors, even though it isn't considered to be one of the best alternatives to Adobe Premiere Pro.
Let’s dive in!
Color grading
Changing the interface’s colors to make the experience better when editing is one thing, but it’s also good to
see that actual color correction has been improved as well.
The Grading Panel has been redesigned, like thinner looking range-limited color wheels, which give you more
control over the adjustments you’re making.
VEGAS also comes with 40 LUTs, and expanded individual R, G, B curves, among others, making color correction work more precise and enjoyable than before.
Track effects
Thankfully, not all of the links go to paid internet services. For your workflow, VEGAS Pro offers a number of great new additions. "Adjustment Tracks" is one of these. You can apply filters to entire tracks rather of needing to add them to individual segments.
By doing so, you may apply the same effects to numerous clips and manage their settings from a single area. Even better, you can keyframe these effects directly from the timeline to change their intensity over time. It's simply some incredible visual effects software that wasn't even imaginable previously in VEGAS.
Scene detection
With version 19, VEGAS added a brand-new feature. They believe it to be so crucial that they have offered three options for doing it: split it whenever a cut occurs, examine finished, exported projects that you've brought back to the editing suite. Since we've been editing short films for almost 20 years, we haven't needed to do it very often, but since we're hoarders, most of our work are still accessible and editable. We become aware of how outnumbered we are as a result of this new characteristic.
Upscale options
Upscaling is a fascinating advancement as well. The prior filter was getting on in years, but VEGAS has since unveiled a new AI-based one that performs far better. It claims to be able to transcode SD film (720x480) all the way up to 4K. (3840 x 2160). The filter has a straightforward slider; the higher you move it, the closer and more in-depth the clip will be with AI.
Naturally, the effects will be better the crisper and cleaner the source clip is. To be sure, the gadget is a surprising advancement, but one that is welcome. particularly when compared to earlier iterations of the video editing program.
VEGAS Hub
The addition of the VEGAS Hub is one of the most noticeable visual changes. In both the form of a large login button at the top of the interface and a tab directly over the timeline.
VEGAS’ online presence is expanding, but the majority of the fun new features will only be available to subscribers. These days, it seems impossible to escape subscriptions; popular editors like Adobe Premiere Pro and Cyberlink PowerDirector both contain them. However, similar to PowerDirector, you have the option of subscribing or buying the software altogether.
One of these benefits is the capability to sync media between devices and save it online. It implies that moviemakers can use their smartphones to capture video, edit it, and then post it to the Hub. By the time you return to your editing station, those clips will be prepared.
Text to Speech, another intriguing subscription-only feature, speaks any sentences you provide it with using computer-generated voices.
Price points
With the new "Automatic Scene Detection," you no longer need to manually clip your file if you need to re-edit or use a project but no longer have access to the original material, only the finished product. Selecting the file from the Project Media folder and selecting "Detect Scenes and Add to Timeline" are two options for doing this. VEGAS examines it, makes edits, and inserts each segment in turn to the timeline where the playhead is situated.
The same thing may be accomplished by choosing the alternative option of "Detect Scenes and Create Subclips," except that it won't add anything to the timeline and will instead add subclips of each cut to your Project Media folder. The last item is "Scene Detection" under Video FX. You have certain customization choices with this filter that are not available with the other two approaches. You have access to three sliders that allow you to alter the cuts' sensitivity.
Who else is transitioning to a subscription model? VEGAS is. But those who favor paying for a perpetual license haven't yet been forgotten. VEGAS Edit costs $250, Pro costs $400, and Post costs $600. In actuality, this is less expensive than the prior iteration. The cost of a subscription is either $13, $20, or $30 each month.
The subscription model does offer benefits in addition to those already highlighted. For instance, Edit offers 20 royalty-free HD films and stock music samples for download each month along with 20GB of cloud storage.
With Pro, you have unlimited access to their material catalog, 50GB of additional online storage, VEGAS Stream streaming software, the top-notch Primatte chroma-keying program, and Sound Forge audio editing tools.
You get 100GB of cloud storage with Post, along with the photo editor VEGAS Image and the high-end visual effects compositing software VEGAS Effects.
