Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I've used the Vegas 6 software for about 1 1/2 years now, and purchased this series in hopes of honing my skills. As I'm not a professionally trained video editor (more like a serious hobbiest) I have some gaps in my knowledge of video editing techniques and conventions, and hoped this series could give me a leg up. Overall this is a well assembled and very useful set of instructional seminars. I actually found a site that hosted some sample clips, and tried one before purchasing this, so the preview was a definite bonus in convincing me to buy this. While this series is not absolutely comprehensive, it does touch every major feature aspect of the Vegas + DVD software package in such a way that you can quickly and easily assemble your first project, and get a lot of insight and ideas on how to further develop and enhance future projects.
In response to the chap who found the production quality too terrible to continue on -- I will concur that the screen captures were a little weak -- but they're not so unbearable as he claims...sounds like a personal hang-up. The quality of the captures is reminiscent of some CBT software my company once tried using (Trainersoft v6) for our web-based training offerings - the compression basically killed your screen-shots to the point that we got better visuals using PowerPoint. But I digress. All that said, the Sony Seminar series frequently zooms in on these screen captures, and you then get a much better resolution and cleaner look at what the narrator is discussing. I think the previous reviewer perhaps just didn't spend enough time viewing the content.
Once you get into the first couple sessions, the content is really quite rich and very useful. Within the first 11 lessons on disc one I had already picked up a number of tricks and enhancements that I'd not previously discovered on my own, which really sweetens the experience of using the software, and substantially reduces the amount of time spent trying to do some of these things (as with all software, there are numerous ways to do any one task - this series makes a point of showing off 'best practices').
I've not yet gotten deep into the content on disc two, so this review is not definitive on my part. However, after scanning the remaining content, my only criticism (or just personal disappointment) with the series is that I'd hoped it would have more indepth techniques for video rendering and audio mixing (they have some great 5.1 mixing tools, but some of my efforts seem to have failed in my final DVD project, even though they looked well balanced in the software). For this, I imagine I will simply need to visit the forums.
Assuming these are all bundled the same, you get 4 discs: disc 1 and 2 are the video DVDs with the actual seminars (intended to be watched from a TV while you follow along on your PC, but they run just fine on a DVD-ROM); disc 3 is the media and content you'll need to emulate the class sessions; and disc 4 was a bonus demo DVD-ROM, with all the (then) current Sony pro-series software titles in time-limited installs with a couple minor feature restrictions - nice if you want to try before you buy.
The price actually jumped up $20 on this (from $69 to $89) before I bought it, so I was a bit reluctant, but I can honestly say after digging in to it, I don't regret it at all - I'm glad I purchased it!
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