Which NLE Do You Use for Professional Post?

[Paul Russell]

Paul Russell,

As a long time Vegas user, I was wondering what your reasons were for jumping from Vegas to Premiere. Has it been the increased instability in version 11? I'm a long time Vegas user and currently edit all our Red projects with it. That being said, I've heard a lot of good things about Premiere 6, and want to buy it and learn it too. What has been your experience so far? I've dabbled in After Effects a bit and found the interface to be unintuitive (compared to Vegas), and render times to be terrible. That being said, Adobe has seemingly upped their game recently with Premiere and I need to expand my ability to Adobe's tools... and overcome the learning curve.

It's sad to see the Vegas wasn't even listed as an option on this poll. Vegas has edited r3d files directly on the timeline far longer than any other NLE.

Hi Mike
I switched from Vegas for several reasons when it was CS5.5, but CS6 has confirmed that it was a good move as it is more stable and now supports RC3. Here were the original reasons:

Red Rocket support
Stability (although this proved not to be true as CS5.5. was as unstable as Vegas 11 x64 if not more. This has improved a lot with CS6.
Better support for third party plugins like Boris and Red Giant.

Unfortunately there were contras, notably
Premiere's piss poor audio capabilities and appalling VST support (can't specify the VST folder)
Premiere's cumbersome editing interface, which is nowhere near as intuitive as Vegas
Plugin interface support and generally kludgy plugin implementation
Constant hassle with Adobe Media Encoder and its frequent crashes
Crap autosave implementation
That stupid thing that happens when Premiere decides your hardware isn't up to scratch and so it quits the app without letting you save the work

Finally, after over a year and an upgrade to CS6, I can say that I'm glad I made the move. Render times have sped up enormously, AME is slightly more stable, finished renders look beautiful, and overall stability is improving. The VST management is still rubbish, and the insistence on using Premiere's interface for all plugins is still a crap idea. New Blue Plugin automation is next to impossible. And now I have autosave set to every 3 minutes and up to 250 versions.

[Tom Lowe]

Premiere is getting there but once you actually want to collaborate it is just a total failure at the moment. Sorry. Also, I don't like rear-loading the rendering of the project so much. Working in "realtime 4K" and then having a 36-hour render at the end is not fun and they have no decent intermediate format a la Apple ProRes or Avid DNxHD.

Cineform? Doesn't PP also work with DNxHD? On Apple you can use ProRes in PP, no?

[Wil Wong]

Missed the poll but I use FCP X. It's does have issues but the workflow in my opinion is so much better. I also like the gui setup. Then again, like Apple, I like the ease of use and the simplistic feeling. I've been using FC since inception and although things were lost in FCP X, there are definite benefits of having a modern editing system (where the code is clean of legacy plugins and hardware support). Just waiting for the 'native RED' support to kick in.

[Michael Gyori]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the info. I must admit that your report doesn't give me a glowing opinion of Premiere. I'll still be learning it, as it seems to be dominating in the market right now, and as an editor, I need to be more than familiar with more than one tool, especially only Vegas which so few professionals seem to be aware of. It still shocks me how few people know Vegas. It's powerful interface is just so much more intuitive than anything else out there that I've seen. It does have failings in a few areas (color correction, interaction with other non-Sony applications, and currently, stability). If these were addressed, I don't see why more professionals wouldn't use it.

Anyways, I think Vegas should be on this list of professional NLEs.

[Subhadip Sen]

Vegas is easily the most intuitive NLE. The only competition that comes close is FCP X, which has showstopping drawbacks of its own, although Premiere CS6 has taken decent strides forward. Vegas has the best multi-monitor support. It is also by far the fastest (with a notable exception) and the only NLE to have a completely GPU powered processing pipeline. It is the only NLE that is also a bonafide real-time colour corrector in terms of performance (though lacking in features compared to dedicated colour correctors, although with third party plugins it can do everything - including tracking). In fact, with a single GPU, only SpeedGrade can surpass Vegas in this price range. It is also extremely efficient - sometimes consuming 500 MB to 1 GB RAM when Premiere is maxing out 10 GB. The audio features rival those of dedicated audio programs (not surprising considering it started as a DAW) - it is the only NLE where you could actually post sound within. Till Vegas Pro 10 it was also the most stable NLE. With Vegas Pro 11 and the introduction of extensive GPU acceleration, there have been some teething issues, mostly related to GPU drivers. Those are now a thing of the past as well, and today Vegas Pro 11 build 683 is very stable. I have no doubt that as the GPU acceleration pipeline matures it will regain the stability crown. Another perceived drawback - limited third party plugin support - is a thing of the past now that Vegas Pro 11 fully supports the OpenFX architecture. Yet another in a long list of pioneering features that will dribble down to competing NLEs in coming years. (64-bit, 32-bit floating point, 4K timeline, single multi-purpose monitor, edit and playback simultaneously, proper real-time native R3D editing (as far back as 2009), and so many others, you name it - Vegas did it first)

Vegas' relative achilles heel is unfortunately R3D support. While it does support Epic/Scarlet footage natively, Premiere simply has the better R3D integration and performance if you intend to finish in your NLE. GPU processing also has its quirks - if your GPU is not up to it, it will be slower than CPU. Remember that unlike other NLE's, GPU does not just "assist", it handles the entire image processing pipeline. Interaction with third party applications is also not as strong as Premiere either, though EDL and AAF export just fine. While the interface is extremely functional, it is starting to look dated, something I am sure will be addressed for the upcoming Vegas Pro 12.

Vegas is a performance leader (once again, except for R3D) largely because it can exploit exclusive Windows technologies like .NET and DirectX - the same reason why nearly all games and a vast majority of non-cinema visual oriented software are available exclusively on Windows. I think that is also its downfall - were it multiplatform it would be more popular as OS X is more popular in this industry than any other. As a result, many OS X editors are not aware that Vegas even exists. That said, were it to be ported to OS X, it would lose most of its advantages over the likes of Premiere.

Vegas is also a bit of an acquired taste. I started with FCP, tired Avid and Premiere, and Vegas just seemed so different - I dismissed it for months. It is interesting to note that FCP X, which largely apes Vegas' interface, is also turning out to be a similarly acquired taste.

[Marcos Montenegro]

I use Vegas and Premier. Agree with some that Vegas doesn't get the recognition it deserves, and has an edge in intuitive GUI and editing tools. Vegas has no competition in audio, by far. Premier seems to be the NLE of choice for a lot of post houses now, and has better quality R3D integration.

VEGAS should have been an option in the poll.

[Timothy Carr]

Its surprising how some people think Vegas is like "windows movie maker" in terms of professionalism. You show me another editor for that price that has those features. Yes, vegas has its cons, but so does everything else. I use vegas, and love it. I woudnt use anything else. AND dont forget that vegas is a really nice audio editor too, just saves me time by switching apps.

[Nick Morrison]

I'm surprised how few people use Avid. I work in broadcast cable, and I rarely see anything else.

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

I'm surprised how few people use Avid. I work in broadcast cable, and I rarely see anything else.

I would guess that most Avid editors are purely editors and generally don't do their own shooting like premiere or Final Cut users do.

[Nick Morrison]

I would guess that most Avid editors are purely editors and generally don't do their own shooting like premiere or Final Cut users do.

That sounds about right. Except for my two partners - Avid editor's who just bought Scarlets! :)

But they are the exception, for sure...