Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review




The best in this price range, September 22, 2009
By Heater Hal (USA)
I tried demos of most/all video editors in this price range. This is the only one I found that actually is able to do everything it is supposed to and run without crashing/erroring etc. I was using Windows Movie Maker but wanted some more features like chroma key ("green screen") and multiple video tracks. I think Windows Movie Maker is really intuitive and has a great interface, but it crashes now and then and has some annoying bugs that waste alot of my time trying to work around. At first I found Vegas Movie Studio 9 a bit confusing and it took me a little while to figure out how to do some things, as the interface isn't perfectly intuitive in my opinion. But, after making a couple videos I realized it is a good editor, and am no longer using Windows Movie Maker. I'm quite happy with it. There are features that I don't have a clue what they do, and I don't care, but I just ignore those features I don't use. It does not crash, it runs super fast, and it also works with my 800X600 screen resolution. Windows Movie Maker has the best text/titles IMO, I haven't really worked with text with Vegas yet, although I think I noticed that it does not word-wrap which is a negative for me. Splitting video clips isn't perfect but works better than everything else I've tried, sometimes it splits on the wrong frame, but you just do it over right away and that's it - no more additional fiddling or surprises later. Avi and mp4 type video files do not seem to work well, so I just don't use them, I convert them to wmv. Also video that isn't a standard resolution won't work either. Again, some of the menu items are redundant/convoluted, Sony really should revamp/improve this product but alas, such is the state of low-priced video editors nowadays. Well, it isn't perfect for sure, but it is workable, even if not the best interface/design. Hands down it is the best I've seen so far. I wish Windows would update Movie Maker to have multiple video tracks, no more bugs, no more crashes, and then I'd be in heaven.



impressive, September 18, 2009
By chrisbx1975x (new hampshire)
it does take a little time to learn, there are a lot of options and things that one can do with this software. it is stable, and very powerful for a product in it's price range. making a decent quality video, dubbing in music or sound effects, fading scenes becomes so easy after using this for a couple weeks.

so far, everything works as it should, i have tried most every option in this software. some say it lacks some features, see other reviews, but i have not personally needed to use those and would not necessarily expect everything in a software version that is this low priced. overall, it is far more capable than expected, pretty much totally awesome. fun to use after getting used to it.

if you are someone who just purchased or received a video camera for a gift and want some good software to go with it, this is the one i would recommend. very good quality results, lots of options even for different types of sound and video compression which translates to it is also very compatible with a lot of different formats. sony does have a free trial that allows you to use all the features for 30 days. i used it for three weeks then knew it was the one.




Overall, Pretty Good, January 6, 2009
By Lynette
Before I say anything else, I'd just like to warn potential buyers that Movie Studio 9 does not do Bezier masking. In other words, you can't cut out one person and put them on a different background unless you use a predefined shape, like a square, circle, etc. If you want Bezier masking and you still want Vegas, then you need to get Vegas Pro.

Otherwise, the product is great. The tutorials are very useful, especially for beginners. There is an amazing number of effects and transitions, especially when compared to Windows Movie Maker. It's great for home movie creation.

I'd say if you're considering it, definitely give it a shot. Sony has free trials on their website, so you really have nothing to lose. Their knowledgebase is pretty extensive and if you can't find the answer to your question, you can always contact their customer service. They give useful answers fairly promptly.



Really Nice ..but has a few frustrating things to it, December 29, 2008
By The Circumspect Shopper (Secaucus, NJ)
First of - I am an amateur .. I needed to make a small movie to be shown at my parents-in-law's wedding anniversary using raw footage and old snaps ..I decided to use this after playing with Moviemaker, Primiere elements and Vegas .. I still have the trial version .. and am close to finishing my project .. So I am not an expert user - but have figured out quite a bit.

It has a really lots of features .. dedicated volume and panning envelopes for each of the 4 audio tracks - really helps in mixing up tracks .. The software also automatically loaded up all my VST effects that I have for my Music workstation software ...

The video event panning and zoom control is simply too good .. You can do so much with your stills ...make them literally spring to life .. there are many high quality transitions included that you will not find in Windows movie maker ( especially the double blur crossover) which give your movie a nice professional touch.

Media Bins are definite plus - Better way to organize than anything I have seen.

Now for the irritating points:

There is no easy way to order snaps/ clips in the media bin .. even free software Picasa supports drag drop operations to sequence the snaps the way you want ... Ordering snaps in the timeline is too much of a pain.. I would love if Sony would let us use the Media Bin as a staging area rather than just a place to dump related artifacts.

The Trimmer can definitely improved upon.. right now you can select portions of the clip you would like to include ... but on trying to re-trim the clip ..you are back to square one with the Original clip instead on simply having to trim portions of your current clip. .. This wastes my time ... and does irritate me ...

Overall- it is a nice product -- surely worth a shot.



if you can get it to work, December 26, 2008
By Scott Aikens
i tried all versions of this software both trial and a purchased version. it will not even start on an xp computer with an nvidia graphics card. sony support is non existant. originally i downloaded a trial version and installed on an xp machine with ati graphics card & it was pretty nice. the trial ran out so i figured i'd put it on my main machine (with an nvidia card). be warned it doesn't work!!!