Vegas Pro is and remains a really good, professional video editing program that leaves nothing to be desired. That has its price, though. Vegas Pro Lite, which lacks some features, starts at 399€. I’m still happy with Vegas Pro 15 and won’t be upgrading anytime soon. But if you need new functions and a professional video editing program without limits, I can help you

Vegas Pro 16 Test

Another year has passed since Magix released Vegas Pro 15. Now it’s time again. I edit my own videos with Vegas Pro 15 Edit and am an absolute fan of the program. In this test report you will find out whether it is worth buying this expensive program and which new functions have been added.

Surface

On the surface not much has changed compared to the 15er version. Thanks to dockable windows and saveable layouts, you can design the interface according to your taste. The most exciting changes concern the functions of the program.

What’s new? – highlights

Motion tracking

The motion tracking tool captures motion in the video. This makes it easy to apply special effects such as masks and filters. For example, the program detects the movement of a person. If you want to pixelate the face, select this area in the video and select the appropriate mask. This saves a lot of time, because you only have to mark the area in which the moving object is located once. You can find a video of this function here.

Interaction between storyboard and timeline

To improve the workflow, Magix has now introduced a dynamic interaction between storyboard and timeline. As soon as you change something in the Timeline, it will also be displayed in the Storyboard and vice versa.

You can also add as many storyboards as you want to experiment with edits on individual scenes or as help to organize the movie better.

Image stabilization

Yes, even in Vegas Pro 15 there was already an image stabilization. Magix announces to have rebuilt the new function from scratch. This makes it easy and fast to stabilize blurred or hand-filmed shots. But there is no big difference to the old image stabilization.

HDR support

Thanks to the new HDR support, colors can now be displayed even more beautifully with an appropriate camera and screen.

There are a few more minor changes. You will find all listed here.

The three versions

As always, Vegas Pro is available in three different versions. Vegas Pro 16 Edit costs 399€ and contains the highlights described above as well as all other standard features. But how do the large price differences come about?

Vegas Pro

The normal Vegas Pro also includes the Boris FX Continuum Lights Unit plugin, which lets you easily create awesome lighting effects to give your movies the Hollywood look. There is also the VitaScene effect package with 100 professional additional effects.

Vegas DVD Architect: With the Vegas DVD Architect you can easily create menu-driven DVDs and Blurays. Unfortunately, this is only available from the normal Vegas Pro version. The DVD Architect can also be purchased separately as a single program from Magix.

Vegas Pro Suite

The Suite version costs a proud 800€ and contains several professional effect packages made in Hollywood. I didn’t test the suite and therefore can’t go into it further. However, this high-end program is only worthwhile as a true professional who really uses all these effects.

Conclusion – Vegas Pro 16

Vegas Pro 15 Test

Who doesn’t know it? Vegas Pro 14 from MAGIX is one of the most professional video editing programs on the market. You can tell by the price. MAGIX recently released a new program. Vegas Pro 15 with revised user interface and many new functions.

The most important in brief

Surface

When you use Vegas Pro for the first time, it takes some time to get used to it, because the interface is much more complicated than in Vegas Movie Studio. At the top right is the preview monitor, where you can watch the videos or get a preview of the effects. Below is the Timeline, including some controls for the most important functions. At the top left you can drag and drop media into the timeline. Otherwise there is not much to say about the surface. It resembles the menu of other video editing programs. However, there are many more functions and ways to edit his videos. When you edit your videos with Vegas Pro, a large screen is very handy. On my 17″ inch laptop screen it is also possible to use all functions, but with a large monitor the workflow is much more pleasant. In general, a second screen is a great thing for editing videos, as you don’t necessarily need the import function in the menu anymore. You can open a second window with your own files and simply drag and drop them into the program.
New with the surface of Vegas Pro 15 is that you can freely choose the background color. One can choose from four different colours. Of course only a funny function on the side. I would stay with black :D. You can now also change the color strength of the control panels. In addition, the individual windows from which the surface is constructed can be moved as desired and the size of the windows can be adapted to your taste – a very practical function that contributes to clarity, since you don’t always need all the corners of the surface at once.

The most important functions

Vegas Pro is a professional video editing program with hundreds of different ways to edit your video optimally. The software includes everything a professional user needs and a little more 😀

What’s new?

• On the one hand, the user interface was revised in the new version. You can now also change the color and resize the windows. I’ve just gone into that in more detail.
• There are also some new plugins (e.g. the picture-in-picture OFX plugin or the Crop OFX plugin). There are now control elements directly in the program interface to ensure a better and faster workflow.
• With the function “Instant Freeze Frame” you can easily create an image from the video.
• For hardware acceleration, the program now supports new graphics cards to improve preview videos and real-time playback.
• In addition, the video editing program offers new functions for the color editing of videos.

…with the more expensive programs

• So far, these were the novelties that are available in all three versions. In the two more expensive programs Vegas Pro and Vegas Pro Suite are even more professional plugins at the start to edit videos and movies even better. For example, they offer functions to create titles and optimize videos. But of course there are a lot of ingenious effects.

Now we come to all the functions that the video editing program offers. So far, they’ve only been the latest. I simply enumerate the most important ones and do not explain them in detail. If you have any questions you can have a look at the manufacturer’s website. Most of the functions are well explained:

• Multicam editing
• Automatic crossfades to guarantee faster processing
• The extended edit mode makes it easier to trim nearby frames
• The playback speed can be changed at will. The video can be played backwards and at up to three times the speed – my favourite function
• The Track Header lets you set your favorite functions and hide those you don’t need.
• Generalized: There are many things you can change on the surface to improve your workflow
• Support of new formats
• Masking can be used to pixelate unwanted details, e.g. license plates
• More ways to visualize movies thanks to compositing modes
• Automatic white balance
• Lookup tables
• There are many effects and tools for 3D projects
• 3D titles or backgrounds before 2D videos
• Automatic corrections
• External project files can easily be further processed. So you can switch to Vegas Pro 15 and cut the old projects with the new program easy to finish.
• Media can be better organized
• 4K support (should be clear with a 600€ program :D)
• Proxy editing to edit large files smoothly
• Support for many formats
• Ingenious audio editing
• You can even create surround sounds
• a lot of useful plugins

These were the most important features of Vegas Pro, which are also included in all three versions. The two more expensive video editing programs offer some additional plugins to create DVDs or to use even more professional color grading tools.

Just have a look at the website of the manufacturer. With the sub-item “all functions” you can get an idea of the variety of functions of the program.

There are very nice tutorials on the Internet for getting started. If you’ve never used Vegas Pro before, you should definitely take a look.

Differences between the three versions

Vegas Pro 15 is available in three different versions. There is the edit version, the normal version and the suite version. The price starts at 400€, the most expensive software costs 800€. (However, there are almost always discounts 😀Vegas Pro 15 Edit I bought at the Magix homepage for 150€) But what makes this gigantic difference? All three versions offer first of all exactly the same, the same interface and the same functions. The two more expensive programs, however, contain a little more. The normal software offers more video filters and effects and includes a plug-in collection to create great looks. There is also a DVD preview and a DVD layout. Also new menu templates are at the start. In my opinion, these were the most important additional functions.

The suite variant contains two additional packages with new effects and several title and motion graphics templates.

Vegas Pro 15 Edit Experience

Before Christmas there was a discount on the Vegas products where the edit version cost 150€ – a great price for such a professional software. Since I have always wanted to edit my videos with Vegas Pro, I have slammed and bought the program.

I’m thrilled. First, of course, you have to familiarize yourself with the matter. Switching from Video deluxe to Vegas Pro is not easy, but after a good hour of practicing, the new video editing program is quite easy to use. The range of functions is simply ingenious. There are hundreds of transitions and color grading options. The things that were great in Video deluxe are standard here, like the snap-in marker function, where you can set markers while you’re playing the song. This will make it easier for you to cut the beat afterwards. In addition, Vegas Pro allows you to make frame-accurate cuts by moving frame by frame forward or backward.
But it only gets really exciting with the functions that you don’t need so often. You can, for example, make yourself a ghost or clone yourself in the video. How’s that work? You place your camera on a tripod and record yourself in any activity on the right and left side of the image. Then superimpose the two videos in the timeline. From the middle, you delete the half where you are not visible in the first video. Now you can see the second video in this half. It’s hard to explain. On Youtube there are tutorials about this or other functions.

Also the sound editing should not be forgotten. Here you can create surround sounds just like in the cinema.

Soon I’ll be uploading a video I edited with Vegas Pro. Of course I will insert this here when it is finished.

For whom is Vegas Pro suitable?

Vegas Pro 15 is a video editing program for professionals and I advise all beginners to start with cheaper programs. But if you already have some experience in the field of video editing and perhaps even have to do with it commercially, Vegas Pro 15 is certainly suitable for you. Also for Youtuber who want to get more out of their videos and are willing to spend so much money, the video editing software is a good choice. But you should be sure in any case with what you are doing, otherwise such a program is not worth it. If you only want to edit “normal” videos, programs like Video Pro X will do the same. But if you want to make your videos even more professional, you should go for Vegas Pro. The program is still very new and therefore has no ratings on Amazon. The previous version Vegas Pro 14 was rated very good.

Bottom line

Vegas Pro only recommend. But I’d wait for the next discount campaign.