And XARA is offering http://www.xara.com/us/designer-pro/features/

In addition you can also do a google search on

grass valley EDIUS crossgrade

or

Sony Vegas Crossgrade

There are several resellers offing special crossgrade packages that will save you up to 50% off new editing software.

At Studio 1 Productions, we have moved over to Sony Vegas Pro 12.  It works great, we have had no problems with it.  I only have 1 computer with Adobe Premiere on it, just so I can open old projects.

This is what we have done since Adobe wants you to rent their software on a month to month rental system.  Personally, I like buying the software and using it until I want to pay for another upgrade.

Right now they are offering you a special price of $29.95 per month for the first year.  Then the price goes up to $49.95 a month.  You will get all of programs you had in the Creative Suite package and you can run the software on two different computers.

Now stop and think about this.  If I am paying $50 a month for the next 5 years, that comes to $3000 and that is they done raise the prices, which you know they will.

What if you are running Adobe products on 3 computer?  Well, you will need 2 subscriptions.  That will be $100 a month or $6000 over 3 years.

This brings up another major concern, how often is Adobe going to be raising the prices and how much are they going to be raise by.

If you sign up for the Creative Cloud and later decide you can’t afford it or don’t want to pay a monthly fee to Adobe, then they will deactivate your software and you have nothing.  That’s right nothing.  You won’t be able to open any of the work you created with the Creative Cloud software.  There is no exit plan for the customer.  It’s like once you decide to stop paying for the Creative Cloud, you never existed as far as Adobe is concerned.

Not everyone upgrades each time a new version was release.  They may upgrade to CS5 and then skip CS5.5 and upgrade to CS6 over the course of 5 years.  Upgrade this way is a whole lot less expensive than paying a monthly subscription.

This has people in an uproar on forum all over the net, especially the Adobe forums.

Yesterday, the Adobe forum moderators move all of the posting in to two locations.  You should read them and the arguments for the pro’s and con’s of this new subscription model.   They are:

http://forums.adobe.com/community/creative_cloud

http://forums.adobe.com/community/premiere/video_lounge

I strongly recommend you read the posts in the forums.

Adobe will NOT be offering their software where you could purchase it and use it for as long as you like or until you upgrade to the next version.  This was call a perpetual license.  The perpetual license will NOT be available on the new version of the Adobe software.

Now if you have, let’s say, CS5 or CS5.5 or CS6, you can keep using it.  However, there will not be any upgrade for the older versions.  You just have to use it as it is.  The good thing is you don’t have to pay monthly to use the software, because when you bought it, it came with a perpetual license.

Now Adobe said they will keep selling CS6, but for how long, nobody knows.  Some people on the forums have tried to buy upgrades from CS5 to CS6 and they couldn’t.  They could only buy a whole new package, as if you are a first time buyer.  People are mad about this too.

A lot of people have lost their trust in Adobe.

So what are people doing?

1. Some people are just going to the Creative Cloud and pay Adobe for the rest of their life and just hope they don’t raise their price too much.  Now remember, once they stop or cancel the subscription, they will have nothing to show for it.  It will be like they never had it in the first place.

2. Other people are just going to say on what ever version they have and hope it will be compatible with future operating systems.

3. While other people are taking this route.  They are not giving Adobe another penny of their money and they are either starting to look around at different software or they are making the move to new software right now.

Number 3 is the way I am going.  I am not giving Adobe another penny.  When I found out about all of this on Monday, May 6, I was furious.  I was planning on upgrade to the new version because of all of the bugs in Premiere CS6.

Oh, what about the bugs in Premiere CS6, is Adobe at least going to fix them?  No.  They say the might, but some of the bugs will require major over haul to the software and Adobe is not going to go back and fix the problems.

The problems are fix in the Creative Cloud version that will be release around June 17.  While that’s nice, how about all of us who paid for the CS6 Master Collection?  We have to either suffer with the bugs or switch over to the subscription Creative Cloud.  Neither of these choices are sitting to well with their customers.

So when I found out about this new subscription model, I decide I was done with Adobe.  I started download trail software from other video editing software packages.  Now, I have worked with Adobe products for over 15 years and I am very use to Premiere and how it works.  So when I started trying out these different trail packages I found myself thinking “this is how you do it Premiere, the way they are doing is strange”.

Once I realized I was doing that, I had to approach it as if I was just learning how to edit videos for the first time.  I watched different training videos on YouTube and Vimeo for each of the software packaged I was testing out and found that this was very helpful.

By Wednesday I had decided to move over to Sony Vegas Pro 12 Suite.  This package give you Sony Vegas Pro 12, 2D and 3D titling and another program called HitFilm 2 Ultimate.  This HitFilm 2 Ultimate is similar to After Effects.

All of these programs use the video card’s GPU for increase speed and a better work flow.

For a replacement to Photoshop, I am working with the trail version of Corel Paint Shop Pro X5 Ultimate.

It can open and work with .PSD files from Photoshop and it does offer some high features that Photoshop has.  Even though this package is price less than $100, it is a pretty powerful program.

For those of you who don’t want to spend a lot of money on video editing software, then check out Sony Movie Studio Platinum Visual Effects Suite 2.  Yes, that is a mouth full.  The Move Studio package are built from the Vegas Pro software so they look and operate almost identical.

The reason I said to check out the Sony Movie Studio Platinum Visual Effects Suite 2, it because it come with HitFilm 2 Express.  This is a stripped down version of the Ultimate version that comes in Sony Vegas Pro 12 Suite.

One thing about Sony Vegas and Sony Movie Studio is you do NOT need as much computing power that you did with Premiere and After Effects.  They will run on older computer systems, were Premiere and After Effects would choke.

If you are going to walk away from Adobe, like I did and so many other are doing, make sure you download the trail version to the software you are looking at.  Watch some videos on YouTub or Vimeo to get yourself up to speed on the different packages.

Now shipping our 7 Inch LCD Monitor Carrying Case with built-in Sun Hood.  This will fit the 7 Inch LCD Monitor that we sell.   The Price on the Carrying Case is only $19.99

Starting with Adobe Premiere NEXT, which should be release around the beginning of May 2013, you will no longer need to “unlock” the video card as Adobe is allowing all video cards to work with out having to modify the cuda_supported_cards.txt file.

In addition, this new version of Adobe Premiere NEXT will support OpenCL.  This mean you will be able to use AMD/ATI video cards to use the Mercury Playback Engine in  GPU mode.

Another cool thing is, starting with NEXT the Mercury Playback Engine will be able to use more than 1 GPU.

As soon as Adobe Premiere NEXT is release, I will start doing testing to compare the speed difference between using OpenCL and CUDA with various video cards.  I will be updating this article frequently as soon as  Adobe Premiere NEXT is released, so I can keep you informed of the changes.

Here is a link to the article:  http://www.studio1productions.com/Articles/PremiereCS5.htm

Adobe announced today that it plans to stop offering boxed versions of its Creative Suite software. Instead, the company will follow the growing trend of only offering its professional software via online download.

“As Adobe continues to focus on delivering world-class innovation through Creative Cloud and digital fulfillment, we will be phasing out shrink-wrapped, boxed versions of Creative Suite and Acrobat products,” an Adobe spokesperson informed TechHive vial email earlier today.

Retailers have reported May 1 will be the cut-off date for boxed sales of Adobe’s Creative Suite software.

Consumers will be able to choose either the download any of Adobe’s Creative Suite apps from their website or access them via a monthly subscription.

Reviewer Status  I have no affiliation with Studio1Productions.

Overall Impressions  Excellent product, greatly improves workflow – could not find anything wrong with it. At $99, it’s a steal.
Ordering Processing  The supplier promptly filled my order and shipped the next day (I ordered on a Sunday night).
Packaging  The packing was adequate, shipments packed the same way should arrive without damage.
Instruction Sheet  The instruction sheet clearly describes the functionality.
Installation  The unit installs on a tripod handle with two long thumbscrews. The install plates are solid (metal).  I installed duct tape around the tripod handle to prevent the plates from removing surface paint on the handle.  The screws are easy to tighten/untighten.  I recommend progressive tightening followed by testing by trying gently to rotate the unit clockwise/counterclockwise. If there is no slip, do not over tighten.

All of the buttons are well-placed and of superior quality.   Left side for Focus, middle knob for Zoom (anticlockwise for W, clockwise for T), Right side for Iris.

Record  The button is well-positioned and very visible.   ZOOM  The dead zone is in the center, you hear a definite click.

Camera Setting,   ProZoom Switch Setting,   Override
Auto Zoom   Auto (up)   Camera
Manual (down)   ProZoom
Manual Zoom   Auto (up)   Camera
Manual (down)   Camera

As you dial clockwise or anticlockwise, the speed of zooming increases smoothly.  There is no bounce back either at W or at T.

FOCUS/ IRIS  The following summarizes the Focus/Iris actions with toggle switches up (auto) and down (manual)   FOCUS

Camera Setting,   ProZoom Switch Setting,   Override
Auto Focus   Auto (up)   Camera
Manual (down)   ProZoom
Manual Focus   Auto (up)   BLOCKED at ProZoom*
Manual (down)   ProZoom

*very useful, prevents inadvertent adjustment of Focus. But, guard against touching the wheel because if you switch out of auto to manual, you will probably jump to an unwanted focus setting.

Remotes have sensitive Focus wheels (the camera wheel is bigger, therefore easier to get a precise setting). Get used to the small wheels.

IRIS  Camera Setting,   ProZoom Switch Setting,   Override
Auto Iris   Auto (up)   *
Manual (down)   *
Manual Iris   Auto (up)   *
Manual (down)   ProZoom   *did not test

Cabling  The two cables are 5 feet in length. Bigger connector goes on top, smaller goes on below.  For tripod use, I reached the conclusion the cables would be best looped and tied with twist ties, one of which I put around the tripod arm. Make sure you include extra twist ties in your grab bag.   Notice how the wires are able to connect upward and can be looped around the battery down to the tripod handle.   For slider use, it would seem best to have one single coiled cable that splits into two at both ends. I don’t have a slider so I was not able to experiment or comment but it’s my understanding the usual setup finds the tripod in the middle of the slider, or at one end in some situations, so everything should be OK for both horizontal and vertical slides with five foot cables. You can buy extension cables from the supplier should you have a need to use say a 12 foot slider.

Internal Works  The unit under test was not a demo or sample. I ordered it for production use. I did not open the unit because it would invalidate the warranty.

This Review is posted at:  http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?302245-New-controller-for-Panasonic-Cameras-from-Studio-1-Productions

We now have 6ft, 12ft and 25ft extension cable sets for our Panasonic Zoom, Focus and Iris Controller. This extension set will also work with any wired Panasonic controller.

Click Here for Prices and to Order

The Prozoom for Panasonic video cameras features larger control knobs, allow you to have a finer, more precise control over the zoom speed, focus and iris settings.  It also features a record/pause (or S/S Stop/Start) button.

As long as your Panasonic camera has the jacks for Focus/Iris and Zoom/SS as shown here, the ProZoom Pan will work with your video camera.

We built the ProZoom Pan using only the highest quality components and heavy duty push button switches and high end potentiometers to ensure precise control of your video camera.

Priced at only $99.95   For more information click here.

Also, visit his site for more information on his system, a list of the software he used to run the tests and other information not covered in the video.

You may have seen this when you are fast forwarding or fast reversing through a video in your editing software.  Or you may have seen it in different video players such as VLC, Windows Media Player, etc.

The two most common things that will cause this is the video driver OR having Aero turned off.  First, make sure your video drivers are up to date.  Next, lets turn Aero on.

Step 1.  RIGHT click your mouse on the Desktop and a window like below will appear.

Step 2.  Click on Personalize

Step 3.  Select one of the Aero Themes as shown below.

Don’t worry you can change the Desktop Background and the Screen Saver to your liking.  However, you need to start with a Aero Theme to turn on Aero.

Once you have an Aero Theme the screen tearing or video tearing will stop.

I know some of you have read to turn off Aero on your computer to save system resources, but doing so you create other problems such as having the video tearing.

Our new Pro LED 950 video light features 160 super bright LEDs, with an effective light throw of up to 35ft.  This video light is perfect for DSLR cameras and video cameras.

The LED video light also offers adjustable lighting temperature, so you can adjust the color temperature of the light from 3200K to 5400K and adjust the light’s brightness.  Also, by using the filters, you can expand the color temperature range from 2500K to 7500K.

In addition, if you turn the Daylight (5400K) and the Tungsten (3200K) brightness all the way up, you will have a color temperature of 4100K at over 1200 Lux.

The Pro LED 950 also feature a battery power indicator.  Press the button to the left of the led power meter to activate the battery meter.

The LED Video Light base can be tilted so you can aim the light up or down.  The LED Video Light can mount on the cameras hot shoe (aka. accessory shoe) and you can mount it on a tripod with the built-in 1/4″-20 screw thread hole so your tripod can double as a light stand.

Click Here for more details and pricing.

1. Go to the NVidia website

2. Go to the drivers page

3. Scroll down the page to “Beta/Legacy Driver Search” and click on FIND.

4. Here enter your what type of video card you have.  BUT DO NOT Click on Start Search.

5. Right above the Start Search button, the last option will say ALL.  Change that to Recommended/Certified.

6. Now you can click on Start Search.

It will give you a list a previous drivers.   NOTE:  DO NOT use the 306.xx series of video drivers.  They are buggy.

If you are looking for the 301.42 driver and it is not showing up on the list when you did the search, here are the direct links:

Desktop Computer:  http://www.geforce.com/drivers/results/44967

Laptop Computers: http://www.geforce.com/drivers/results/47420

7. Agree and download the driver.

8. Then install the driver.  During the installation you will be asked to select the Installation Option.  IT IS IMPORTANT that you select Custom.  You will then see a list of options to install.  They will all be checked.  At that bottom of the list there will be a check box that says Perform A Clean Installation.  CHECK THAT BOX.  Then let the driver install.

9. Once the driver is installed, reboot the system and see if your problems are gone.

I installed this driver on a couple of our systems and I started getting OpenGl errors when I would rendering the timeline with AVCHD files.

As soon as I went back to the NVidia driver 301.42 WHQL, the problems went away.

On Dec. 17, 2012, NVidia released driver version 310.70 WHQL.  I have been using this driver all week on Adobe Premiere CS5, CS5.5 and CS6 with no problems and no more OpenGL errors.  You should be safe to update to the latest drivers instead of rolling back the driver.

In case you need to roll back your NVidia video card driver, you can just follow the steps in this blog post.

And, apparently so has a few other people, judging by the number of people that have emailed my about this.

When you export your videos from Adobe Premiere CS5, CS5.5 and CS6, you select File > Export > Media and it will open the Export Settings window. You then select the export settings you want to use and at the bottom of the Export Settings window box, you are giving two choices for exporting Queue or Export.

If you select Queue, this opens the Adobe Media Encoder and the job is added to the its queue. Note: Queue is often referred to as AME Queue or Adobe Media Encoder Queue.

If you select Export, the video is exported immediately. This is also called Direct Export.

Did you know that one of these export methods can be up to 5 times faster than the other method?

Let me show you the results I got when using Queue and Export. Note: all of the text were run with the Mercury Playback Engine in GPU mode and with MRQ set to On (MRQ= Maximum Render Quality setting).

The source footage was a 5 minute timeline of 1440 x 1080 footage and I exported it to 720 x 480. The timeline has about 15 GPU effects, including dissolving between clips.

When I exporting to MPEG2-DVD
AME Queue took 38 minutes
Direct Export took 8 minutes

When I exported to DV AVI
AME Queue took 3 times longer than using Direct Export

When I exported the same footage to H.264 AME Queue was 15% Faster than Direct Export

Okay, from the above results you are probably thinking great I will use Direct Export on everything except when I need to export to h.264. Well, hold on a minute.

I decided to run another test with different footage that was shot in 1280 x 720 and was 4 minutes in length.

I exported it to an h.264 file at 1280 x 720.
AME Queue took 19 minutes
Direct Export took 6 minutes

With this test, Direct Export was faster than using Queue, which is opposite from my first test above. As I ran more tests using different footage here is what I found out.

1. If you are tanscoding or downscaling footage, almost every time Direct Export was 2 to 5 times faster.

The exception to this is when I exported certain footage to h.264.

For example, when under Export Settings, with the Format set to h.264 using AME Queue was usually faster.

However, under Export Settings, with the Format set to QuickTime and then below under the Video Tab, with Video Codec set to h.264, Direct Export was faster for me.

2. Depending on the source footage and any effects you are using, Direct Export will be faster.

3. If you are going to export in the same resolution you are working in, Direct Export was either faster or about the same depending on the test footage I used.

4. With CS6, in all the tests I ran, Direct Export was faster by up to 5 times, included exporting to MPEG2-DVD format.

5. When I ran these same tests on different computers, as expected the results varied. However, Direct Export was faster.

I recommend you run your own tests on your computer. Try to use a clip that is 5 to 10 minutes in length. Try exporting to the different video formats that you usually export to and test to see if AME Queue or Direct Export is faster.