In May of 2016, MAGIX Software, the German developer of Fastcut,
Music Maker, Xara Photo and Graphic Designer acquired the majority
of the Sony Creative Software portfolio, including Vegas Pro, Movie
Studio, Sound Forge Pro and ACID Pro.
After months of speculation of what Sony was going to do with Vegas Pro,
this announcement began the new life of Vegas Pro, and just three
months after, we have the software’s newest iteration: Vegas Pro 14.
First Impressions
We were curious what new things MAGIX would bring to the table so
quickly after its acquisition from Sony. That would be a huge concern if
Sony had just released a new version in the last year or so, but
Vegas Pro 13 hit the market in April of 2014, so it’s likely version 14
was in development even prior to the sale to MAGIX, but that’s just
speculation.
Vegas Pro 14 introduces a long line of new features with its new hover
scrub technology, smart upscaling technology, smart zooms, RED
camera support and 40X video velocity. There are three versions of
Vegas Pro 14 available; Vegas Pro 14 Edit, Pro 14 and Pro 14 Suite
with costs of $400, $600 and $800 respectively. Vegas Pro 14 and
higher introduce NEWBLUEFX looks and proDAD Mercalli V4 image
stabilization. Vegas Pro 14 Suite also includes Boris FX BCC Match
Move Unit, 3D Objects Unit, Titler Pro 3 and Key and Blend Unit.
What’s with this new stuff?
There are a few observations we have made regarding the long list of
new features. The first is if you take out the word technology from the
new features, you get options that are and have been included in many
other video editors. Things like hover scrub technology is really just a
new hover scrub feature — hardly noteworthy. Next is smart zooms and
smart upscaling. This is not really cutting edge stuff here, but it’s very
usable nonetheless. We should note though, although the outcome isn’t
anything revolutionary, the usability of the features and how well they
work is at least noteworthy.
The overall theme in all of the marketed new features are that they are
third party add-ons included to improve the overall competitiveness in the
marketplace and keep Vegas Pro 14 relevant. We would hope that the
next version will have these more deeply integrated as part of Vegas Pro.
NEWBLUEFX seem to be everywhere right now and included in many
other editors, but let’s not discount it just because they are more
available now. The NEWBLUEFX Looks is a strong tool and very usable.
If Vegas Pro 14 did not come with some type of image stabilizer, it would
If Vegas Pro 14 did not come with some type of image stabilizer, it would
be behind the times. Good thing proDAD Mercalli V4 is included
because it does a great job and offers some really usable features,
including helping correct the distortion created by using CMOS sensors.
With the inundation of drone footage out there, image stabilization is a
must to make that great shot perfect.
With the inundation of drone footage out there,
image stabilization is a must to make that great
shot perfect.
By far the most complete option is Vegas Pro 14 Suite. With this option
you gain robust tools from Boris FX like BCC Match Move Unit, which
gives you a strong motion tracking tool that can even combine two clips
through analyzing the motion of one clip and connecting it to the motion
of another.
Another Boris FX Unit included is BCC 3D Object Unit. Use 3D space for
dissolves to text or graphics to up the production quality of a logo or
other element. Pair that up with the NEWBLUEFX Titler Pro 3 and you
can create some bold and eye-catching 2D and 3D titles.
Last but not least is the Boris FX BCC Key and Blend Unit. Getting a
good chroma key can be very difficult. It’s key to use the right tool for
the job, and Key and Blend Unit won’t let you down.
Recommended Users
- Everyone
Tech Specs:
OS: Microsoft® Windows 7 (64-bit), Windows 8 (64-bit) or Windows 10
(64-bit)
Processor: 2 GHz (multicore or multiprocessor recommended for HD or
Processor: 2 GHz (multicore or multiprocessor recommended for HD or
stereoscopic 3D; 8 cores recommended for 4K)
RAM:4 GB RAM (8 GB recommended; 16 GB recommended for 4K)
Hard drive space: 500 MB hard drive space for program installation;
RAM:4 GB RAM (8 GB recommended; 16 GB recommended for 4K)
Hard drive space: 500 MB hard drive space for program installation;
Solid-state disk (SSD) or high-speed multi-disk RAID for 4K media
Graphics card: Supported NVIDIA®, AMD/ATI® or Intel® GPU with at
Graphics card: Supported NVIDIA®, AMD/ATI® or Intel® GPU with at
least 512 MB of memory (1 GB recommended for 4K and
GPU-accelerated video processing)
Internet connection: Required for registering and validating the
Internet connection: Required for registering and validating the
program, as well as for some program functions. Program requires
one-time registration.
Supported GPU
NVIDIA: Requires a CUDA-enabled graphics card and driver 270.xx or
Supported GPU
NVIDIA: Requires a CUDA-enabled graphics card and driver 270.xx or
later. GeForce GPUs: GeForce GTX 4xx Series or higher
(or GeForce GT 2xx Series or higher with driver 297.03 later).
Quadro GPUs: Quadro 600 or higher (or Quadro FX 1700 or higher
with driver 297.03 or later).
AMD/ATI: Requires an OpenCL-enabled GPU and Catalyst driver 11.7
AMD/ATI: Requires an OpenCL-enabled GPU and Catalyst driver 11.7
or later with a Radeon HD 57xx or higher GPU. If using a FirePro GPU,
FirePro unified driver 8.85 or later is required. Radeon HD 7xxx or
higher recommended for native 4K editing.
Intel: Requires an OpenCL-enabled GPU (such as HD Graphics 4000
Intel: Requires an OpenCL-enabled GPU (such as HD Graphics 4000
or higher).
Supported formats
Import: 4K XAVC S, 4K XAVC, XDCAM EX, XDCAM Optical, DV, HDV,
Supported formats
Import: 4K XAVC S, 4K XAVC, XDCAM EX, XDCAM Optical, DV, HDV,
AVCHD, NXCAM, MOV, MP4, WMV, MPEG-1/2/4, H.264/AVC, WAV,
Export: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, AVCHD Disc, (DV-)AVI, MJPEG, MXF, MOV,
WMV, XAVC, XAVC S, MPEG-1/2/4, H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, WAV,
MP3, BMP, PNG, JPEG, TIFF, OpenEXR- , DPX- and WDP
image sequences
