Nowadays, it’s not surprising to see how everyone is on the run to make quality content for one reason or another. No matter how skilled and creative you are in video production, you’d still going to need the best video editing program. There are tons of video production software available out there and they all have their own unique features and perks. Some video editors are recommended for novice users, while others suit more for experienced video creators.
Most of this software offers non-linear video editing, which is now the standard for video production. However, there are many other factors that you need to consider before choosing a video editor for your needs. You may need advanced capabilities and features that are not usually present in free tools. For that reason, the best bet is to go for a paid (but cost-effective) video editor.
Two of the most popular video editing programs that come under this category are undoubtedly VEGAS Pro and Vegas Movie Studio.
To put everything in the big picture, we already know that the VEGAS Movie Studio is a budget version of the VEGAS Pro. Because Movie Studio offers a significant money-saver compared to its older brother, you may be enticed to buy it.
But the real question is: how much “less” is VEGAS Movie Studio versus VEGAS Pro? What’s the difference between the two?
Here comes this detailed comparison that’s hopefully going to help you make the decision. Before we delve into specifics, let’s get our fundamentals straight to make sure we aren’t missing out on information that could influence your final verdict.
Let’s first take a look at individual features both tools offer and then we will compare them in terms of efficiency, system requirements, and other factors.
VEGAS Movie Studio
VEGAS Movie Studio comes in Standard and Platinum versions (there is also a new edition called “Suite”, but we’re not going to touch it in this review). Let’s look at both of them separately.
Standard Edition
Movie studio comes with a wide array of features and professional tools that anyone can easily use to compose exceptional videos. And the best part is its price is just $49.99. This software is designed for those of you who want to jump straight into professional video editing at a lower price. Although it covers most beginner to intermediate users’ needs, it lacks some of the basic and advanced functionalities that could further enhance the video editing experience.
To look at the brighter side, the Movie Studio Standard Edition allows the users to resume their editing from where they left off the last time. It also offers an outstanding “Hamburger Menu” that allows you to choose which functions and tools to be presented on the screen so you can edit in a peaceful and minimalistic way. Along with that, this software comes with the convenience to simply drag and drop media together with 100 audio and video tracks.
Let’s take a look at Movie Studio’s key features.
High-level Transitional Effects
VEGAS Movie Studio provides almost everything you need to make a good video.
It comes with incredible transitional effects from which you can trim, cut, add or fade video and audio clips to combine the sequence smoothly and easily.
Thanks to its real-time editing feature, you can also see the changes you’re making, to get immediate feedback and improve accordingly.
Tutorials
If you are someone who is new to VEGAS Movie Studio or perhaps video editing in general, this software could be a better option for you since it offers a library of guides to help you use the basic features and tools to aid maximum outcome.
Direct Video Upload
With this, you don’t need to separately save the video, go to the desired platform and wait for minutes for your video to upload. You can simply finish off your project and directly upload the video to any streaming platform like YouTube, Facebook, and Vimeo.
According to the developer of the editing software, Movie Studio can allow you to work with files that are up to 4000 MBs. However, a common problem with VEGAS Media Studio is when people think they can’t access the video after capturing the software from the camera. To fix this, all you have to do is drag and import the AVCHD folder from the HDD of the camera into the Movie Studio.
Platinum Edition
You can think of Movie Studio Platinum as an advanced version of Movie Studio Standard, but less feature-rich than Vegas Pro. It carries almost the same set of tools as the Standard version but adds a few advanced features. That being said, inevitably Platinum is also more expensive and costs $79.99.
Unlike the Standard Edition, this one allows you to combine 200 video and audio clips to make sure you’re creative freedom is not limited.
Here are a few extra things Movie Studio Platinum offers that Movie Studio Standard doesn’t.
Plug-ins
It can be quite daunting when you have a vision in mind about a video but you can’t put it into practice. With Movie Studio Platinum, you can include additional plug-ins that will let you use additional tools and functionality that were not originally available. To obtain a plug-in, all you have to do is search for it in one of the collections like OpenFX, NewBlueFX, proDAD, or even BorisFX. Then, you’d just need to download a plug-in of your choice and import it into Movie Studio Platinum.
SOUND FORGE Audio Studio 14
Unlike the Standard Edition, the Platinum includes a useful sound editor – SOUND Forge – for absolutely free. It’s a really amazing bonus to have that would cost you $59 otherwise. If you prefer having a specialized tool when making sounds for your video, you’d probably enjoy having this out-of-the-box.
Optical-Flow Slow Motion
It’s an advanced algorithm for creating a slow-mo effect that looks way more professional than the standard one. Again, this is only available in Movie Studio Platinum.
Motion tracking
If you wish to attach a media element like shape, image, or text, to a moving object in the video frame, you’re going to need a motion tracking tool. Unfortunately, you’ll need at least Platinum Edition of Movie Studio for this.
Movie Studio Standard or Platinum
It is completely up to you to decide. Having said that, I do not recommend the Standard Edition. You aren’t really going to save a lot, but will definitely lose a lot of flexibility and lots of useful features and plug-ins.
Of course, we didn’t touch every single difference between Standard and Platinum versions of Movie Studio, but, you are advised to refer to their website and check the “Product Comparison” page.
Now it’s time to have a look at VEGAS Pro.
VEGAS Pro
VEGAS Pro also comes in two versions: Standard and Suite (and a much limited VEGAS Edit version).
Standard
Now, this is where filmmakers put their ideas into action.
As expected, the software is more expensive than Movie Studio. Get ready to spend at least $799 for a single license of a basic VEGAS Pro version.
With advanced and intricate functionalities and tools, VEGAS Pro allows you to put your creativity to make DVD and Blu-ray disks anytime, anywhere. Not to mention a built-in 8K resolution support for future video content.
Be sure to upgrade your machine though, as the system requirements are a bit higher for VEGAS Pro in contrast to VEGAS Movie Studio.
MAGIX recommends a 6th Generation Intel Core i5 (or AMD equivalent) with 2.5 GHz and 4 cores minimum for full-HD editing. And 7th Generation Intel Core i7 (or AMD equivalent) with 3.0 GHz and 8 cores minimum, for 4K and 8K correspondingly.
Let’s go briefly through some of the features available in both versions of VEGAS Pro.
Timeline and storyboard
You can interact with the timeline and the storyboard at the same time. If there is a specific part of the project that you want to edit, you can break down several sections of the video and edit each one individually to customize every single detail.
Smart Special Effects
Thanks to its motion tracking feature you can add as many special effects using filters and masks as you want. What gives VEGAS Pro an upper hand here is when you add special effects to something or someone at one point in the video, the smart feature will replicate that special effect for the rest of the video irrespective of the position of the object, thus, saving your time.
Slow Motion
By using the OFX analysis keyframe in the VEGAS Pro you can work on individual frames to create slow-motion for the videos without compromising the quality and details of the video whatsoever.
Proxy Editing
To save storage, the software edits and creates the video in low resolutions and once you’ve moved on to the final changes, the video gets brought back to its original high-resolution quality.
VEGAS Pro Suite
When compared to all other versions of VEGAS Pro we have mentioned here, Suite certainly offers the largest variety of functions, speed, efficiency, and power for you to make literally anything.
Mainly filmmakers of Hollywood level use this version of the VEGAS Pro. The Suite Edition currently costs $999, but you can expect the price to change with time, so be sure to refer to the VEGAS Creative Software site.
Here are some of the incredible VEGAS Pro Suite features that VEGAS Pro Standard doesn’t contain:
Intelligent and Fastest Video Editing And Workflow
With intricate and powerful elements, functions, and tools you can expect your videos to turn out looking extremely professional. The intelligent workflow enhancements and high-performance video engine can enable the fastest editing you can find on the market today.
Video stabilization
Shaky footage can lead to a nicely edited video to look unprofessional. With the VEGAS Pro Suite video stabilization feature, you can give your videos a new touch by removing all sorts of shakiness whatsoever.
HDR Compatible
The video editing can be done with an end-to-end workflow for high dynamic range imaging (HDR) to make your videos HDR-compatible with professional monitors. Let’s now look at some of the pros and cons of this version.
VEGAS Movie Studio vs VEGAS Pro
Now that you’ve seen what each one is mainly made for and their distinctive features, it’s time for us to do what you initially came here for. What is the difference between VEGAS Movie Studio and VEGAS Pro, regardless of their standard or premium package? Let’s find an answer to this.
Other than the obvious price factor, the VEGAS Media Studio, you only get to choose from a maximum of 200 tracks or audio in the timeline to add to your video, whereas in the VEGAS Pro you can add unlimited layers of tracks and audio into the video.
Besides that, features like Waveforms that are used to see visualized representations of audio and colors for balancing and KeyMapping features are only available in VEGAS Pro.
Where it is easier to use Movie Studio with basic functions and tutorials, VEGAS Pro, however, offers numerous specific functions that can be quite daunting for newbies or even average video editors to use, thus they won’t be able to fully utilize the functions and tools of the software.
There are just so many extra features for advanced users present in VEGAS Pro but not available in Movie Studio, so it’s impossible to list them all in such a small article. Just to give you an example, features like 8K editing, Support for gigapixel images, Complete HDR color support, Adjustable Vectorscope skin tone line, or Stereoscopic 3D editing, are not just unavailable in VEGAS Movie Studio, but, some of them are not represented by VEGAS Pro competitors either.
VEGAS Pro, however, is much more overloaded with features and is not something every beginner would enjoy using. If you’re looking for a simple but powerful video editing software and not sure about you’re requirements yet, Movie Studio Platinum Edition is definitely going to work for you.
Final Verdict
Generally, choosing the best editor depends on your purpose and budget that you are willing to dedicate to such software.
In terms of speed, features, performance, and capabilities, VEGAS Pro definitely takes the lead. Though, if you’re a beginner, inevitably you have a lot to learn and it wouldn’t be wise to break your bank at this point. Therefore, go for the VEGAS Movie Studio which is surely better than most of its rival video editing software.
A lot of people still prefer VEGAS Movie Studio because it comes with almost all the basic features any video maker might be looking for. It is efficient, easy to use, and most importantly, it is cost-effective.
On the other hand, if you’re a professional looking for various other options to broaden your horizons and create high-quality videos, VEGAS Pro is your best bet to go. From the nitty-gritty to the very end, it has everything you need to not only produce masterpieces but also to improve your editing skills. Keep in mind that VEGAS Pro requires an upgrade to a high-performance PC with enough RAM, a performant CPU, and decent graphics. If you can afford a newer PC or already have one, this video editing software would be best suited to your editing needs.
