Rating: 
Summary: You Gotta Get this book if you use Vegas!!!
Review: Spot hits the mark with this book! From start to finish this book is a MUST HAVE/MUST READ if you use Sony's Vegas Video. He starts with simply crawling with Vegas and moves to a full on sprint as the book progresses. As far as the previous post regarding this book ignores the more novice editors or assumes that the reader has previous NLE experience??? How can this even be said? Spot spends the first three chapters on setting up Vegas properly before even getting started using the e program! How much more basic than this can you get? As far as the sound aspects of the book go, have you ever 'listened' to a Hollywood film? The sound in a video can be as important (and sometimes more important) than the video signal. Take the sound out of an Alfred Hitchcock film and you'd have a film that was quite boring! Sound is ESSENTIAL to a video. The author UNDERSTANDS this fact and imparts his pearls of sound wisdom in the book. By the way, he's a Grammy Award winner so he KNOWS SOUND!Spot, the undisputed guru of Vegas (this guy as I understand it, works and or has worked directly with the programmers at what was Sonic Foundry - now Sony Vegas). With this kind of access to the core programming, Spot almost literally has his fingers on the pulse of Vegas. He knows his stuff when it comes to Vegas (and other things) and this book downright proves it. I'm SO GLAD that I purchased this book (I waited for what seemed like forever for it); it has definitely helped me move up the editing ladder. This book is a bonified bargain at twice the $34.97 price when you consider that you get a CD with a ton of examples to help you learn Vegas more quickly! This book WILL help you squeeze more creativity from your brain and improve your overall workflow so you will be editing projects more quickly. I knew that Vegas had a deeper set of editing tools; but until I bought this book I never knew that it was as deep as it is. TRW
Rating:
Summary: A great reference book for a great product
Review: Spotted Eagle has probably trained more Vegas editors than anyone, and this book brings his in-depth experience to anyone who wants to learn Vegas. Vegas is NOT a product that conforms to the "I want to be an Avid, too..." interface style and conventions, instead offering new paradigms for timeline-based editing, so even experienced editors may need some help getting acquainted and developing an effective workflow. This book starts off with the basics of setting up a pc for non-linear editing of DV content, but by the time you hit Chapter 4 Spotted Eagle is taking you through the many capabilities of Vegas, a stunningly effective editing environment for the pc. Another reviewer has complained of the attention paid to audio in the book; Vegas has multi-track audio capabilities rivaling ProTools, unique for an NLE in its price range, and well justifies the depth of explanation the author gives audio. If you're looking for a book on using Vegas, this is the one!
Rating:
Summary: A great reference book for a great product
Review: Spotted Eagle has probably trained more Vegas editors than anyone, and this book brings his in-depth experience to anyone who wants to learn Vegas. Vegas is NOT a product that conforms to the "I want to be an Avid, too..." interface style and conventions, instead offering new paradigms for timeline-based editing, so even experienced editors may need some help getting acquainted and developing an effective workflow. This book starts off with the basics of setting up a pc for non-linear editing of DV content, but by the time you hit Chapter 4 Spotted Eagle is taking you through the many capabilities of Vegas, a stunningly effective editing environment for the pc. Another reviewer has complained of the attention paid to audio in the book; Vegas has multi-track audio capabilities rivaling ProTools, unique for an NLE in its price range, and well justifies the depth of explanation the author gives audio. If you're looking for a book on using Vegas, this is the one!
Rating:
Summary: Which Vegas are you talking about?
Review: This book DOES cover everything for the beginner. One of the lines in the third chapter is:"Insert CD in CD tray and Vegas will autostart the install." How more beginner do you want to be? By the end of the book it teaches some advanced compositing and layers. I very much appreciated the audio side of the book, but didn't find it overbearing. Remember that Vegas started as an audio tool so that's probably why it has a large chapter on audio.
I was disappointed in the missing veg files, but after emailing the author, he explained that the missing 4 files (out of over several hundred) would be posted to his webpage. None of them are avi files, they are wmv files. Big difference in size.
FWIW, Vegas is used by too many beginners, who don't take the time to learn the basics of video that this book has 2 chapters and lots of picutures on.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent Workbook for a complex program
Review: This book has opened my eyes to many of the features of Vegas. I switched to Vegas because I needed a program that would handle multiple cameras and an added sound track. I was disappointed by some aspects of the program, but that was because I didn't understand the Vegas system. This book has taught me a great deal about how to use the program and about non linear editing in general. I really the appreciate the strong emphasis on audio because I am making videos of classical music recitals and the audio is really more important than the video. I also purchased a book on color correction and one on audio. This is the best of the lot.
Rating: 
Summary: A great introduction to Sony Vegas
Review: This book has proved to be invaluable as an entry level intro to editing with this system. The book provides a well organized and logical description of all the basic functions and components of Vegas, giving the beginner or intermediate user a helpful boost into the more advanced functions such as compositing, color correction, and even DVD production. The author also explains the neccesary components of a PC system needed to run it. This book has been key for me in unlocking some of the key concepts of video and video editing with Vegas 4. The included CD-Rom is full of useful demonstrations of the concepts presented in the book. A great launching pad for the desktop video beginner!
Rating: 
Summary: Covers the product, but thats about it.
Review: This is a great book for getting an overview of Vegas 4. Its a great product, and like most pro. NLE's, you need experience and time to master it. The book covers the product in good detail. However, the author assumes an understanding of NLE and video technology by the reader. Hence the 'Beginner to Intermediate' monicker means you are a beginning or intermediate user of the product NOT of the technology. The author assumes a fair grasp of the technology by the reader. The book dips in and out of a tutorial format, with product and technology explanations in between. I found this unhelpful, as some of the books dialogue raises questions which are not answered. The book gives way too much attention to audio in general and audio for video in particular, whilst giving terse explanations of video compositing and color correcting. Finally, the ultimate unforgiveable faux pas of referencing AVI's and VEG files on the CD which were not there, made it less of a book than it should be. (NONE of the sample file on chromakeying, which should have been on the CD, were there). The author's use of English doesn't help in some of the more technical explanations, however his stlye is friendly and informative, and he avoids becoming patronising. Recommended if you're coming from another NLE, otherwise start elsewhere.
Rating: 
Summary: Poorly written. Lacks depth
Review: This is a poorly written book. The exercises supposedly on the CD are not there. The book gives a flavour of the app. but concentrates too much on the audio aspects of Vegas. There is better information avaialble online.
Rating:
Summary: Vegas Bible
Review: What a treat to have such a resource available now. Although it's hard to meet the needs of both beginner and seasoned veteran I think Mr. Spotted Eagle has struck a happy median.What's unique about this particular book is the extra attention paid to the importance of audio in the video world which I think get's shorted changed in many other books on NLE's. I'm anxiously awaiting the next volume.
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