Good but annoying
I own 8.0 and well 9.0 has some cool new updates, but it saves the files in the weirdest places. I looked for a video i was working on for over an hour and still couldn't find it even using search.

Whoaaaaa!
This is a complicated program for average joe. I am a particularly technologically competant person because I've used Some fairly complicated audio programs in the past. This is not nearly as easy as it states. It is also very time consuming. The program makes alot of assumptions on your knowledge of video editing, which requires an extensive amount of research to figure out. even the help links are vague and complicated. I'm sure it is an easy program for a pro. Also, unless you have a brand new high performance computer, you editing windows will diplay very choppy footage. One more thing- I have a Sony HD camcorder (the one that the guy on the box is holding) And I have found these to be surprisingly incompatible. The program does convert the information to work, but i feel that there should be seamless plug and play compatibility. (thats why I went with all Sony in this deal) EASE OF USE!!!!! Not so.......

Crash, crash, crash
While Vegas 9.0b improves features over 8.0d, it crashes much more often than its predecessor on Vista 64 Home Premium.

Pros: Now you can save AVCHD files and WMP11.
Cons: Crashes often during editing in the trimmer. Still not a 64-bit app even though the Pro version is.

Until they fix the crashing, it was not worth my $57 for the upgrade from 8 to 9.

One of the Few Ways To Edit M2TS Files
I purchased an Canon HD camera which uses a hard drive to record video and thought it wouldn't be any problem to edit. Wow, was I wrong!! Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9 was one of a few programs that could handle editing these files. Still new to the program, but it seems to be well constructed with very helpful dialogue boxes to get you to understand how the program works. I just wish I could condense the files better so I could email them. Still learning more about what the program can do. It was money well spent.

Excellent Vidoe Editing Software
This is an excellent product for the home video producer. I have successfully used it to produce a 40 minute high definition video. My video camera is the Sony HDR-HC9 high definition camcorder. This camcorder records in 1440 x 1080, 16:9 aspect ratio. The software detected my camera automatically and captures and writes back to the camera without any problems.

I produced two outputs. One was a high definition video output back to the HDR-HC9 tape camcorder. When played through the HDMI cable connected to my Samsung HDTV, the results were outstanding. I could not see any difference in the quality of the video between the original recorded tape, and the rendered completed production.

My second output for the same video was to a Standard Definition DVD. When I played this DVD on an up-converting 1080p OPPO DVD player, the results were very good on the Samsung HDTV. It would take a sharp eye to tell the difference from the tape version.

I did not produce a blue-ray DVD as I do not have a blue ray DVD player.

The software does not require a supercomputer to run. My computer is a six year old Dell Dimension 8200, 2.0 GHz, 1 Gig memory, with a 120 Gig Hard Drive with 80 gig free memory. The software never crashes. When I produced my DVD movie, it automatically launched the included DVD Architect module without any problems. When capturing and rendering a movie, I made the follwoing adjustments: disable all network connections; shut down anti-virus and anti-spyware programs; disabled my sreen saver. I did this to maximize available memory and to prevent any interuptions to the capturing and rendering process. I did not experience any dropped frames.

The rendering time for producing the tape output movie was about 5 to one. It took 200 minutes to render a 40 minute movie, and another 40 minutes to write it to tape in the videocam. The rendering time for producing the standard definition DVD was quite a bit longer, about 8 hours for the 40 minute movie, plus another 10 minutes to write it out to the DVD. Since this is usually the last step in the movie production process, it is not a problem. I just do the final DVD rendering overnight.

I assume rendering times are reduced if you have a more powerful computer. All editing functions performed without problems and very quickly.

The software can also be opened in two instances which allows you to produce sub-projects and then copy and paste them into a final production.

The learning curve is modest, but if you have used other video editing software, you should be able to get going in a few days. I had previously tried another product offered by Amazon (Corel ULead) but it kept crashing and did not interface correctly with my Sony HD video camera. Fortunately, Amazon gave me a full refund and I switched to Vegas Movie Studio. I would highly recommend it.

My final advice to high definition movie makers: use a tripod.