Coming from PC ,Sony Vegas movie studio HD 10.. Need Video editor for Mac

Hey Mac Forums,

So here is the question and concern of mine,

i Just switched over to Mac (iMac 21.5 and macbook pro 2010) from the PC world and my main reason is because i do music and Macs are a little more friendly in the crash department. BUT, i also did Music Videos on my pc using Sony Vegas Studio 10 HD platinum and it was a GREAT program for what i needed it for... I only do music videos about 5-7 video tracks, 1 music track, and 1-2 text tracks. Sony vegas studio HD 10 came with more than enough effects and transitions to get the job done for me.. but sony is not mac compatible so i started looking at other programs in the same price tag ballpark as sony, for mac (because even 300$ for FCPX i feel is to much just for editing 4 minute videos, and all the reviews i've read say that the magnetic timeline make music video editing a pain in the butt on FCPX.) So far i've tried Adobe premiere elements 9 and it is LACKING so many effects and options that Sony Vegas HD studio platinum has that i could not use PE9 as my video editor, there is NO way.. so the next option is FCPX and i've taken the last few days to learn imovie (since i hear FCPX is really a pro version of imovie) and i get imovie to the fullest(it too is also lacking for what i need, but a nice free editor i must say)... But upon my friends and reviews, i hear that FCPX is NOT a wise choice for me... SO my question is, what video editor is like Sony vegas studio HD 10 platinum for mac? I dont want to run bootcamp cause i dont feel like buying windows just to use that program (money is an issue with me because buying music plugins and software are my first investments) ..... so at this point i feel my options are 1.) buy a new PC just to run the program i'm most comfortable with 2.) spend 300$ on a program that i hear is a headache when editing music videos.. I hope some of you will have some advice for me because i'm very upset right now that Mac really dosent have a good prosumer video editor that i'm aware of.... Thank you so much for your time and i appreciate your time!!!

For the love of all that's holy, PARAGRAPHS!!

Okay, now that that's out of the way ...

Bottom line: if you're looking for something exactly like Sony Vegas Studio HD 10, you're out of luck. Mac is the industry standard for video editing, but no other program is "like" Sony Vegas except Sony Vegas in the same sense that FCP is the only program like FCP.

I can't see how "buying a new PC just to run" Vegas would be cheaper than buying an OEM version of Windows and running it on your Mac. If you're most comfortable with Sony Vegas, at least for the time being I'd suggest using it in Windows on the Mac you have.

Secondly, I wouldn't pay too much attention to comments regarding FCPX, as most of them come from people who were comfortable with the older version of FCP/FCS and the new one make a lot of changes (no, it's NOT just a pro version of iMovie, but it DOES borrow some of the philosophy) which makes video-editor types SUPER grumpy.

I'm not a pro video editor but I have done video-editing in my time, and I've taken a look at FCPX with "fresher" eyes than some and I think that around 75% of the criticism is just "I hate change" cranky-old-man talk and about 25% is perfectly valid "this is for all intents and purposes a 1.0 program" criticism.

Apple does need to make some tweaks and changes -- just as they did when they reinvented iMovie a few years back (oh the wailing and gnashing of teeth back then, all pretty silenced now). I think they made a mistake in believing that the conservative pro market would leap forward with them. They'll come around with some time and some tweaks and some third-party help, IMO, and five years from now might well have a fanatical fan following that the others will be scrambling to imitate. But that's not going to happen anytime real soon.

If you can get ahold of the older FCP you might want to give that a spin, you might also look at Premiere Pro rather than Elements (which is a consumer program). There are a couple of other pro-level editing packages out there as well.

You can also take a look at FCE (Final Cut Express) which should be easy to find on ebay fairly cheap now since I don't think it's sold new in stores any more. The biggest negative is though that there is no BluRay authoring support in FCE OR iDVD (which may be irrelevant if you're going for online distribution or DVD distribution)

I'm not a fan of FCPX due to MY needs as an editor, but it is a good product for those that have needs different from mine (which is why I haven't moved from FCS3) - with what you're looking to do, it would be a good product although you are right, it would be expensive - until you compare it to Vegas Studio Pro which is $599.

On a final note - as mentioned by chas_m - PLEASE use paragraphs, it makes bodies of text much easier to read.

For the type of videos you are making you may want to consider Screenflow for $99. It is mainly a screencast program, but I use it for movie editing all the time. SOOOOO much easier to learn than FCP as well.

Here is a tour of screenflow:
Screenflow v3.0 Tour - YouTube

From Faasoft's guide, I know that:

Sony Vegas is video editing software created by Sony. You can make a ton of things with this program. Undoubtedly, Sony Vegas is one of the best and most popular video editors on the market nowadays.

Unfortunately, if you are a Mac user or switch from Windows to Mac recently, you will only find that Sony Vegas on longer works for you since it just has Windows version. It is worse that few of editors which work on Mac nowadays are similar to Sony Vegas.

There are two options placed in front of Mac users: turn to another editing program or install Windows OS on Mac OS X.

Other Sony Vegas for Mac Alternative

You should note that Faasoft Video Editor for Mac is more focused on video and audio transformation, although it is an all-in-one video and audio solution. Maybe it can't fulfill the requirement of the experienced filmmaker or the professional broadcast producer. In this case, we recommend another two more professional editor for you: Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro.

Adobe Premiere Pro is a timeline-based video editing software application, which is compatible with either the Mac or PC. It is $19.99 per month for Premiere Pro CC only and $49.99 per month for everything in the Creative Cloud. Better still, Adobe Premiere Pro has a 30 day free trial, so you can try that out if you want.

Final Cut Pro is only available on Mac OS X. This application is the name given to a series of non-linear video editing software programs - first developed by Macromedia Inc. and later Apple Inc, which allows users to log and transfer video onto a hard drive (internal or external), where it can be edited, processed, and output to a wide variety of formats. It costs 299$ and also has a trial version.