I’m not sure why Sony have the upgrade policy that they do, but it does mean that you can get Sony Vegas Pro at a very considerable discount, at least in the UK. 

Here in the UK, the full price of Sony Vegas Pro is £425.95 for the DVD or £415.95 for the download version.  However, you can get the upgrade from Movie Studio 9 to Sony Vegas Pro for just £254.95 (DVD) and £229.45 (download version).

Since Movie Studio starts at £28.95, that means you can get Sony Vegas for just £229.45 + £28.95 = £258.40.  That represents a saving of £157.55 on buying Sony Vegas Pro from the outset.

I have checked the UK Sony site, and these were the correct details on 21st December 2008. 

The savings in the US are less, but then the US pays less for Sony products anyway.

In the US, Sony Vegas Pro is $549.95 (download).  The upgrade from Vegas Movie Studio costs $425.95, and Movie Studio costs $54.95 giving a total cost of $480.90.  That represents a saving of just $69.05.

Getting Sony Vegas Cheap

To take advantage of these savings, her is what you need to do.

1. Go along to the Sony Site and make sure you have your country correctly selected in the top right.
2. Buy a copy of Movie Studio.
3. Go back the this page, and click on the link to “Upgrades” in the right hand menu.
4. Buy an upgrade from Movie Studio to Vegas Pro.

When you go to buy the upgrade, you will need to type in the qualifying serial number before you can proceed:

Just enter the serial number for Movie Studio, and you’ll be able to purchase Vegas Pro.