Premiere Elements 8 Reviewed

Here's a short review of Premiere Elements 8.

I tested the software on a HP xw4400 Workstation - Core 2 6600 processor @2.4 Ghz, 2 GB ram. Make sure to review system requirements, especially if you want to edit HD.

Premiere Elements 8 user interface

Pros:

Friendly user interface with a fairly logical work-flow. The interface supports both timeline and storyboard editing. After editing, it was very easy to export a file for web upload, export to tape or burn a DVD.

Many of Premiere Pro's keyboard shortcuts apply to Premiere Elements 8 too.

Worked very nicely with both SD and HD footage. (SD footage was captured from a Sony VX2100). Easily imported HD files from a Canon Vixia HF S100 and a DXG-567 HD camera. Mixed HD and SD footage with no problems.

Using the titler was pretty easy for the most part, but I still haven't figured out how to applying a stoke (outline) to text.



Cons:

I had some trouble with the Welcome Screen. Several times when attempting to open a project, the system appeared to be working but wouldn't progress beyond that screen. When this occurred, I had to launch Windows Task Manager to force the application to close and then launch the application by double-clicking the project file.

The good news on this is that Adobe has a fix if you encounter this problem.


Conclusions:

This is definitely an ideal video editing application for the hobbyist or casual user. I having some difficulty identifying where the cutoff would be for higher end users. One of the advantages of this application is that with each new release, more advanced features trickle down from Premiere Pro without boosting the price tag for Elements. (For instance, motion tracking was just added.)

My recommendation for mid-range users is to try Premiere Elements 8 before assuming that you need the full flexibility and power of Premiere Pro CS4. You may just find that you have everything you need and save a lot money too. (Right now Premiere Elements goes for less than $90.)

A trial version is available for download here - available for Windows and the Mac.

Premiere Pro CS5 Reviewed

Here's the link to a thorough review of Adobe Premiere Pro CS 5 recently published at PC Magazine.  Since I work mostly in SD (standard definition) I'm continuing work with version CS4.

However, for HD editing you will see significant performance improvements with the latest version.  This performance boost can be attributed to two factors.  The first is that Premiere Pro CS5 only runs on a 64-bit platform.  (You can read about 64-bit computing here.)

The other factor is Adobe's new Mercury Playback Engine.  Basically this technology is able to leverage the full power of display adapters using Nvidia's CUDA technology in tandem with the computer's CPU.  Here's a short video from Adobe that explains its value:







Ugly graphics aside, one can see that the great value is the ability to work with compressed HD video formats like AVCHD and edit natively in real time with no rendering.  Exporting video is also very impressive.

At the same time, you need to determine whether or not you need all of this horse power.  Premiere Elements 8 is an excellent basic editing application that may well suit you needs (and save you hundreds of dollars.)  And it doesn't demand the 64 bit computing environment which is now required for Premiere Pro.  (You can check out my review of Premiere Elements 8 here.)

Trial versions are available for both products at Adobe.

Online Video Hosting Compared

While I complete tests on the latest release of Premiere Elements (we're now up to version 8), here's a link to the site Alternatives To YouTube. It's interesting to see which service mangles source footage the least.

View on ExposureRoom

This clip is hosted by ExposureRoom, a hosting service for both standard and high definition video. Clearly YouTube isn't the only game in town.