Adobe Premier Elements -- Wow!

[Don Tolson]

I've just started playing with this new product on editing down tens of hours of 'family' video, and I have to say 'Wow'. This is so much easier than the battle I was having with Pinnacle Studio.

Elements is a little more expensive ($140 CDN vs. $60 for Studio, including discounts), but it installs easily, has great tutorials, lots more templates and transitions, and ...RUNS VERY SMOOTHLY!


The playback is absolutely incredible, and the interface gives me frame by frame control from the keyboard, so I can make precise edits.

The visual interface is a bit different, in that there isn't a 'clips' view of the project -- everything is done on the timeline, but if you watch the included tutorial (about 15 minutes), the learning curve isn't bad at all. After about an hours worth of playing around, I'm now doing MORE things than I could with Studio.

I'm SOLD!! and very happy.

Haven't quite got to the DVD burn stage, so I'll repost to let you know how that goes in a couple of days. :turn-l: :D :D :D

[Don Tolson]

How did those reindeer get there???? I didn't add them! (Sheesh).

Anyway, rendering and burning of DVD's is slick and easy and quick. What took between 10 and 12 hours in Pinnacle Studio takes about 5 hours under Adobe Premiere Elements and the results are just as good, if not slightly better quality.

Unfortunately, there's not as much variation in DVD templates (menus, etc.), but I'm checking with Adobe to see if there are additional 'packages' you can purchase.

[bigkingfun]

Were you using Pinnacle Studio or Studio Plus before trying Elements? I'm about to buy Elements but some of the reviews I've read on the net say that Pinnacle Studio Plus is a better program. I had bad experience with Studio 8, so I'm not a big Pinnacle fan, but I'm also a little leary of version 1.0 software.

[ChunkyMonkey]

Were you using Pinnacle Studio or Studio Plus before trying Elements? I'm about to buy Elements but some of the reviews I've read on the net say that Pinnacle Studio Plus is a better program. I had bad experience with Studio 8, so I'm not a big Pinnacle fan, but I'm also a little leary of version 1.0 software.

...but Adobe has been the video editing standard for pros for years. This app might be 1.0 but I wouldn't be too surprised if it is leaps and bounds ahead of Pinnacle's version 8.

[Zack Mahdavi]

Don, did you find out anything from Adobe regarding extra DVD menu templates? How do the DVD menus look in general? Is the text anti-aliased, or does it look pixelated?

[Don Tolson]

I was using Studio 9 before. It has a good supply of templates, but as I mentioned, it was very slow and clunky on my PC.

Adobe Premiere Elements runs much smoother, has a huge number of transitions to play with, but very few DVD menu templates that are usable in a general sense. Unfortunately, the ones they do have are not modifiable in any significant way, and there is no way (I can find) to build one yourself from your own elements. They do look good. The text is anti-aliased.

I left a message with Adobe suggesting this capability be added for the next version, but haven't received any response.

[RWC_Zippy]

Thanks for the review... I also have hours upon hours of family video to get through and it looks like Premiere Elements is easy to use and quick!

I have also had Sony's Video Editing software recommended to me. Has anybody tried this one?
http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/products/vegasfamily.asp

[Connoisseur]

Sounds like a good prog. Can you comment on any of the more advanced features. For me personally, I'm very interested in audio manipulation. I've posted in the general forum about isolating background static and then eliminating it or reducing it. I think Zippy advised me that Adobe PE has a feature for this kind of work. I downloaded the trial to see how it works, but haven't been able to get it working or figured out (the features of the trial might be limited for the 30 day period?) I am not quite sure yet if I want to buy it, I spent a couple hours with it yesterday, but I didn't seem to be catching on to the whole program as quick as I'd like. The help menu didn't seem very good, but then again, that could be a function of the limited trial version. Can you comment on the audio capabilities and the learning curve a little bit?

Regards,
Connoisseur

[Don Tolson]

Hmmmm, haven't really looked at the audio portion of the program, but I'll take a look at the manual tonight (feb. 28th) and see what it can do.

[Don Tolson]

Hi Connoisseur... The 'de-noiser' is an audio effect which you can apply to any portion of a clip or a whole clip, or multiple clips (if you wish). Here's the entry from the Help file:

DeNoiser

The DeNoiser effect automatically detects tape noise and removes it. Use this effect to remove noise from analog recordings, such as magnetic tape recordings.

Noise floor

Specifies the level (in decibels) of the noise floor as the clips plays.

Freeze

Stops the noise floor estimation at the current value. Use this control to locate noise that drops in and out of a clip.

Reduction

Specifies the amount of noise to remove within a range of -20 to 0 dB.

Offset

Sets an offset value between the automatically detected noise floor and the value that you specify. This is limited to a range between -10 and +10 dB. Offset allows additional control when the automatic denoising is not sufficient.

Overall, I found the interface on Premiere Elements to be pretty intuitive and it didn't take me all that long to get up and running effectively. The biggest thing I found only by reading the manual was that you need to specifically open the Effects Control Window, which gives you fine tuning of effects placed on the clips. This window is not normally opened when you add an Effect, so without it, the noticeable effect of an Effect is sometimes nil.

[Connoisseur]

Thanks for the info on the audio controls. Sounds like some pretty good tools. I think the trial version definitely has these tools turned off. I will likely spring for the full version of the program after having played with it a few days and hearing from you about some of the other more advanced features. Much appreciated review work!

Regards,
Connoisseur