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View Full Version : Adobe Premiere Elements 7 Reviewed


Jason Dunn
07-08-2009, 11:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.maximumpc.com/article/[primary-term]/premiere_elements_70?EMC-R3A917316679' target='_blank'>http://www.maximumpc.com/article/[p...MC-R3A917316679</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Our biggest problem with Premiere Elements is that it suffers a host of problems (both minor and major). The first glitch occurred when we were trying to capture HDV footage via FireWire from a Canon HV10. The app's preview screen would simply stop showing the preview footage. The content would capture, but we could not watch it as it was captured. OK, not a show stopper. More serious was our inability to burn more than one hour of HD footage to a Blu-ray disc. The app would either hang or reboot Windows Vista 64-bit. And it's not like we didn't bring enough firepower. We tested using this month's Gateway FX6800 (page 76), which was equipped with a 2.93GHz Core i7-940, Radeon HD 4870 X2, and 6GB of RAM."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1247086765.usr1.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>Reading this review, I could only nod along with their findings - Premiere Elements 7 has a lot going for it, but it's ultimately plagued by bugs, strage behaviours, and limitations around codecs and file formats. I recieved a copy for review months ago, but my review notes read like a product-bashing session because I found more wrong with it than right. Believe it or not though, I'm still using it to produce the videos you see here - that's largely because I've set up templates in it and having to re-create those templates in another program would be a pain. Ultimately, Premiere Elements 7 as a program has a lot of potential, but it doesn't live up to it.</p>

Lee Yuan Sheng
07-09-2009, 12:58 AM
Hey Jason, so what basic NLE editor would you recommend?

Jason Dunn
07-09-2009, 04:18 PM
Hey Jason, so what basic NLE editor would you recommend?

It's hard to say. SONY Vegas (their consumer-level app) is fast and stable, though the UI isn't quite as friendly - if you can figure it out, it's probably the best. Corel VideoStudio is quite good also, it offers a lot of bang for the buck.

ptyork
07-09-2009, 05:47 PM
It's hard to say. SONY Vegas (their consumer-level app) is fast and stable, though the UI isn't quite as friendly - if you can figure it out, it's probably the best. Corel VideoStudio is quite good also, it offers a lot of bang for the buck.

I know you're under NDA, but will the new Windows Live Movie Maker be a decent alternative here? I read a little about it on the Windows Live blog and it seems like it MIGHT be a pretty good alternative for even a power home user. I'm sure it'll have many limitations with regard to codec support, but would your above answer change at all were this product available?

Jason Dunn
07-09-2009, 05:51 PM
I know you're under NDA, but will the new Windows Live Movie Maker be a decent alternative here?

There's not much I can say, but I'll say that the version that is out right now is drastically inferior to the version that I'm beta testing - and the version I'm beta testing is a few months old, so I know they've continued to improve it.

Lee Yuan Sheng
07-10-2009, 07:30 PM
It's hard to say. SONY Vegas (their consumer-level app) is fast and stable, though the UI isn't quite as friendly - if you can figure it out, it's probably the best. Corel VideoStudio is quite good also, it offers a lot of bang for the buck.

But... I'm still on my Sony boycott!

Oh well. I guess I'll download a trial and see how it works.

Jason Dunn
07-10-2009, 08:42 PM
But... I'm still on my Sony boycott!

Haha...well, Sony didn't create the software, they just bought the company that made it.

Reid Kistler
07-14-2009, 01:07 AM
Reading this review, I could only nod along with their findings - Premiere Elements 7 has a lot going for it, but it's ultimately plagued by bugs, strage behaviours, and limitations around codecs and file formats...... ...I'm still using it to produce the videos you see here - that's largely because I've set up templates in it .... Ultimately, Premiere Elements 7 as a program has a lot of potential, but it doesn't live up to it.

The referenced review - from maximumpc - seems to suggest that most of the problems are related to High Definition video clips (??), with some disdain for PE7's inability to handle non-mainstream video files.
Your comments seem to indicate more pervasive problems - is that a correct understanding?

Relevant Personally as am about ready to UPGRADE to a Photoshop/Premiere Elements 7 Combination box, at what seems Very Attractive Pricing (hmm: although + S&H, no doubt).

Would be moving from a Photoshop Elements 4 / Premiere Elements 2 package. Spend more time with Photoshop E, but HAVE used Premiere E for a couple of projects. Do NOT own a Hi-Def camera - would it "safe" to assume that stepping from Premiere E 2 to Premiere E 7 would be enough of an advance to OFFSET the glitches that ver 7 appears to present?

Thanks for any comments / advice!

Lee Yuan Sheng
07-14-2009, 04:49 AM
Well, the PS/PE bundle here is US$99, so if you're already using a bundle, might as well upgrade both.

(then you can also tell me if it's worth using the combo or not. :D)

Jason Dunn
07-14-2009, 09:30 PM
Relevant Personally as am about ready to UPGRADE to a Photoshop/Premiere Elements 7 Combination box, at what seems Very Attractive Pricing (hmm: although + S&H, no doubt).

Do the upgrade on both - at that price, you can't go wrong. Photoshop Elements 7 is a great program, and Premiere Elements 7 is a big improvement over the earlier versions, even if it's got some bugs here and there that irk me. I'll put it to you this way: I still use it many times a week, so even though it has some quirks, I still rely on it.