Adobe Premiere Elements..what's its value?

[TheFamilyMan]

The is not a review, but my observation of Adobe Premiere Elements.

Right off the bat, I discovered that this application is directed SOLEY at DV camcorder capturing, editing and authoring for the video novice. It allows only ONE resolution: 720x480 NTSC and the corresponding PAL resolution. So, if you got a bunch of 352x480 MPEG2 files you want to cleanup into a "production' (which I do), you're forced to save at 720x480 . This alone has killed my enthusiasm for this app. Also, it is still quite buggy. It says it can import a MPEG2 directly, though their support website says don't do this (which is actually good advice, convert MPEGs first to AVIs for editing). This is NOT a general purpose movie editing app. My 2 year old copy of winproducer 2 has far more import and export capabilties that his lame piece o'crap. DO NOT BUY this unless you know nothing about converting your DV camcorder footage to DVD. Even then, wait for some patches to be released.

edit:

I just copied this to the tools comments...I looked there before posting and could not find it listed...sorry for the double post.

[brookelh]

I submitted Premiere Elements just today as a new tool. Glad to see a comment on it; it was on my list of programs that I was considering!

[guns1inger]

Premiere Elements is aimed at the home camera market. It's primary brief was to provide a cut down version of Premiere that would allow an average home user to take footage from their DV camera, edit it, and transfer it to DVD as simply as possible. As DV cameras do not record is non-standard resolutions, there is no need to handle anything outside standard NTSC and PAL resolution. Given the market it is aimaing at, it appears to do what it set out to achieve. That it doesn't help you edit downloaded footage or convert SVCD's doesn't make it a "lame piece o'crap", just targetted at a different set of tasks. Unless you actually set out the brief and payed for the software to be written to your specification, your comments are childish and pointless.

[lordsmurf]

guns1inger, I think that's going a bit too far.

Software that limited is almost worthless in my opinion too. This is why software like Encore has a limited lifetime (this being newbies for a short time).

Hardly worth $100.

The DVD spec is a large monster, and I bet inserting artificial limits (720x480 only) takes more time than just leaving it alone (after all, it uses some flavor of the MainConcept encoder for MPEG, which we all know can do mulitple resolutions).

Even though Pegasys has some problem in their TMPGENC softwares, at least they've got the right idea. Ease of use without digitally castrating you.

Adobe has lost a lot of my respect this past year. Most of their new software is just plain shitty. CPU hogs, limited features, overpriced.

[guns1inger]

Sorry. It wasn't meant as a personal slur, however coming from a development background, I take issue with people who criticise software for not having features it was not designed to have. Premiere Elements is designed for home DV camera users to edit video and create DVD's using software based around Adobe tech. As mini-DV supports only NTSC and PAL spec at a single res, this is all Elements needs to support. It doesn't purport to be a creation tool that supports the full DVD spec (even Encore doesn't seem to do that), nor for transferring any old video odds and sods lying around your hard drive. There are dozens of tools that will do that. That others choose to support more formats/wider range of resolutions etc should be grounds for applause to those do, not brick bats to those who choose not to.

I agree that buggy software should be canned, and there is no excuse for releasing software that does not support features it advertises to do.

Judging by a lot of the beginner posts around here, there is space for a straight forward tool that removes the guess work (what res is PAL ?, what field first ? etc) and keeps it simple.

I believe Adobe were on a hiding to nothing anyway. Everyone else has a cut down version of their pro package except Adobe. If they didn't release Elements, they would get kicked for not having a consumer version of Premiere Pro. So they release Elements, and get kicked because it isn't Premiere Pro.

Just as Theatre would be more fun to work in if there weren't those bloody actors around all the time, so software development would be more fun if it weren't for those ungrateful bastards - users.

[Boolean]

Here! Here! guns1inger

[lordsmurf]

I see the point, but I think the blame should be shifted more middle ground.

For starters, they need documentation that is not written by computer nerds that barely understand English (this includes those in the USA, UK and other places where this is inexcuseable... just poor grammar and grasp of writing to the masses).

Then we need software that gives a couple of good solid options. Not too many, not too few. The DVD spec has 4 resolutions. If a DVD recorder can use "mode" names (SP, LP, EP, etc .. or 1-hour, 2-hour, 3-hour, etc), then software should as hell can too. This is good for bitrate control.

There's a lot of room for growth in computers and software. We need to weed out bad writers, bad coders, and bad users. There is a huge middleground to be had if somebody would just find it.

And they need to quit skating around thing for marketing purposes. I see nothing wrong with a little honesty. Example? "A 6-hour DVD will allow for great compression and storage space, but quality will suffer. Using a low compression, with less hours on a disc, will yield better quality." Why the **** is this so hard? You've got shit philanderers like Panasonic touting "best quality in the world up to 8 hours" when it's obvious bullshit. This is the root of almost all frustration: marketing bullshit, and companies that assume all users are stupid (and deserve no-option software/hardware).

[VideoTechMan]

Its usually obvious...most people complain when some software is out of their handreach price-wise.

I believe Elements was released for those who cant afford the higher end of its Pro cousin. Since Pro was designed more for professional users, there was probably no doubt that consumers complaining on why there isnt a version that more people could afford for home use (you know..the kind of users who has nothing but shaking home video they want to make into a masterpiece).

For $100 for Elements, its very stripped down and doesnt have much to offer for those who want high quality video.

VTM

[TheFamilyMan]

My original statement "lame piece o'crap" was made hastily. For some users, PE may be fantastic, doing exactly everything that they bought it for (as I stated it does in the beginning of my original post). I would not call this junky software. I bought my copy on impulse at a my kid's school fund raiser for $60. I was expecting more in terms of import and export features, which the product description lead me to believe existed. It would be nice if the literature for products of this sort would identify the resolution of the formats they support for import and export, rather than simply list the file types. Two other consumer level movie editors I have (intervideo's winproducer, ulead's video studio) have no problems with import and export formats of 352x480; I made the wrong assumption that adobe would also allow this sort of flexibility with its consumer level product. Bottom line: I cannot use PE for my intended purpose. My above harsh statement is my emotional judgement of how useful I found PE to be.

[thecoalman]

Any software that limits basic functionality such as resolution in this case is a "lame piece o'crap". The name is "Elements" correct. Isn't one of the elemental functions of video editing software being able to adjust resolution? At the very least some basic presets should be included such as the ones LS suggested.

[guns1inger]

Actually, the elemental function of editing software is to cut, join, and maybe add transitions. If you were using a traditional tape to tape editing suite, you would not even consider resolution an issue.

That said, if PE doesn't meet the market expectations, no one will buy it and it will disappear. Or Adobe will add extra functionality until the market accepts it.

[devlynh]

Premiere Elements is as refreshing change in the industry. It does exactly what it claims to do.
When compared to Apple's iMovie and other $100 video editing software it shines. One package, input to output without having to read a manual. This should be enough for 99% of all users. Those of you that want to output in various DVD compliant formats beyond MP@ML need to look at more complicated DVD authoring packages. And considering that 99% of users don't care about resoultion, bitrate, etc.. Elements will be exactly what they need.
My congratulations to Adobe they just might have the killer app for Video on the PC for the home.
More software needs to be like this.

[CNT]

It allows only ONE resolution: 720x480 NTSC and the corresponding PAL resolution. So, if you got a bunch of 352x480 MPEG2 files you want to cleanup into a "production' (which I do), you're forced to save at 720x480

Interesting. As newbie as I am in video editing, I finally gave up Pinnacle problematics. I am looking for a new video capture/editing/record system (hardware and software). Looking at the Avid and it's way over priced. I am looking for something under $200, which the PYRO A/V Link is. It includes the Adobe Premiere Elements. Seems after reading a few about it in here that it's very limited version (and I can understand that). I have PhotoShop Elements and it's great for me, just for me.

I am still awkward with video stuff. I am still in analog age (Hi8). So, for my needs I like to have analog and DV unit to be able to do both. Tell me, if all I am doing is editing videos (family) from camcorder to PC and then output to VHS and DVD (or VCD too), is 720x480 all I need or I still need the 352x480 to do AVI or anything else?

Lastly, about rendering, does this software still need to do rendering for the final output? I looked for it and couldn't see how this does the rendering. Is it hardware capturing/rendering? I read that some software does not need any rendering, just edit and ready to go right away, no waiting.

Chuck

[brookelh]

I am not sure, but I don't think that Premier Elements will do analog capture, so you would need another program for that.

[CNT]

I am not sure, but I don't think that Premier Elements will do analog capture, so you would need another program for that.

Maybe that's correct. The thing about the PYRO A/V Link is it converter is in the breakout box, so any analog going into the PC would have it's video in DV format already. Also, as supposed, it will output to analog too, from the converter breakout box.

Chuck

[edDV]

I am not sure, but I don't think that Premier Elements will do analog capture, so you would need another program for that.

Maybe that's correct. The thing about the PYRO A/V Link is it converter is in the breakout box, so any analog going into the PC would have it's video in DV format already. Also, as supposed, it will output to analog too, from the converter breakout box.

Chuck

Analog will come in OK through the Pyro A/V link as DV. Some DV only packages expect to be in communication with a camcorder and won't allow capture without a camera present. I would hope this isn't the case with Elements since it comes packaged with Pyro A/V. There will be a setting someplace for manual capture w/o camcorder automation.

The original poster, TheFamilyMan, may be happier with ULead Video Studio 8 which will edit MPeg1, MPeg2 or DV and do a reasonable job with each. I use Vegas or Premiere for DV editing, but find the ULead VS easiest to use for MPeg. It's a good suite of tools.

[CNT]

Can you guys help me with this thread??

Chuck