Adobe Adobe Premiere Elements 1.0

• Reviewed by: hakulei

  Strengths: Simple user interface, multiple video & audio tracks, documentation & support

  Weaknesses: Templates

  Overall: A very robust video editing program for under $100. Although I planned to edit only home videos I was swayed by its ability to work with multiple video & audio tracks (up to 99 each). It comes with hard copy manual, software tutorial & DVD. The Adobe site also has an extensive FAQ, knowledge base and user forum available. All the functions are easy to access from the interface and many tasks have been automated. A few templates are provided which can be customized. If you plan to use lots of effects or edit a large video, I would think a system would be better with a Pentium 4, 512MB RAM as a minimum & a big 2nd hard drive with lots of space to work with. Video capture is by FireWire only. If you have an analog camera you'll need a capture device. One highly recommended on the forum happens to come w/Premire Elements. There's a software bundle with Photoshop Elements if you also need a good photo editor. You can tryout the software for 30 days by download or CD (shipped free of charge).UPDATE: Version 2 has been released (Oct 05)

• Reviewed by: sinoue

  Strengths: Rock solid, great video editor

  Weaknesses: Windows XP only, DV format focus

  Overall: If you wanted something better than Pinnacle Studio or Microsoft Movie Maker, your wait is over. The new Adobe Premiere Elements is a great video editor.Video capture from your DV camcorder is great. The next/prev scene, jog shuttle control and the ability to capture an entire tape in a single pass beats the competition.Video Editing is robust & clean. I realy like the responsiveness of the app. If your DV camera is connected you get live DV/TV previews. The enhanced trim preview works way better than just using the razor tool to remove unwanted footage.You can export back to tape (DV or VHS), DVD or the web. The DVD creation is straight forward. Either an autoplay DVD (just plays the movie), or you can create cool DVDs with custom scene index's and other bonus movies.Definitely worth checking out.