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All reviews for Adobe Premiere Elements
| 16 reviews, Showing 1 to 16 reviews |
Version 7.0 can import AVCHD files from camcorder, and edit directly on the timeline. Takes a fast computer of course, but it works. One of the most powerful features of Premiere, keyframing (animated effects), is somewhat hidden but fully functional. Inline rendering takes forever for some effects, but most are reasonable. Export options now include varieties of HD mpeg4 (H.263), HD mpeg2, and HD WMV (those are the ones I tried) -- the HD encodings all looked good to my eyes.
I never used the disc creation features in this version, usually just play H.263 output files from PE7 through a PS3 onto projector. When I want to make a disc (DVD or BR), I use TMPG authoring works 4.
Basically has all the features of the pro version that any consumer could possibly use, at a small fraction of the pro price. Excellent value.
I never used the disc creation features in this version, usually just play H.263 output files from PE7 through a PS3 onto projector. When I want to make a disc (DVD or BR), I use TMPG authoring works 4.
Basically has all the features of the pro version that any consumer could possibly use, at a small fraction of the pro price. Excellent value.
Review by vectorizer on
Nov 27, 2009 Version: 7
OS: Vista 64-bit Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
I have been using Adobe Premiere Pro for a long time and was awfully impressed how much of the "pro" product is actually available in Premiere Elements for as cheap as it retails! Yes, the interface may not be "pretty" drag-drop, but once you "get it", you will actually realize that all the "pretty" tools are actually not as powerful as this one. Plain and simple, Premiere Elements offers a LOT of value!
By the way, I am posting a link to a website that offers Premiere Elements tutorials. It's by the publishers of Photoshop Elements User magazine, but they do cover Premiere Elements as well - scroll to the bottom of the "Learning Center" page to see Premiere Elements tutorials.
By the way, I am posting a link to a website that offers Premiere Elements tutorials. It's by the publishers of Photoshop Elements User magazine, but they do cover Premiere Elements as well - scroll to the bottom of the "Learning Center" page to see Premiere Elements tutorials.
Review by easoto on
Jul 19, 2007 Version: 3
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 7/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
I've used version 1.0 and now I recently upgraded to 3.0.
I am a novice at video editing, although I am continuously learning much more and producing more complicated edits. I am now expirimenting with "more sophisticated" video editing software, however, I am still VERY satisfied with using Premiere Elements for a lot of situations. I say, so long as you keep things simple, this is a Wonderful application.
You can string together some free applications which will do everything that this app will do, but I find the UI very easy to figure out.
If I have one complaint, it is that I don't find the in-application help to be useful often. And then, there are no official forums to support this (if you ever check out the Adobe forums, they're worthless IMO). But, overall, this is a very intuitive application for anyone with decent computer skills.
If all you do is capture DV tapes and then edit home movies, create DVD's, or maybe make movies for internet/youtube.com use; then this is definitely worth checking out. And, to make things better, it is very reasonably priced IMO.
I am a novice at video editing, although I am continuously learning much more and producing more complicated edits. I am now expirimenting with "more sophisticated" video editing software, however, I am still VERY satisfied with using Premiere Elements for a lot of situations. I say, so long as you keep things simple, this is a Wonderful application.
You can string together some free applications which will do everything that this app will do, but I find the UI very easy to figure out.
If I have one complaint, it is that I don't find the in-application help to be useful often. And then, there are no official forums to support this (if you ever check out the Adobe forums, they're worthless IMO). But, overall, this is a very intuitive application for anyone with decent computer skills.
If all you do is capture DV tapes and then edit home movies, create DVD's, or maybe make movies for internet/youtube.com use; then this is definitely worth checking out. And, to make things better, it is very reasonably priced IMO.
Review by GermWarfare on
Jan 18, 2007 Version: 3.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
When will people understand that non linear editor are NOT meant for xvid,Divx and other variations of the AVI container. Use it for what it is intended for. Connect camera and transfer you DV. Edit it and out put to final format. Instead people insist on loading files of dubious origin and then wonder why it doesn not work or is not accepted. Then they will critisize the product. Hey listen, I am not defending this particular product but simply stating that it is not being advertized as an Xvid or Divx editor. There are other very nice tools that will happily do that for you. Just not Premiere or even Vegas.
Review by jtoolman2000 on
Nov 17, 2006 Version: 3.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 7/10
Functionality: 6/10
Value for money: 8/10
Overall: 7/10
Very disappointing results. Files which open and play in other editing programs cause errors in Premier. Encoding times for DVD are very, very long, making a single DVD takes hours. Exporting in XVID MPG4 causes consistent program crashes. Any export format other than full quality AVI looks awful, pixelated and jumpy playback. Something seems very wrong with this software, and while it has some nice editing features, it's other shortcomings far outweigh any advantages in this area.
Review by hawkeye59 on
Nov 13, 2006 Version: Premier 3
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 5/10
Functionality: 5/10
Value for money: 2/10
Overall: 3/10
Have started with almost no experience with video editing and found that after going through the online tutorial I was able to produce a quite nice little video. The software seems to have all features needed by a home user. The only odd thing is that on the time line the video/audio tracks are pretty small and it is hard to adjust the levels there. Agree with the other post here - quality of photographs looks much worse than the original in some cases (slideshow type video). Have just upgraded to 3.0 but cannot comment on that yet.
Review by petermoe on
Oct 17, 2006 Version: V2.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 8/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 8/10
Forget it. Easily the least friendly interface and the worst output I've ever seen in name-brand software of this type, and I've used plenty over the past 10 years. Designed solely for Dv cameras; any other type of video or still image is rendered atrociously, regardless of output format (AVI, DV, MPEG, etc). For slide shows, it really tears up digital photos. The interface must have been designed in one day by a Rastafarian monk undergoing some kind of trance. Online help was apparently designed before the final interface version, because many examples don't match the interface. There are oddities such as wipes whose direction is the reverse of any standard I've seen, and difficult to change. Adobe should be ashamed of themselves, and every programmer associated with it should be sacked.
Review by sanlyn on
Aug 7, 2006 Version: v.2 (U153)
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 2/10
Functionality: 8/10
Value for money: 1/10
Overall: 1/10
NOT bad! Simply 2nd BEST. The engine is quite good, but the functionality is somewhat lacking and non-intuitive compared to other packages in this price range.
Review by slacker on
Sep 18, 2005 Version: 1
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 6/10
Value for money: 4/10
Overall: 4/10
It's okay for a $100 program, but the quality/clip accuracy is not very good.
Review by starofradiance on
Jul 30, 2005 Version: 2.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 6/10
Value for money: 4/10
Overall: 5/10
Lately I've been using Premier Elements for capturing VHS video and burning to DVD. I use a Canopus adaptor to connect the VCR. I've tried a few other programs, but the encoding didn't look good. Premier Elements, on the other hand, has an EXCELLENT encoder (and you pay the price in the amount of time it takes to process the video, but it's worth it).
Also I've captured raw camcorder footage and use Prem. Elem. to edit them. Simple, easy to use transitions (fade to black, etc.) and an easy way to boost audio levels for those scenes that are hard to hear make this my favorite general purpose SW. I really like it that I can encode once and burn to DVD. It's too easy when using more than one program to end up re-encoding wasting time and quality.
For special jobs, where I want more control over DVD menus, and more special effects (such as creating masks for each of multiple videos, and bringing videos into and off of the screen, etc.) I use Serif MoviePlus 4. It's around $50, but is very powerful. I wish however that it burned DVDs, but it doesn't. It's focus is editing only.
Tex
Also I've captured raw camcorder footage and use Prem. Elem. to edit them. Simple, easy to use transitions (fade to black, etc.) and an easy way to boost audio levels for those scenes that are hard to hear make this my favorite general purpose SW. I really like it that I can encode once and burn to DVD. It's too easy when using more than one program to end up re-encoding wasting time and quality.
For special jobs, where I want more control over DVD menus, and more special effects (such as creating masks for each of multiple videos, and bringing videos into and off of the screen, etc.) I use Serif MoviePlus 4. It's around $50, but is very powerful. I wish however that it burned DVDs, but it doesn't. It's focus is editing only.
Tex
Review by tex on
Jul 29, 2005 Version: 2.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 8/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
The ONLY way I would call this program 'easy' is if you already use Premiere or you are a total geek. I've seen some bad interfaces, but Premiere Elements 1 is totally confusing. You have to add your 'text' to the media list before you add it to the video. What's up with that? Not intuitive for a 'home' user. Over lapping windows every where. DVD Authoring is way limited. Only good thing I can point out is that DVD templates can be created in Photoshop Elements 3.
Review by ggrussell on
Jan 9, 2005 Version: 3
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 1/10
Functionality: 2/10
Value for money: 1/10
Overall: 1/10
Came into Premiere Elements with no video experience.
This program is targeted to DV camcorder owners. It is an all in one type program for capture, editing, effects, and DVD authoring. It has limited output capabilties.
The real strength is the video editing. It is almost as powerful as Premiere and once you understand how the program works it works very well.
The downside as I see them. The manual is terrible. It assumes you know all about DV. It gives basic guidance on tasks but never really tells you what the program can do and how to make it do it! Additionally, the template based DVD menu creation capability is very limited. You can't have a "play first" intro clip. There is no way to do video stills as buttons on the main menu so you either have to author a full lenght movie (does anyone want to get an hour long home movie from your mother in-law?) or your limited to text buttons on the main menu.
All in all it is a very good program in it's first iteration. If they improve the DVD Authoring capabilites it will far outclass most of the cheaper all in one apps like Pinnacle Studio.
This program is targeted to DV camcorder owners. It is an all in one type program for capture, editing, effects, and DVD authoring. It has limited output capabilties.
The real strength is the video editing. It is almost as powerful as Premiere and once you understand how the program works it works very well.
The downside as I see them. The manual is terrible. It assumes you know all about DV. It gives basic guidance on tasks but never really tells you what the program can do and how to make it do it! Additionally, the template based DVD menu creation capability is very limited. You can't have a "play first" intro clip. There is no way to do video stills as buttons on the main menu so you either have to author a full lenght movie (does anyone want to get an hour long home movie from your mother in-law?) or your limited to text buttons on the main menu.
All in all it is a very good program in it's first iteration. If they improve the DVD Authoring capabilites it will far outclass most of the cheaper all in one apps like Pinnacle Studio.
Review by dwswager on
Jan 6, 2005 Version: 1.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 8/10
Value for money: 7/10
Overall: 7/10
I am using v1.0 and you can export .avi easily through the file menu. It doesn't appear in the quick export button in the toolbar though. I import my DV source avi, edit it, and then export it to DV .avi. I then encode it using TMPGEnc Xpress.
Review by Quantum on
Dec 9, 2004 Version: 1.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 8/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 8/10
Obviously it isn't comparable with a semi-professional video editing software as Adobe Premiere Pro or Avid Xpress,
but fortunately it's the same for the price!!
If you need a tool easy to use as Ulead DVD Worshop or Pinnacle 9.3 and you won't pay more than € 99 to produce your personal DVD-Video or DVD-PictureShow (I say your "Digital Memory") you can find in Premiere Elements:
- the same easy and powerful editing in Premiere Pro
- a very good MPEG2 codec (it seems the same Main Concept codec used in Premiere Pro)
- titles and transictions easy to apply with drag and drop
- a quick and forward DVD menů authoring comparable only with Ulead DVD Workshop
- multiple video and audio tracks
- mastering capability
- one product at all .
Sure you need to specify your source file property in project definition prior to realize it, you need to define every option to be sure your result is really what you want,
but you can also define your favorite MPEG2 bit rate (as example 8Mbps constant bit rate), your pixel aspect ratio (1,4xx means 16:9 output), your audio compression (MPEG 384 Bps) and every detail to define your MPEG2 options: your DVD output final quality.
If you define the Chapters Start Point on the Timeline you'll find the DVD Selection Scene ready simply choosing a template.
In one hour you define your DVD, than it's your PC that realize IT.
If you need a DVD all in one solution, from firewire to DVD media, I suggest it, If you need digital video software obviously not.
but fortunately it's the same for the price!!
If you need a tool easy to use as Ulead DVD Worshop or Pinnacle 9.3 and you won't pay more than € 99 to produce your personal DVD-Video or DVD-PictureShow (I say your "Digital Memory") you can find in Premiere Elements:
- the same easy and powerful editing in Premiere Pro
- a very good MPEG2 codec (it seems the same Main Concept codec used in Premiere Pro)
- titles and transictions easy to apply with drag and drop
- a quick and forward DVD menů authoring comparable only with Ulead DVD Workshop
- multiple video and audio tracks
- mastering capability
- one product at all .
Sure you need to specify your source file property in project definition prior to realize it, you need to define every option to be sure your result is really what you want,
but you can also define your favorite MPEG2 bit rate (as example 8Mbps constant bit rate), your pixel aspect ratio (1,4xx means 16:9 output), your audio compression (MPEG 384 Bps) and every detail to define your MPEG2 options: your DVD output final quality.
If you define the Chapters Start Point on the Timeline you'll find the DVD Selection Scene ready simply choosing a template.
In one hour you define your DVD, than it's your PC that realize IT.
If you need a DVD all in one solution, from firewire to DVD media, I suggest it, If you need digital video software obviously not.
Review by gigoro1968 on
Dec 9, 2004 Version: 1.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 7/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 8/10
Well, this is sort of a double post, but after using the tool a while I feel that my original post was a bit biased. It is absolutely true that your source media must be 720x480 or the associate PAL resolution. If is isn't, the tool assumes your souces has missing pixels and creates a distorted video with wide black bars on each side. Once you get around this limitation though, this video editor is top rate IMHO. All of the actually editing features are easy to use and the tool provides a good depth of functionality and flexibility for editing. This is easily the best tool of its type I've used (winproducer, video studio). I've yet to have it crash while editing or exporting (importing is not as robust). Its output supports most compressed formats but does not allow AVI to be exported. Its MPEG generation parameters are tunable (though your stuck with either full DVD, SVCD or VCD resolutions) and the results are very good quality. If you want, you can author your project and write it to DVD with this tool.
IMHO this is a tool that could have been a "run-away" great video editor for the consumer market if it had supported more than one input project resolution, and supported AVI output and more MPEG resultions. Its a shame that they did this since the inner workings are so great and extensive. (I've converted 352x480 footage to 720x480 just so I could use the tool. The results are excellent, with very little if any quality loss; though it still pains me to do this.)
IMHO this is a tool that could have been a "run-away" great video editor for the consumer market if it had supported more than one input project resolution, and supported AVI output and more MPEG resultions. Its a shame that they did this since the inner workings are so great and extensive. (I've converted 352x480 footage to 720x480 just so I could use the tool. The results are excellent, with very little if any quality loss; though it still pains me to do this.)
Review by TheFamilyMan on
Nov 15, 2004 Version: 1.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 7/10
Value for money: 7/10
Overall: 8/10
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.
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.
Review by TheFamilyMan on
Oct 26, 2004 Version: 1.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 3/10
Value for money: 3/10
Overall: 4/10
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