Adobe Premiere Elements
on 01.13.05, 07:16am in software • comments (11)
[Omar Shahine] I have tried Sonic, Roxio and Nero products for doing the above and all have fallen short of my expectations… heck I used a Mac for this stuff so I know where the bar is! But I have to say, THANK YOU ADOBE for giving us an affordable, quality, software package that finally puts Windows on par with the Mac for creating DVD’s and Editing Videos. And of course, you can just drag and drop your Photo Story 3 movies directly into Premiere Elements making for a pretty seamless experience.
Omar’s experiences with video editing on the PC seem to echo my own. While I love Photostory 3, the video editing packages that I’ve tried on the PC (Movie Maker, Nero, Sonic, Roxio, etc.) all leave me with Mac-envy. While I’ve heard that Sony Vegas is supposed to be one of the best, it’s just way out of my league (and at $600 it’s a bit out of my price range for home movies).
I went ahead and ordered the ‘combo’ pack of Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements and am expecting it to arrive today. I’ll post some observations/comments after playing with it for a bit.
Denis (January 13, 2005 @ 11:44 am)
Maybe it just me but… when it comes to Video Apple wipe the floor with Adobe and everyone else. Premiere Pro and Premier Elements are no were near as Good or Easy to Use as Final Cut Express and I won’t even start to compare them to Final Cut Pro HD. which is a lot easier to use then Avid Xpress DV and it fully support HD Video :-).
By the way one good app that totally free is
Avid Free DV
http://www.avid.com/freedv
**Only output Quicktime
Nat (January 14, 2005 @ 3:08 pm)
Well, I’m a Vegas editor and I think it blows everything out there
Easier to use than FCP and as powerful if not more in some areas.
There is a little brother to Vegas called movie studio that sells for around 100$ and is great for beginners.
http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/products/studiofamily.asp
Nat
Denis (January 14, 2005 @ 7:12 pm)
Don’t get me wrong I‚Äôm a big fan of Sound Forge & Acid (Logic & Soundtrack on Mac) and I tried a copy of Vegas when it came out, it’s a pretty ok Video Editor has better Audio support then any other video app on Windows thanks to Sound Forge and Acid which is great, but when it come to effects, transitions, video codec support like DVCPRO HD and Colour Correction, FCP is in a different league with features like LiveType, Soundtrack, Cinema Tools, Compressor and it support Adobe After Effects Plug-in which is fantastic.. And it Real Time on most G5‚Äôs
Ok I admit FCP is only really for PROS at $1000… But why would I buy Vegas 5 for $600+ which is aimed at PROS and has no HD support, when I could buy a Mac mini with Mac OS X and iMovie which aimed at Home users and dose support HD and is a hell of a lot easier to use then any other video app on Windows or Mac for a total of $500!
I‚Äôd save $100 and get myself a HD Editor into the bargain…
Nat (January 15, 2005 @ 1:54 pm)
Well, Vegas can edit HD since version 4… Before FCP could do it… It will support resolutions up to 2048*2048. It can now edit HDV content also. Color correction is on par with FCP since version 4. You have 5-6 plugins only for color correction. It also supports pretty much any codec… You can edit DVCPRO25/50 using the mainconcept codec. DVCPRO HD is only ONE sort of HD among a bunch of other codecs. I personnaly don’t know anyone with a DVCPRO HD camera…
I’m a pro editor myself, I edited a 11×30 minutes tv shows with it last summer and never felt limited… My friend works on FCP and I think it’s great, but not better than Vegas, it’s at the same level.
Denis (January 15, 2005 @ 4:28 pm)
Final cut pro and Avid Adrenaline were the first apps to support True HD by a mile on Mac or PC. Final Cut Pro supports FILM which is even higher resolution then HD…, yes Vegas can edit at 2048*2048 so can Premiere 6 it dose not mean that Premiere 6 support HD. the problem is that it dose not come with HD base codec unless you buy 3rd party codec‚Äôs. I mean iMovie supports HD Codec DVCPRO HD out of the box. It cost $80 with iLife and is aimed at Home Users
Editing HD on Vegas on most Video workstations without HD Codec‚Äôs is unworkable, you can’t even get HD Video off a HD Cameras without DVCPRO HD… Come on
When Vegas supports DVCPRO HD out of the box. Then it will be a HD Editor until then it just another SD Editor
by the way DVCPRO25/50 is a DV codec not a HD codec infect DVCPRO25/50 is 24P DV Codec if you own a HD Camera like the Sony HDR-FX1E it only used DVCPRO HD for HD. and higher end cameras also only used DVCPRO HD or HDV which is also supported by FCP
FCP has a bigger market share of the video editors then Vegas, Premiere Pro, Avid Adrenaline. Which speaks for it self?
FCP is aimed at Avid Adrenaline users who are using high end Avid workstation costing up to $10000+, I was a Avid Adrenaline user before I switch to the Mac and FCP it just a lot cheaper and it still dose everything that Avid Adrenaline dose and more, I also work on Window PC for Discreet cleaner XL,Scenarist and After Effects
Nat (January 15, 2005 @ 6:50 pm)
Wow, I like people who don’t know what they are talking about.
Using Vegas you can output WMV HD video up to 1080P 60i. Furthermore, you can output High def Mpeg2. On top of that you can edit HDV. This is all out of the box with no codecs to buy And how about this : you can edit HDCAM which is DVCpro’s rival format.
You seem to think that “HD” means DVCPRO HD, wake up… There are tons of HD codecs out there, and Vegas can edit a good bunch of them. And about FCP being able to edit film, FCP edits proxy files… Vegas can edit proxy files also.
“the problem is that it dose not come with HD base codec unless you buy 3rd party codec‚Äôs.”
WMV, MPEG2, MPEG4, DIVX, Component, Quicktime, these are all codecs that come with Vegas and can output HD, so please, get to know the program before telling lies. And for your information, I worked in a couple post houses and nobody uses DVCPRO HD… I don’t say it’s bad but all the people with whom I worked use either HDCAM or uncompressed formats (which vegas can handle)
You can’t judge the quality of a software by it’s userbase, Vegas user base is smaller because they couldn’t afford good marketing in the past… That might change soon…
Frigid (January 15, 2005 @ 11:55 pm)
Denis. I happen to personally know professionals in the industry, who have done work for several major networks (Fox, ESPN, USA, and on, and on) that hands down suggest Vegas over FCP. Not only that but Major network shows (Fear Factor on the fox network for one) have been rough cut on Vegas becuase of it’s incredibly easy workflow. The EDL was then imported into XPRI (Sony’s multi-thousand dollar editor [70K or so I think]).
You seem to know what you’re talking about, but the fact of the matter is that I don’t think you entirely do know what you’re talking about. This is nothing to be ashamed of as we cannot all know everything. But I have a feeling that you are more familiar with FCP, than Sony Vegas, and are saying either out of date things as current information, or just plain speculation with no real knowledge of some of the subject. I hope I have not done anything to offend you.
D
Nat (January 16, 2005 @ 8:22 am)
Thanks for the heads up Frigid.
I edit on Vegas most of the time but I have a lot of respect for Final Cut Pro. Feature wise, both software are on par in my opinion, they have their strengths and weakness. The one thing I really enjoy about Vegas, and you mentioned it, is the workflow. What I really enjoy on Final Cut Pro is the media managment : Nested timeline, easier media pool.
So I’d really suggest you either read some updated specs or try the demo again before saying that Vegas is not an HD editor… You can prefer FCP for many reason and we have to respect this, but you need to be more informed when talking about competing software.
I also wanted to add that I run a small production company with an associate and that this associate, who is also my best friend runs FCP. We both respect our platforms and software and we learn a lot from each other, I think diversity is the key.
Denis (January 16, 2005 @ 2:34 pm)
HDCAM is used by Sony, DVCPRO HD is used by Panasonic, and I don’t use HDCAM so I can’t tell you much about it. I do know FCP Supports HDCAM.
look when i say HD Codec i mean I used DVCPRO HD and then convert it to H.264 using Sorenson Squeeze 4 for HD based content. To save on Hard Drive Space on my G5.I can keep 4 times the amount of HD Video on my G5 using H.264 then Mpeg 2 or most other codecs.
As far as I know H.264 AVC which is part of MPEG 4 is not used by Vegas or FCP, QuickTime will not fully support HD/H.264 on till QuickTime 7.
I thing you see H.264 as the main HD codec for Blu-ray and HD-DVD. I think I heard Direct TV and Sky+ are going to be using H.264 on there new PVR’S by NDS which are coming out sometime in 2005 or 2006. The verdict is still out on VMV-HD, no one I know is using it at the moment
And finally Sony own XPRI. If you want to edit IN HDCAM or IMX, XDCAM natively. Yes XPRI is your only choice. I heard the After Effects integration, it’s absolutely fantastic. But I don’t use HDCAM or XDCAM
I do respect you nat and Frigid, I have no problems with Vegas or any other Video Editor I just have A different opinion that all.
Nat (January 16, 2005 @ 9:23 pm)
All is fine then
Let’s all be happy. After all, the important thing is the end result, not the tool you used to reach your goal…
Deniz Michael (May 14, 2005 @ 9:24 pm)
I used Vegas to edit Solitary Fracture. And plan on using it again on my next HD feature.