Adobe Premiere Elements 7 Review
Part 1 - Adobe Premiere Elements 7 Summary and Overview of New Features
By Mark Shapiro
Are you looking for a good video editing software package that will run on your Windows computer and will not require a lot of research or checking of the manual? Do you want a nice selection of effects, filters and audio controls all wrapped in a smart and easy to use interface? Then you ought to check out the newest version of Adobe Premiere Elements. Version 7 adds a bunch of new features - none truly revolutionary but definitely nice.
| The list price has not changed from previous versions – about $99 for Première Elements 7 alone or $149 when bundled with Photoshop Elements 7 – the light version of Photoshop. You can find some nice discounts online. Just as Premiere Elements is a light version of Première Pro editing software, Photoshop Elements is a less complex and much easier to use version of the heavy duty Premiere Photoshop program. BTW – much of the time, I personally prefer to use the light versions of both instead of the pro versions. |
| There is a new online component to Photoshop and Première – Photoshop.com - it is a combination image and video storage platform as well as a great resource for learning all about how to use these programs. The basic Photoshop.com membership is free but if you want additional features like more storage space, then the Photoshop.com Plus membership will run you $49 a year. |
New Features
Among others, this includes the ability to now input and edit high definition AVCHD video. This is probably the biggest improvement as that format is increasingly becoming more common among prosumer and consumer camcorders.
Other new featuess found in Adobe Premiere Elements 7 include the ability to create and add “SmartSound” soundtracks that you can customize to match the length and tempo of your video movies. Very cool. SmartSound automatically adjusts the selected music to match the length of an entire movie or individual video clips. It automatically detects the music tempo and syncs the beginning and end of each scene to the beats.
Speaking of audio, you can do audio mixing and clean up. Audio Mixer window works like a mixing board in a recording studio and allows you to adjust volumes with sliders: this includes dialog, background music, sound effects, etc. It is also easy to record and add voice narration tracks to your video.
Another fun option, especially if you are in a rush and don’t have time to do really tight editing, is to use the InstantMovie application that can automatically create edited movies from your selected raw video footage, digital still images, and personal music, complete with various visual effects and titles. These themes include music video, birthday, wedding, extreme sports, pan & zoom slideshow, etc. If you then want, you can further edit and tweak the InstantMovie to make it truly yours. Advanced users then can further edit the result, if desired.
More advanced features include the VideoMerge Green Screen that makes it easy to superimpose your subjects over almost any kind of background footage. IE – the weatherman effect.
To make it easy to organize and edit your videos, Adobe has added SmartTags and a clip Tagging window. Another cool feature, at least for me, is the ability to access more info about your video clips. This includes duration, format, resolution and frame rate. This is very helpful when you are collecting and editing video that originated from a variety of sources – especially if you can’t remember, which camcorder you used to shoot with the original video with.
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Tech Specs = What Do You Need to Run Adobe Première Elements 7
Minimum System Requirements include
1.8GHz processor with SSE2 support; 3GHz processor required for HDV or Blu-ray; dual-core processor required for AVCHD
Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2, Windows Media Center, or Windows Vista
For Windows XP: 512MB of RAM (2GB required for HDV, AVCHD, or Blu-ray)
For Windows Vista: 1GB of RAM (2GB required for HDV, AVCHD, or Blu-ray)
4.5GB of available hard-disk space
Color monitor with 16-bit color video card
1,024x768 monitor resolution at 96dpi or less
Microsoft DirectX 9 or 10 compatible sound and display driver
DVD-ROM drive (compatible DVD burner required to burn DVDs; compatible Blu-ray burner required to burn Blu-ray Discs)
DV/i.LINK/FireWire/IEEE 1394 interface to connect a Digital 8 DV or HDV camcorder, or USB2 interface to connect a DV via-USB compatible DV camcorder (other video devices supported via Media Downloader)
QuickTime 7 software
Import / Export Formats include:
ASF (import only), AVI, AVCHD, SWF (import), Blu-ray Disc (export only), DV, DVD, Dolby Digital Stereo,
H.264, HDV, JPEG, PNG (import only), PSD (import only), MOD and TOD (JVC Everio, import only),
MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MP3, WAV, QuickTime, Windows Media, WMA (import only)
Via QuickTime: 3GP, 3GP2, MOV, MPEG-4
You can also use Adobe Premiere Elements 7 for the preparation of video DVDs. By using the Disc Menus application, you can create interactive menus for DVD and the new Blu-ray discs. Of course, you need a DVD and/or a Blu Ray burner to actually make the final discs. Premiere Elements 7 comes with a variety of preformatted menu templates for different themes to make it simple to quickly create your own professional looking DVDs
Speaking of output and sharing, in addition to burning DVDs, you can also output your finished videos in a variety of Internet formats including Adobe Flash, MPEG, QuickTime and WMV. Premiere now provides a direct upload option to various web sites include YouTube, as well as to the new PhotoShop.com. You can also use FTP to upload your videos.
If you want to output your video so people can watch it on their phones and other mobile devices, Première Pro supports:
Apple iPod and iPhone - i.e., H.264 640x480
Audio Podcast - H.264 / MP3
Creative Zen - WMV 320x240
Microsoft Zune - WMV 320x240
Pocket PC - WMV 240x176
Smartphone - WMV 224x128 landscape, 176x144 portrait
Sony PSP - H.264 320x240
Mobile Phone - 3GP - MPEG4 176x144, 320x240, 352x288 H.263
Of course you can also save it in a DV or AVI format for later editing or for dubbing back to tape or other storage medium.
What is PhotoShop.com?
Photoshop.com – According to Adobe, it “Stay connected with your favorite people and memories”
You can upload, create and share interactive photo albums and videos and then access them from any web-enabled computer using online Organizer. It also provides automatic backup for online storage. The basic plan provides 2 GB of space while the Plus account gets you 20 GB – that’s about four hours of DVD quality video.
If you do decide to shell out the 49 bucks a year for a Plus account – you also get regular “ inspiration updates” These include downloadable creative project elements, Tutorials, themes, templates, seasonal artwork, photo frames, fonts, sound effects, music, overlays, etc. By using Photoshop.com Mobile, you can upload, view, organize and share photos and videos from your mobile device.
