Pros & Cons
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- Powerful "Smart" features speed up content creation.
- Sophisticated motion tracker.
- Useful bundled effects, scrolling credits, and other production tools.
- Free online backup.
- Good value when bundled with Photoshop Elements 8.
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- Rocky install and setup.
- Not enough changes to warrant a new version.
- Community and content sharing features are extra-cost options.
Adobe Premiere Elements 8 Specs
| OS Compatibility: | Windows Vista |
| OS Compatibility: | Windows XP |
| Type: | Personal |
Adobe Premiere Elements 8 is a solid program that caters to beginners and more skilled video enthusiasts alike. The company is aiming this latest version at those who are passionate for video. Great organizational features, smart autofix abilities, and sophisticated effects ensure that first-time video enthusiasts and long-time Adobe loyalists alike should appreciate the new version, particularly if they take advantage of bundle pricing with Editors' Choice consumer photo editor
Installation and Adobe ID
For this review, I tested Adobe Premiere Elements 8 on a
Most of the problems I had with Premiere Elements 8 centered on the buggy Welcome dialog, so let's get that out of the way first. Each time the program starts up, it asks if you want to organize or import media, create a new project, or open an existing project. Creating a new project took about 40 seconds of hard drive churning, and I had to assign the project a name before I could begin. CyberLink PowerDirector 8 and Pinnacle Studio 14 start up much more quickly and let you begin right away, which helps when you're feeling inspired. Once, I started up the app and tried to create a new project, but the Welcome dialog froze during start up and never continued to the main interface. Another time, it didn't freeze, but never actually created the new project I requested either. Instead, it just popped the "New Project" button back out after about 45 seconds. (A reboot cured that one.) I also ran into some trouble getting it to confirm my Adobe ID creation; once, it forced a Quick Tour on me, with no way to quit. (An Adobe spokesperson confirmed some users have reported trouble with the Welcome dialog; the company is currently investigating the issue.)
Interface and Smart Tools
Once you've got that process behind you, however, you're all set to use the best consumer video editor out there. The main interface window is well laid out, though not very different from the prior version. The left contains a large preview area, while the top right includes a media browser, along with four color-coded mode buttons: Organize, Edit, Disc Menus, and Share. The bottom shows multiple tracks along a timeline; while working on a project, you can add clips either by timeline or by sceneline. You can also resize or move around just about everything; unlike CyberLink PowerDirector 8, Premiere Elements 8 adapts easily to smaller windows and lower screen resolutions (although you'll have the best experience on a large monitor).
Adobe Premiere 8 adds a number of smart-tagged features that improve (and in many cases automate) everyday workflow. For example, the app can now recognize faces in videos, not just photos, and tag them accordingly. The new Organizer pulls video off of a DV Camcorder, AVCHD or flash memory device, a digital still camera, a DVD, or even a cell phone. The organizer works with both clips and photos; a Smart Albums feature lets you group media according to criteria you specify.
Digging a little deeper, SmartFix—new with version 8—helps repair shaky footage or lighting problems, two of the most common issues with home video recording. You can also set it to cut lower-quality or redundant footage automatically, so you don't have to wade through 15 minutes of the camera recording the floorboards. SmartFix automatically analyzed all content I imported into a project. Whenever it saw something amiss, a dialog popped up asking if I wanted to fix quality problems in the clip. SmartMix, meanwhile, helps balance sound levels between music, sound effects, dialogue, and background noise—essentially, it gives precedence to dialog. Still not automatic enough? Adobe's separate InstantMovie feature (already present in last year's version) grabs footage you recorded, assembles it, cuts out boring-looking footage, and slaps a soundtrack on the entire thing. In practice, this doesn't create something you'd showcase at Sundance. But it makes quick work of lengthy footage of family events and stupid pet tricks.—
One standout new feature of Premiere Elements 8 is Motion Tracking, which lets you add graphics, effects, and even text bubbles to people on screen; the effects will follow the character's movements around the frame. For example, you can now mask specific portions of a video frame, such as adding pixelation to a person's face to make them anonymous. The effect will automatically follow that person as she walks around in the clip. The same goes for just masking off a portion of the video (such as the bottom quarter of the clip).
It's apparent that Adobe put a lot of thought into what users look for when building video projects. I found applying and editing transitions, rearranging clips, adding scrolling credits, and even automation to be simple and straightforward. But I wasn't impressed with the app's speed. The preview window took a long time to process short 720p clips from a
Production, Online Sharing, and Conclusions
Adobe Premiere Elements 8 can produce Blu-ray discs, DVDs, and iPhone and Sony PSP files, as well as share videos on YouTube and Adobe's own Photoshop.com. Sharing videos online is simple with Adobe's Online Albums feature, which offers templates and private galleries on Photoshop.com using a personal URL. Podbeam, meanwhile, publishes podcasts straight to Apple's iTunes Store for indexing and subscriptions. You accomplish much of this by signing up for a free Adobe ID, which gives you 2GB of free storage, automatic online backup, and access to basic tips and tricks. An upgraded Premiere Elements 8 Plus account is available for $49.99 per year. A Plus account increases online storage from 2GB to 20GB, offers special tutorials and royalty-free artwork in packages delivered to your desktop every 4-6 weeks, and includes interactive online sharing templates at about the same rate (such as special ones for holidays like Halloween). The extra charge is disappointing, considering how much material CyberLink makes available to its online community for free.
If you're an impatient power user, you might consider CyberLink PowerDirector 8—especially if you're packing next-generation hardware, or pulling lots of video off of camcorders. It's faster with most operations, but it doesn't come with the same production facilities and automated repair tools that Premiere Elements has. Adobe's commitment to this sort of ease of use and automated functionality seems to indicate that it's going after the iMovie and
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Final Thoughts
Adobe Premiere Elements 8
Adobe Premiere Elements 8 shows the company's extensive video editing experience, and is the best consumer-level choice for creating excellent results from start to finish.