Comments

bart123 wrote on 1/4/2005, 1:47 PM
OK, I did,

Also a great product...big advantage is the flexibility:
- unlimited tracks
- free set up of screen lay-out
- key frames for many effects....

disadvantages:
- screen tents to get messy
- some settings require deep menu-digging
- ripple-edit is not implemented fully: I got a headache of it
- dvd-authoring is very basic, also buying photoshop elements helps a little

base-line:
video editing brings more functionality, dvd authoring less, compared to MS
Steve Grisetti wrote on 1/4/2005, 2:15 PM
I second Bart's opinions, only more so.

I think Premiere Elements is (with all due respect to Sony) everything a consumer video editing package should be -- but its DVD authoring isn't nearly as deep as Vegas MovieStudio's.

Many aspects of the program are very well thought out, and its timeline functions more smoothly than Vegas's (ie, clips snap to left instead of having to be manually moved into place). But it works exclusively on WindowsXP and almost exclusively with DV-AVI files. Vegas tends to be just a bit more file friendly.

Also, Sony's product encodes much cleaner WMV files, and does so much faster.

But both are excellent programs. I'd recommending downloading a demo of each and seeing which fits your workstyle better.
briggins wrote on 1/4/2005, 3:07 PM
Thanks bart and grisetti. I've got MS and have used it since it was SF 2.0c and have always been impressed. But I've noticed some missing features. I'm looking for a couple of things, like auto color correction, improved slide show functionality and better transition control.

I'm downloading all 491MB (!!!) of Premiere Elements now. I'll post any relevant findings. Competition is a wonderful thing.
briggins wrote on 1/4/2005, 8:20 PM
Well I downloaded the PE trial version, installed it, invoked it and crashed it. Reinstalled it (with the repair option), reinvoked and crashed again. Then I deleted it. I couldn't even play with the UI because until you get a project open you can't get to the UI and I could never get a project to open without crashing PE. But from what I could tell, the UI in MS is indeed much cleaner. I also read the readme.html file that comes with the download. Ouch.

I've now looked at the top two highest-rated consumer-level packages (Pinnacle Studio 9 and PE) and I'm convinced that MS is easily the best product, even if the reviewers don't like it as much as the others. One thing those reviews consistently fail to discuss is the stablity of the product. And MS is one of the most reliable and stable pieces of S/W I've ever used.
BigEgg wrote on 1/5/2005, 12:29 AM
A friend of mine, an ex-Pinnacle Studio user, bought Magix (magix.com) and he's pretty happy with it.
jimmyz wrote on 1/5/2005, 7:39 PM
I couldn't get past the customer screen before the demo stopped responding....
briggins wrote on 1/5/2005, 10:23 PM
The PE readme file itself was enough to scare me away, even if I had been able to use it.

And I always thought it was the demo that was supposed to work even if the actual product didn't.
Shazbot wrote on 1/5/2005, 10:44 PM
Tried both PE and MS demos, and MS was by far easier to edit with and had a lot of nicer little features, like the transitions that show you how they work, and the ease of adding and configuring FX. I'd used Premiere Pro for a previous project and enjoyed that, so it wasn't that I was unfamiliar with the PE model, but having used MS I really think it's much better to work with in many respects.