Adobe Premiere 6.5

Rating:
Summary: A great cutting tool
Review: Adobe Premiere 6.5 is far from the most advanced non-linear video editing package you can get however let me make this one comment.

- Editing is all about cutting and not fancy effects. The strength of the project is what is in front of and behind the camera not fancy effects.

I would never recommend using any of the effects on any of the non-linear video editing packages anyway. Get dedicated effects packages if you really want to do your special effects well.

In short Adobe Premiere is the BEST cutting software and the EASIEST to use. The learning curve is slightly steep but you will be cutting your footage within a day or two with this one.

An editors cuts and arranges media. Adobe Premiere does that perfectly. I recommend this like no other but if you are looking for pro packages then go elsewhere and be prepared to pay five figures.

Rating:
Summary: From DV to DVD
Review: Adobe Premiere has been following a natural evolution from a good editing software to include far more. Over the past few years as the possibilities for video have improved so have the options included with this powerfull software.

The interface is very easy to use taking the same keyboard options as were on editing systems such as Avid and others. In so doing it accomodates both the learning editor and the professional editor.

When working in this program all the options are easily accessible and with the option to customise your work space you make sure to keep the features which are important to you available at all times. With the option to shift from ab editing to sound editing within seconds it is nice to use.

Following on from this the new titling software enables you to create very interesting titles which are able to contour an object.

If you are interested in exporting to the web then you'll be pleased to find that the encoding software for windows media is included within the software with the latest codecs. This allows you to show your edits to your family and friends online efficiently.

Furthermore to this DVD it LE is included with the software so that you can export your product to DVD, VCD DVCD so that you may start DVD authoring offering a top quality edit for your audience

Rating:
Summary: A good investment for video fans (rookies also)
Review: I am a complete ignorant in video edition and mastering. I was looking for a program that would help me edit and mix my home videos.

Premiere helped me out a lot with it and it was easy to grab the basics. It is not complicated to start using it and in no time you'll be adding effects or transitions to those videos of yours.

You do not need a super PC with lots of RAM to use it (128 is enough for starting) although it's advisable with these kind of programs to have many Megs of RAM backing you up.

You can import from digital cameras, VHS, and almost every known format (AVI, MOV, MPG, etc) and export your projects to almost every format too. You can add extra images or sounds to enhance your own "pieces of art".

I can never forget that huge big smile on my face after editing a home video and watching it on TV with transitions, still images, and recorded comments on it! It felt so good!

Rating:
Summary: Review by a Newbie
Review: I started editing video several years ago using Ulead Mediastudio Pro, which is pretty good. Then I moved on to Premiere, and it's much better. You can find many more plug-ins and there's lots more support on the web from users. I strongly recommend this for advanced and beginners. It is not difficult to use, and always gets met the output I expect. Just need to put in time to get to know its functions, like any other software. I use it to create MPG2 for DVDs and occassionally realvideo or quicktime. Also, it's the only software that allows me to easily and extremely quickly convert a sound file into 48khz sampling rate. All other software, even sound software, only gives 44khz option, which is not compatible with DVD.

Ernesto
...

Rating:
Summary: Excellent choice for professionals and beginners!
Review: I started editing video several years ago using Ulead Mediastudio Pro, which is pretty good. Then I moved on to Premiere, and it's much better. You can find many more plug-ins and there's lots more support on the web from users. I strongly recommend this for advanced and beginners. It is not difficult to use, and always gets met the output I expect. Just need to put in time to get to know its functions, like any other software. I use it to create MPG2 for DVDs and occassionally realvideo or quicktime. Also, it's the only software that allows me to easily and extremely quickly convert a sound file into 48khz sampling rate. All other software, even sound software, only gives 44khz option, which is not compatible with DVD.

Ernesto
...

Rating:
Summary: Review by a Newbie
Review: Most people reviewing this product are reviewing it from an expert's viewpoint. I will review this product from someone with a little digital editing experience on lesser featured products, however a "newbie" to Adobe Premiere 6.5

First of all, this program is quite complex, and it is not intuitively obvious how to use this product or how to find a productive workflow. I tried using the supplied 6.0 userguide however I got frustrated pretty quickly.

I also ordered a SAMS Teach Yourself book for 6.5, and again became frustrated. It was obvious to me that the "drag and drop" interface can hardly be described by a book.

Luckily the product came with a video DVD called "Introduction to Adobe Premiere 6.5" by Total Training. I watched this video for an hour or two and shadowed some of the instruction on my own footage. I was able to produce a passable editing job on a five minute production after two hours (excluding time to capture footage), interleaving watching the Total Training video and trying some of the moves shown on the video on my own footage.

I bought the follow-up 16 hours of Total Training instruction for another $131 (including postage). If I get through this video instruction, I will have a pretty good handle on the product, but by no means an expert.

Premiere 6.5 is chock full of features, which means there's still plenty to learn six months or a year down the road. What is a little disconcerting about this product is all the "new features" that came with 6.5, however some of these features have already been available for some time in much cheaper software packages.

For example, I did not buy the bundle including DVDit, and Premiere 6.5 itself can't burn to DVD without having DVDit installed. Instead, I create the MPEG video and audio files using Premiere, then import files into a much cheaper video editing package that came with my DVD burner to complete the DVD burn. Hmmm. And now I'm supposed to fork out $300 for DVDit on top of paying for Premiere - I don't think so.

The bottom line is you can produce fairly professional results with Premiere 6.5. The big question is do you want to invest the 20 hours effort to learn the not so intuitive interface and working methods?

Well, I bought Premiere 6.5 with a firewire card for $200 so I'd say it's well worth it. And if another $130 worth of video training by Total Training and 20 hours effort to get me up to reasonable speed on most of the features I would ever use in Premiere, then $330 for software and training is a pretty good deal.

By the way, Adobe customer service seems to be pretty good. You can call them for up to 30 days after buying the product. After that, you have to pay for support. I never did like this pay for support idea, since basically your paying them because their manuals aren't so good or their software is not easy to use. And sometimes your paying them to report a bug in their software.

Rating:
Summary: Mini Final Cut.
Review: Oh man, was I relieved when I found Premier 6.5 (after using Crapinnacle Studio 8). You'll find almost all of Final Cut's and after effects's pros here. The whole package, the great effects, includig Adobe's well known and fabulous color distortion and everything. I reccommend this. Totally.