Software Review: Adobe Premiere Elements 7.0

Adobe Premiere Elements 7.0 is the latest release of the consumer-based video editing program from Adobe. It is a scaled down version of their professional level package Premiere Pro and can be purchased as a bundle with Adobe Photoshop Elements. If you were wondering what happened with versions five and six (the last version being four) Adobe decided to bump it up to match with Photoshop Elements 7.

What do you need to run Adobe Premiere Elements 7.0? Currently it is only available on Windows, where you need 1.8 GHz (3 GHz for HDV or Blu-Ray, Dual-Core processor required for AVCHD) or better machine with 1 GB of RAM, a Mouse, a 16-bit color display with 1024×768 resolution at 96DPI or less, a DirectX 9.0 compatible display adapter/driver, QuickTime 7 software, a DVD-ROM drive (compatible burner required to burn DVD) or Blu-Ray, and around 4.5 GB hard disk space available.

So what is new with this version of Adobe Premiere Elements?

• InstantMovie – will let you create movies with little or no effort. Using creative techniques from Hollywood directors, you just choose a theme and InstantMovie edits your clips together with coordinated music, titles, effects, and transitions. You can then customize the final result if you want.

• Videomerge – will let you put your subject into a new setting. By filming your subject on a solid color background, the Videomerge technology will extract your moving subject from the background and drop it into a new setting.

• SmartSound – will let you energize your movie with a variety of soundtracks that automatically adjust to match the length of your movie. Adobe Premiere Elements will detect the tempo of the music and synchs the beginning and end of each scene with the beats.

• InstantMovie & Slideshow Themes – includes fairy tale, secret agent, music video, and extreme sports.

• Edit in AVCHD – lets you import and edit video from the latest AVCHD camcorders. You can edit and view your movie with drag-and-drop ease in the large monitor window where you can trim and split clips, drop filters and effects right on a frame. You can even restore shaky footage with the Image Stabilizer filter.

• Analyze Footage – automatically for quality and interest as well as apply Smart Tags. This will let you quickly find your most interesting, highest quality clips.

• Smart Tags – will let you locate your best media. After performing a Smart Tag Analysis, you can filter based on a variety of Smart Tag categories.

• Clip Previews – the large clip preview and tagging window makes it easier to preview clips and create keyword tags that describe the content of your media. This eliminates the need to switch between the Organizer and the Tagging window.

• Smart Albums – are a new style of album that automatically collects media based on a set of defined criteria so you don't have to spend as much time tracking down everything you might need.

• Photoshop.com – is now seamlessly integrated with Adobe Premiere Elements 7 so that you can use the dynamic capability of the Web within your desktop software. You will also be able to keep up with new templates and tips for use within your software from anywhere you are.

So what is improved with this version of Adobe Premiere Elements?

• Improved Metadata – making it even faster to find relevant clips.

• Add Cinematic Flare – can be added by using Adobe Premiere Elements 7 to transform a traditional slideshow from Photoshop Elements into a movie using InstantMovie which will automatically add video-style effects, transitions, motion graphics, and more to your project. Then you can preview your slide show in full screen, burn it to disk, or uploaded it to the Web to share with family and friends.

Adobe Premiere Elements has some really strong additions to this version that make it worth the upgrade. One big feature that was needed is the added support for AVCHD camcorders and the responsiveness is very good.

The Smart Tag feature that analyzes your clips is a pretty cool feature. It looks at which ones may be too dark, blurry, or out of focus and does a good job. The InstantMovie that lets you create a movie by selecting clips, choosing a theme, and letting the application put it together I think will fill the need for those who want to throw something together quickly.

One feature that has not been addressed is the lack of surround sound mixing. Sure you can import footage that has it encoded; you just can't mix in your own. Still, overall I think that there are a lot of great new features in Adobe Premiere Elements that make it a worthy adversary to the other products in the non-professional market and that it is well worth the upgrade. I can easily recommend Adobe Premiere Elements 7.