Premiere Elements 7

[Amitai]

Hi all!
I'm thinking about maybe getting Premiere Elements 7
I wanted to ask a few questions about Premiere Elements 7:
1. What are the main new features in Premiere Elements 7?
2. Would you recommend using Premiere Elements 7 for making a picture(and maybe a few videos) slideshow?
3. What do you think of Premiere Elements 7 vs. Cyberlink PowerDirector 7?

Any help appreciated!
Thanks!

[ATR]

Amitai

Perhaps, the important questions are:
“What do you now have for creating your slideshow consisting of photos and video?”
“Do you now have a photo editing program and/or a video editing program?”
“What do you want to do with this slideshow once it is created, DVD-VIDEO other?”
“What are the video formats and length of the source video going into this slideshow?”
“What are the pixel dimensions of the photos going into this slideshow and how many of photos are you planning on using?”


1. The main new features in Premiere Elements 7. Please check out the following link:
http://muvipix.com/learning/learning_pdf.php?preview=WhatsNewIn7

2. You ask “Would you recommend using Premiere Elements 7 for making a picture (and maybe a few videos) slideshow?
My answer has a lot of “depends” in it. Photoshop Elements 7 is a powerful photo editor and Premiere Elements 7 is a powerful video editor. You can create slideshows integrating the two programs or using just Premiere Elements to create the slideshow and export it to DVD-VIDEO and other formats. But, we do not know yet what how you want to show off your slideshow? There are an assortment of pros and cons to the above, to be discussed at another time. There are many who prefer to use software other than the Adobe duo, namely ProShow Gold. Whatever your decision, go the free try out route before you buy any of these programs. There will be a learning curve for all programs, so make your choice(s) wisely.
Back to your original question…I can answer it only from my situation. For my photo/video/slideshow needs, the answer is a definite YES.
You may want to check out the Premiere Elements 7 Help PDF to get a detailed overview of the program.
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/PremiereElements/7.0/WS5196BC43-0092-4659-8DA6-3E7F9160B69C.html


3. As for the comparison of Premiere Elements with CyberLink Power Director 7 Deluxe, I would have to pass on that comparison since I have never used CyberLink Power Director 7 Deluxe. I can only go on what you must have seen already in online reviews of CyberLink Power Director 7 Deluxe. The impression that I get is that:
a. Prior versions of CyberLink have lagged behind Premiere Elements
b. This version 7 is supposed to have made the gap between the two programs smaller, but Premiere Elements still remains the more powerful video editor.
Have you seen the following reviews for CyberLink Power Director 7 Deluxe?
http://www.computershopper.co.uk/reviews/213939/cyberlink-powerdirector-7-deluxe.html
There are others online that I will leave for you to check out.



ATR

[timesaving]

just purchased PE 7. Have been using Power Director 7 for about a month. Very quick learning curve. PE7 seems to be more powerful but has a longer learning curve.

Power Director has more online tutorials and I highly recommend the program for anyone that needs to be up and running with video editing in a couple of hours.

[Chuck Engels]

The only problem is the lack of features if you want to do very much with your movies. Products like Premiere Elements and Sony Vegas have many added features that give you not only what you need to put together a quick home movie, but also enough to do a very nice movie also.

I think you will be disappointed in the long run and end up moving to another program later anyway, that is if you edit for very long. Not sure how many video and audio tracks you can add in that product but I hope it is enough.

There are tons of tutorials for Premiere Elements, Muvipix many, Lynda.com had even more, you can check YouTube and find a lot, the list goes on and on.

[ATR]

CE

The review link for Cyberlink Power Director 7 that I cited back in response #2 addresses the number of tracks in this Cyberlink program:

"The number of video tracks has risen from two to seven, and effects can be applied to any track rather than just the bottom layer."

Remote from from the 99 video 99 audio tracks of Premiere Elements, but the choice goes to what you need for what you want to do.

ATR

[Chuck Engels]

the choice goes to what you need for what you want to do.

ATR

Exactly my thoughts ATR :)

[ATR]

The frustrating part about all these program choices is that all "sound" great, offering numerous "must have" features and "upgraded" versions. If you do not have the need for some of the features, the marketing points out why you need to put the feature(s) on your need list.

There are a lot of homework and thought that should go into these types of decisions so that you are not a loser with respect to money or time invested. Troubleshooting, learning curve, system requirements are all key players in this.

But, we do the best we can, at least by going a free tryout before buy route and sharing our observations.

ATR

[rabosr]

Where do I go to change the still image media duration for still pictures.
The default appears to be 5 seconds. I would like to change it to 8 seconds. This is for Adobe Premiere Elements 7.
Thanks, Ray

[ATR]

Ray

It is always best to post your own thread so that you question does not get lost at the bottom of someone else's older thread.

If you want to change the duration of a still already on the Timeline, then it is one at a time. You could:
a. right click the still with its 8 sec duration, select Time Stretch, and, in the Time Stretch dialog, change the duration to whatever you want it to be.
or
b. less control, but....click on the Time Stretch icon above the Timeline, and then take you mouse cursor and drag the still to decrease or increase it's duration.

In the latest version, version 8, you can now change the still duration of all the stills on the Timeline all at one time.

If you have not brought your stills into Premiere Elements 7 Media yet, then you can open Premiere Elements 7, go to Edit Menu/Preferences/General and change the still image duration there. Then, after you Get Media, all the still images dragged to the Timeline will have whatever duration you set in Edit Menu/Preferences/General, Still Image Duration. In the later location, the Still Image Duration units are frames, not seconds. So, keep that in mind. If you are working in a 30 frames/second project, 150 frames = 5 seconds, 240 frames = 8 seconds, and 300 frames = 10 seconds.

Please let me know if you are OK with the above explanation. If not, let me know where you need clarification.

ATR

[rabosr]

Thanks you so much. Now I can go to work....on Adobe Premiere Elements 7 that is.
I looked for a place to "add a new thread" but couldn't find it. That is why I tagged in on to this one.

[ATR]

rabosr

That was great news. I am glad that the information was what you needed to get you moving forward on your project.

As for posting your own thread...we will find you wherever you post, but it benefits all with a new thread. But, if in doubt, just do as you did.

For future reference, when you open to the first page of the Premiere Elements Forum and are signed in, to the top left is the New Thread button.

Please update us on your progress.

ATR

[Danlson]

This is my first post on this forum but your question caught my attention. I'd like to add my thoughts to what the other posts say. I have been using various versions of the Premiere product line for over 10 years now. My latest was Premiere Pro and I never did get into the CS versions yet. And probably won't. I bought the Elements version because i needed the ability to handle my HD footage. I have to tell you I am totally blown away with the features that this $99 product has. For the type of video I edit it contains everything and more than what I need. When I want to do special effects I go to After Effects and that held true with the professional versions. At this point I would say I get more control of my video with the pro versions but I haven't mastered PE yet. It seems that I can cut footage more precise in the pro versions. But I guess what I am saying is if the features do what you need you can't go wrong with this product.

[ATR]

Danlson

Thanks for sharing your observations on the video editing programs that you have used. Did you ever say what version of Premiere Elements that you have and are using? For now, I will assume version 4, 7, or 8.

I suspect that, as you experiment and explore Premiere Elements, you will be more impressed with its offerings. If you have not already, take a look at trimming clips in the Timeline in the Preview Window with the In Out points there as well as generating and saving the trims as subclips in the Project Media Palette.

With high definition (AVCHD and HDV) projects, your computer resources will go a long way to defining your level of satisfaction editing your high definition footage with Premiere Elements. Even Multi Camera Editing can be done in Premiere Elements, maybe not as easily as Premiere Pro, but...

We will look forward to your further observations on how Premiere Elements does or does not blend into your video editing workflow.

ATR