Adobe Premiere Elements 7 [OLD VERSION]

Reviews of Adobe Premiere Elements 7 [OLD VERSION]

1.) A Good Program for Anybody with a Camcorder and a Computer
Reviewed by: Zachary Hackett Reno, Nevada
Rating:
I see Adobe has jumped this program from Version 4 straight to Version 7, I suppose they've done that because they like to bundle it with Photoshop Elements 7 and I suppose that makes sense from their point of view. Also, now this program is very in tune to the world wide web, but to get a decent amount of storage (50GB) on their site [...] you'll have to pay fifty bucks a year. You can get 2GB for free, enough room for photos, but not for videos. I'm only mentioning this in case you're the kind of person who stores his stuff online. I have a phobia about that, so I don't do it.

Finally Adobe has brought support for AVCHD camcorders to Premiere Elements, so if you've been holding off purchasing it because of that, now you can. I have no problems at all importing video from my Canon camcorder.

If you're an absolute beginner, you might like a new feature of Version 7 called InstantMovie. After you've imported your video, all you have to do is start the wizard, select it and choose one of the included themes. Okay, I tried it and wasn't all that happy with the results, but then I'm not an absolute beginner, If I was, I think I'd've been pretty impressed with myself.

One feature I really like about Premiere 7 is the SmartTag wizard which analyzes your videos and lets you know which one are out of focus, blurry or too dark. And, of course, you can add music to your movies, however you can only edit in stereo, okay for me as I listen to my music in stereo, but if you're a surround sound person, you should know that you can import footage with 5.1 sound, but you can't edit it. And for you YouTubers out there, uploading to YouTube is very easy

All in all, for me this is a nice program and one I'll use a lot. The only downside I see, and it doesn't effect me, is that surround sound editing business. If they fix that, then I think this would be a good program for anybody with a camcorder and a computer.

2.) GREAT Software
Reviewed by: bcstargazer Denver, CO USA
Rating:
I have tried many packages. Nero9, Power2Go, PowerDVD, Toast - Adobe blows them all away. I loaded it on my Vista machine and it runs flawlessly! Loads of FREE menus and music are included. Editing .vob,.avi,.mpg, .mp*, .wav and many more files is a snap, I mean 20-30 splices in one 5 minute clip. Software allows as many tracks both audio and video as you desire. This software is very intuitive and easy to use. I don't impress easily and there is a lot of crap out there. If you have a HEALTHY and POWERFUL machine as the specs show you will not be disappointed with this software. There are a couple of items I do not care for. All media for all projects are shown in your "media collection," makes it difficult to work on multiple projects. Software stores project files in multiple directories instead of a directory for each project - designed by a programmer not a user. One note to vista users - ANY visual software will have problems with vista if you run the "Aero Glass Effects" disable and all of your WINDOWS crashes will go away.Bottom line- for the money it cannot be beat!!


3.) Video Editing Software Very Good Program
Reviewed by: Frank Eckert Hernando, MS
Rating:
Purchased for home use. After reading other reviews determined this program would do all I wanted it to do for home use. Use it for editing home movies and preparing training videos of short duration. To make program work properly strongly suggest having at least 1.5 to 2 Gig of memory in your computer. To have less will run risk of program locking up. My computer has a 80 gig drive in it so it can hold video for processing. If you have at least the above which is above the minimum required program should run fine. I have had no problem with locking up or freezing as some people reported in other reviews.

Program is fairly easy to use once you learn the options. The only thing I found a bit bothersome was the soundtrack option as the music that comes with program while ok can get repetitive after a time on several videos. There is a web site for downloading other music but there is a cost to it. I have elected to use some music I already had in places which the program will allow you to import to video in soundtrack and also use some of the program supplied music to break up music background. Again this is the option of user.

While it has instant movie feature I found I did not like the way it automatically worked to set things up. Not that it did not do a fair job. I just preferred to put it together the way I wanted instead of relying on program. For some this may be fine. That is a nice option for someone wanting to just get a quick video.

The burn to DVD disc feature works fine and has created DVD's with no problem on playback. It can take a bit of time to convert files to DVD after you have finished your video but does not appear to be excessive based on other programs I have used.

I would recommend this to any one especially with the $20 rebate which actually brought cost of program down to about $60.



4.) A happy Photoshop CS user
Reviewed by: granger Ithaca, NY USA
Rating:
I'm a bit surprised at some of the negative reviews here. I guess people want different things. For me, as a Photoshop CS4 user wanting to develop some chops in video this seemed like a reasonable way to go. And I have not been disappointed. I feel comfortable with the Adobe interface style that I'm used to and I find the software intuitive to use. I like the panels and being able to spread the workspace out over my monitors. So far everything seems to work as it should.

My one piece of advice if you don't want to be disappointed is to be sure you've got at least a dual core processor with a few gigs of memory and the right video card. Video is after all an intensive computer operation. My next purchase will surely be a 1TB drive for a little more elbow room with these large files. By the way I'm using Vista 64 with no problems.

5.) Great Product
Reviewed by: G. Moore
Rating:
I really like Premiere Elements. It has a very intuitive interface and I was able to pick it up pretty quick. It is so easy to add video or pictures for a slideshow and then add music and/or narration. It's got a great storyboard layout so you can just drag the video you want into the spot you desire. I was surprised at some of the negative reviews here. It has worked amazingly well for me and I have been impressed with some of the effects, DVD menus, and other features that I have used.

6.) Adobe Premiere Elements 7
Reviewed by: Willard Lautner New Palestine, Indiana
Rating:
I purchased Adobe Premiere Elements 7 for video editing for my church. The price was reasonable, the delivery was quicker than expected, and the software installed easily. I'm very new at it's use at this time. But it seems to be pretty easy to learn the basics. On line help is pretty good. The only issue I've had is that now and then it has locked up, and I have to get completely out of the software and restart. At this point I loose everything since my last save. I suggest frequent saves.

7.) Adobe Premiere Elements 7
Reviewed by: smokey Newhall CA
Rating:
Pleased with the product and it's performance. Also happy with the seller's prompt response.

8.) Videos and slideshows with ease
Reviewed by: Richard L. Steiner OREGON United States
Rating:
The Adobe PREMIER Elements 7 is the program one needs in order to download images, construct edit and produce video/slide show projects. It is the DVD (and Blu-ray)maker that some other editing programs do not provide. I have previously used a Roxio video maker program and found it buggy and without all of the flexibility I wanted. The Adobe Premier Elements 7 program has more options and creative features than any other similar software I have worked with. It certainly seems easier to use than the Roxio software even though I have not yet worked with it enough to explore all of the features.

As with all of the DVD maker programs, one must have the right computing capacity and the proper DVD burning drive. Older wimpy computers will probably have trouble with Premier Elements 7 and apparently crashes are not uncommon if there isn't enough RAM available. I have it loaded into a VISTA laptop and not had any problems of note. Saving a project as one goes along is a good thing to do just in case.

I have used my Adobe Premier Elements 7 program mostly for creating slide shows from my collections of digital still photos. It allows me to organize my pictures add transitions between them in a slide show, put background music in and insert titles too. I like the ability to arrange things in DVD chapters and menus and my finished slide shows surprise me in how professional they look. So far, I have not had any problem with creating DVD shows that work in my disk players connected to ordinary television sets.

I should point out that there is some redundancy involved between the Adobe Premier and the Adobe Elements programs. Both programs provide a feature that allows creating a slide show, but the Premier program is much more sophisticated and it facilitates burning projects to DVD's.

I think the Adobe Premier Elements 7 program is tilted more toward dealing with video clips than it is digital still photos. For those people wanting a program to edit videos the Adobe Premier program is the one you want. However. the video making features do not get in the way of creating a slide show or organizing digital photos. I have not found a better program for putting still photos on DVD's in an organized and attractive manner. This is a winner in that regard.

I can recommend Adobe Premiere Elements 7, but must admit I haven't played with the video movie features very much. Even so, I am impressed with the look of them.


9.) Requires Newer Hardware Than I Have
Reviewed by: Jerry Palmerino Jr United States
Rating:
I can say this this is the best choice for inexpensive, yet powerful video editing on a PC. As a MAC user, (which is why I have older PC hardware), I have significant iMovie/iDVD experience. Looking at Elements from this perspective, I can say that it is nice to see a Timeline view for editing in Elements. It also has an iMovie-ish Sceneline editor as well.

It is also nice to be able to use video from any device, burn a blue-ray disc (not an option for Macs at this point) and do video composite work.

The video overlays, titles, effects, and transitions look amazing. If I were editing on a PC, this would be my choice.

I originally wanted to review this product from experience, but all I can give you is my impressions of it. When I tried to install it on my custom-built PC from 2005 (AMD Athlon XP 3200+) the installer disc stated that my computer does not support SSE2 instruction sets. This is also noted on the box. As a result I could not install this product on my machine.

10.) Adobe Premiere Elements 7
Reviewed by: Timothy J. Healy
Rating:
Premiere Elements 7 is the best video editing software on the market. Keep in mind it requires a lot of memory to operate properly, and you should increase virtual memory, which resides on your hard drive, before using this product.

11.) Awesome User Friendly For Creating Videos!!
Reviewed by: woodfairy AL USA
Rating:
This is the best program for making or editing any video. It lets you upload from almost every device. I love the support for HD Camcorders. You can make the perfect video in minutes. The options for editing are endless. You can customize any video almost any way you can imagine. It's so user friendly and easy to use. Now your youtube videos will be top the charts!

12.) ADOBE PREMEIRE ELEMENT 7
Reviewed by: Salvador Trupiano MANDEVILLE,LA
Rating:
THE PROGRAM IS A BIG STEP UP FOR ADOBE ELEMENTS AND IS VERY FRIENDLY TO USE. MY ONLY PROBLEM IS TO JOIN ADOBE CLUB ON LINE. I HAVE FORGOTTEN MY OLD PASSWORD AND HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO CONTACT ADOBE BY PHONE OR E-MAIL

13.) Great for AVCHD! Not so great for MP4 (AVC H.264)
Reviewed by: L. Bradshaw Fort Worth, Texas USA
Rating:
I am NOT a newbie to video editing, in fact I have been an avid user of Adobe Premier Elements for some time now...with ver. 4 being the most recent before the version 7 purchase. Let me get this out in the open, I was disgusted with Adobe PE7 at first because I was trying to edit and burn footage from my same old camcorders....footage that Adobe PE3 and 4 handled just fine. I have tried MULTIPLE projects now and have yet to be able to render or burn a DVD using the MP4 (avc H.264) footage from my Sanyo Xacti or my Samsung NV24HD. Even worse I cannot keep a project of any size open long enough to do any editing before the program gives me a "low on memory" warning and then crashes! Version 4 was crazy enough, as I was always sure to hit the "save" button many times while editing, but this version 7 is a joke for these formats. I can't even add the MP4 files to the time-line without it crashing. Now for the good part and why I give this release a 4 star. I was asked by a buddy to edit and burn some youth football footage from his newly acquired Canon HF10 with SDHC card. I was excited. Although I had no clue what an .mts file was Adonbe PE 7 not only recognized it and imported it quickly...but I proceeded to edit both video and audio (together and separately)as well as burn to a regular DVD (not BluRay). It was a great experience. The only reason I won't give this a 5 star is that Adobe still shows this PE7 program as being compatible with MP4 and I beg to differ as a user...but if you are going the direction I want to go, AVCHD and BluRay, etc...Adobe did something right in this category. I will add that while i am not a big fan of the GUI of Pinnacle Studio Plus 12 it has handled ALL of my format types without a problem. I am running Vista Basic on a Celeron 1.60Ghz processor (Dell Inspiron 530 desktop) with 4GB of ram.

UPDATE: Now that I have purchased my OWN Canon HF10 AVCHD camcorder (1080 high-def) Adobe PE7 is my go-to program for this type of footage. Again, it handles the AVCHD / .mts file format flawlessly. Check out my other reviews for some other programs I have tried like Corel VideoStudio X2 and Magix - Movie Edit pro 14. If you are going to be working with AVCHD, certainly any of the Canon HF series camcorders that put .mts on sdhc flash cards...then I believe Adobe Premier Elements 7 is the best option.

14.) Good choice and now has AVCHD
Reviewed by: Bron Mechanicsville, VA USA
Rating:
Possibly the number one consumer video editing suite today, the big news for version 7 is the addition of support for AVCHD, which is a format used by many of the newer HD (Hi-Def) video cameras using solid state storage (e.g. SD cards) vs. tape. I tested this using a Panasonic HDC-SX5 which can record to both DVD and SD cards, using AVCHD for the SD card. PE7 imported my short test videos without any problem. I did not do any extensive testing of AVCHD as I loaded this on a laptop and 2 GHz is not enough CPU for AVCHD. (Most of my video is still SD and SD editing was quick and problem free, for the most part.)

You'll need a fairly capable platform to run this on, as it needs a fair amount of CPU (especially when working with AVCHD files). I did encounter some slow downs now and then on my core duo 2 GHz machine. I would recommend the fastest processor you can afford if you do a lot of extensive editing and use lots of effects and transitions. You'll also need a lot of disk space! I recommend getting some large capacity external drives (especially if you have an eSata port). (Amazon carries a wide selection at good prices.)

PE7 has a fairly straightforward and very attractive interface. It will take you awhile poking around to figure things out. But, that's OK by me, because this is a capable product with lots of high quality features. Some may find all the features a bit intimidating, but there are a seemingly endless number of books and web sites to help out, so don't let this dissuade you! PE7 includes a bunch of tutorials and more are available online using the 'inspiration browser.' This is a nice feature.

Adobe is really pushing their web services these days. No problem, as they are useful, but I found the constant in your face references annoying. I get it already! Personally, I have little use for their web services, but maybe you will?

PE7 supports all the usual output formats, of course. To my surprise, PE7 can also output in DivX format if you have the codec installed (I purchased DivX Pro awhile back and highly recommend it.) It can also output to all the popular portable media player formats which is *very* useful. And you can produce video for web use, MySpace, YouTube and so on as well.

If you've ever used the "Muvee" product, often bundled on computers these days, you'll be familiar with the idea behind the PE7 InstantMovie 'wizard' which will analyze your vids and create a movie out of them automatically using your selected theme, complete with transitions. You can add music and titles as well. This might be OK for quick family vids, but most people will probably want to take more control and just edit their stuff directly. (Personally, I like "Muvee" better for this sort of thing. But maybe that's because I'm more familiar with it. I found PE7's wizard more trouble than it's worth.)

There is a new VideoMerge feature but it seemed like more of a gimmick than anything to me. I did not bother to test it. There is also a 'quicktracks' feature, but as with other products like this, I found the music generated less than inspiring. With so many good sounds out there, I'm hard pressed to see much use for this. It feels more like a check box on the features list aimed at making PR7 more competitive with Pinnacle, Sony and others.

The editing features all work as expected and I had no problems. I like the layout. If you mainly want to load your clips, do some basic effects, transitions, titles and burn a DVD or generate other output formats you'll be happy. There are more effects and transitions than you'll ever need. Nothing spectacular compared to other products or Version 4, but good, solid and easy to use.

I did have PE7 hang and crash on me a few times when I pushed it hard, especially if I tried to click too fast on multiple actions. But the rig I'm using for this review is a very low powered machine and not something I would normally use to run this (2 Ghz, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB HDD, ATI 1100 video). This barely meets the minimum requirements. I plan to use it on a more capable rig and I will come back and update this review later. (All video editing software has similar requirements, by the way, so this is not specific to PE7.)

How does it compare to some of its competitors such as Pinnacle Studio or SONY Vegas? Well, it does not nag you to constantly buy plug-ins like Pinnacle Studio (reason enough not to use PS in my opinion). Compared to SONY, well, I have more experience with Sony Vegas and so I find myself preferring the Vegas interface (now that I know it well). PE7 is a bit too "friendly" too me and I don't have much use for the web services, wizards, and what not. Still, it's the quality of the output that matters and there PE 7 does as well as Vegas from what I've seen so far. I plan to work with it more so I can get more acquainted and perhaps I'll update this review once I have used it longer.

Finally, if you only edit std. def DV video and not AVCHD, If you like to edit directly, don't plan on using the web services, wizards and all that, then you might want to look for some closeout sales of PE4 (the previous version). It's got most of what's here that's really useful and would be a viable choice. But if you need AVCHD, then this is the way to go!


15.) Good BASIC Video Movie Making Software
Reviewed by: chillnhill Blue Ridge Summit, PA USA
Rating:
"Adobe Premier Elements 7" is a fairly good BASIC movie making package with some great effects and transitions, but has a high learning curve for what you get. Having used two other versions of Premier Elements, I was able to get the software installed and working with little trouble but I'm not sure that someone new to video software would have the same luck. The software has a lot of great features, once you get used to using the interface, including:

* Easy upload to YouTube
* Chromakey ("Green Screen") support
* Tons of effects and transitions
* Great Theme templates (be sure to install them from the CD menu)
* SmartSound automatic music scoring (really nice)

There are also some things I really do not like:

* The opening menu always shows the "photoshop" online site invitation and login screen
* The editing controls are hard to navigate on most of the tools (text is very badly handled)
* The timeline is too simplistic and makes working with multiple clips very hard

If you are upgrading from an older version, you will have no problem picking this one up and running.

If you are new video editor looking for a fairly basic editing package and have a lot of time to learn this program, this package will allow you to make some very impressive movies. Otherwise you might want to consider Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9 Platinum Pro Pack (my favorite) or Pinnacle Studio Ultimate Version 12 (also a very good entry level package).

I can recommend "Adobe Premier Elements 7", but only for existing users of previous versions of the software or people with some video editing experiance and some learnig time on their hands.



16.) Okay, but it needs a few more iterations
Reviewed by: If you can't win, change the rules. Research Triangle Park, NC USA
Rating:
I ordered this because I am a huge fan of Adobe Photoshop Elements 7, which is the scaled down, consumer-level version of Photoshop. While I find Photoshop incredibly difficult and time consuming to use, Elements just sails along, able to do quick tasks like cropping and color-correcting in minutes, instead of hours.

So, I had high hopes for the Elements version of Premiere, which in this release is bumped up to Version 7 to match the Photoshop version.

Unfortunately I didn't find it as easy to use as I had hoped. Part of this may be that video is inherently more difficult to manipulate than static photographs. Part of it may be that video, particularly high def video, takes up a great deal of memory and disk space, and is therefore harder to work with. And, finally, I think part of it is that Premiere just isn't as far along as Photoshop. It hasn't been through seven iterations, and it feels like it.

I'm not dissatisfied with it, which is why I still gave it four stars, but it isn't on the same level (for me) as Photoshop Elements, and it is pretty expensive. If you are a regular user of the full version of Premiere, and you just want something a bit smaller for home, this may be just the ticket. If you are new to video editing software, however, you'll want to compare the various options before clicking the Buy button on this one.

Sean P. Logue, 2009

17.) Great tool, but steep learning curve and a memory hog
Reviewed by: 57psalm
Rating:
I'm new to this Adobe program, though not totally new to making my own DVD's. I've used Windows movie maker, Photo Studio and Roxio before trying this. I've also used the audio editing program Audacity. I can't seem to change my star rating, or I would have given it 3 stars instead of 4 due to how abstruse it is.

I tried wading through the thick user manual, but found it quicker (and made a lot more sense) to go to http://tv.adobe.com/# where they have tutorials for other Adobe products. Those other products may not be exactly the same, but there is enough similarity that the information is helpful. Many of the pictures in the black and white manual are too small or too dark, making it difficult to distinguish features. The instructions leave out important steps, and there is no glossary or trouble-shooting guide. They probably would have had to make it a Bible-sized manual to include all of that. They offer those things on-line instead, but they still leave a lot to be desired.

This program reminds me a lot of "Audacity," only for video. Adobe is apparently known for having programs which are difficult to learn, and are "memory hogs." This program is no exception. I was able to get this to run, but it runs VERY slow and somewhat buggy. After a while, it crashed, despite having a PC that exceeded system requirements. It took nearly 20-25 minutes for the "full" install.

It is a powerful tool for making home movies, no question, just as Audacity is a powerful tool for editing audio. I like that I can "trim" movie clips to show just what I want, without losing the original clip to the recycle bin. I was also able to change text and clips on the fly, without having to completely "start over" again, but they don't make it obvious as to how you can do that. I have yet to try the "chroma" key feature (similar to blue screen), but I intend to as soon as I figure out how to apply it. I just hope I can try it without the program crashing again.

This program does a lot of things also similar to Windows "movie maker," but not similar enough to be intuitive.

I chose the "full install," but it really didn't have enough "generic" themes to be useful. I wanted a generic "sports" theme, but all they had were certain sports (baseball, soccer, etc) that didn't cover the sport I wanted to feature (volleyball.) The "extreme sports" theme wasn't generic enough for my purposes. The features provided made it look like it was a "watered down" version of something much bigger. So where's the rest of it?

It took a while to learn that you have to edit individual clips BEFORE you add them to the "movie" or your edits won't "stick."

Plan on several hours of learning in order to use this program to its fullest. It's compatible with nearly every imaginable video format which is a real plus. It gives you nearly total control, another plus. It is sophisticated software, and too memory intensive. It might have benefited from a little more "dumbing down" in the features to make it a bit more user-friendly. There were many times when instead of adding new scenes, it simply attached all my clips onto each other in one giant scene, which is NOT what I wanted. Attempts to split it up failed.

18.) Great features! Incredible crashes!
Reviewed by: S. Chapman Shreveport, LA
Rating:
I upgraded from Elements 3.0 and like the improvements. The workflow, keyframing, and other features tend to flow naturally with the video making process. I love the control over the effects and Transitions - especially over a certain period of time. I haven't shoppped around a lot but I have found in my few trilas of other consumer/semi-pro software this one seemed to give me the most power over my project.
HOWEVER - Save Often!
That is - SAVE OFTEN. Not a hard work around for frequent crashing. Just sacve often. I have a Vista Home Premium 4GB MAchine with 500GB of Workable Drvie Space, Intel DUO - Quad Core @ 2.4 GHz. Seems beefy enough. But still frequent crashing (especially with the audio mixer?).

Hopefully a patch will come out soon for these issues.

19.) Still The Best In It's Price Range!
Reviewed by: Brian M. Edwards Edinburg, Texas USA
Rating:
This version seven is an update on version 4 (they skipped 5 and 6) and it is very similar in look and feel with just a few changes.
Version 4 ran smoothly and this does too, I have made a few videos with this version seven quite effortlessly and though I did not use all the effects available I used titles and transitions etc added music and narration without any problems.
Rendering is a little slow but acceptable but I am really surprised that the upload-to-Youtube feature is still preset to MED (which still stands for mediocre)but works well. Too bad that Adobe did not take the time to fix this annoying bug. It's easy to get around this though, just save the video of your choice as Adobe Flash at a higher resolution (staying under 1gig) and upload it from your computer to the Youtube site. Youtube still limits you to 10 minutes but now allow for file sizes up to 1 gig, the Adobe upload feature restricts you to 100 mb for some unknown reason.
Taking this fault into account, I deducted 1 star from what would have been a 5 star rating.
In my opinion this is still the best video editing software in its price range and well worth the money but if you already have version 4, version 7 is not to die for!

20.) Mixed bag in my opinion, mostly good
Reviewed by: TheBandit SEA-TAC
Rating:
I liked some things a lot about Premiere Elements 7, but I also found the program somewhat difficult to work with. As far as making videos for the purpose of posting on youtube, it gets the job done. There is a cool little feature called 'Instant Movie' which basically allows you to throw a decent video together quickly - after you've chosen video shots, you choose a theme and the program puts it together with cool transitions and effects. It is kind of a cookie-cutter way to do it, avoiding creative ingenuity somewhat, but the results are interesting in a haphazard, random way. The themes are limited to 22 included in the software but additional themes can be downloaded.

Another feature analyzes your video footage and judges whether some shots are unusable due to low quality. It is called Smart Tag, but honestly it is of course based entirely on what the software is programmed to recognize as acceptable. In other words, it isn't really necessary if you were going for a shaky, dark look with certain pieces of video footage. But if you do want the technical quality of your material analyzed, this can be a handy option.

Another thing I found very nice is the music libraries containing royalty-free music. There are a lot of choices included for using as soundtracks to your videos - if they are to be uploaded to youtube, for example, it avoids copyright issues.

This is a quality program well suited for inexperienced video makers who want to be able to throw together short clips without a huge amount of prior knowledge of video editing.

21.) Great, and I have only scratched the surface!
Reviewed by: Jennifer Troy, MI
Rating:
Admittedly, I have only scratched the surface of what this wonderful program can do... but for the time being, I have to say it did exactly what I wanted it to do (that I was having a bear of a time getting any other program to do)--which was easily convert HD (AVCHD specifically) to mpeg or avi. This program does it easily, although not quickly (but I don't think any program really can do it quickly). My first trial of converting a 50 minute HD video to mpeg took approximately five hours (yes, FIVE hours)...but it did it, and I didn't even have to break out the manual to figure out how to do it (bonus!). I even managed to add scene breaks for the menu! That said, I didn't actually do any editing on the video - I just wanted to make sure this program worked to convert.

As I said, I just scratched the surface of what this program can do, as there are other basic things like titles, transitions, audio, narration, etc. that can all be added. Honestly, those things are a little over my head and right now I don't have much of a need for them... but come February when our first child makes his appearance, and we start gathering footage by the hundreds of gigabytes, I am sure my husband will have a grand time editing with this program, and I will try to get him to come back here and update my review.

22.) Change Project settings !
Reviewed by: Dollfocus Papillion, NE United States
Rating:
I had problems with PE7 playing back STANDARD DEFINITION video from my Sony HDD camcorder.
Adobe applies a preset to the type of clip for playback. Mine played blurry.
When you start a new project , click the CHANGE settings box . They had standard assigned and I just thought I would try the 720 setting under the HD. Turns out that is what I needed.
If you are using a HD camera, even for shooting standard definition at times, you need to change the settings for each project. Adobe DOES NOT make this clear.
One other thing, you cannot change the settings once you begin a project.
Hope this helps anyone who didn't realize this , Like Me !

23.) Highly recommended for the typical user
Reviewed by: William Jensen Montréal
Rating:
Overall, Adobe Premiere Elements 7 is a great program for the casual video enthusiast. Having used Premiere Elements 4 for a while, this new version is a nice step up. One of the most useful features is what Adobe calls "Smart Tagging," which makes it easier to organize and use video clips. A new feature is the ability to make composite videos, which uses a kind of "green screen" means to isolate a person or object from one scene to use in another. The program also includes more dramatic effects for scene transitions. Many people will be tempted to over-use some of these novel features before realizing that they can quickly become annoying to viewers. One of the most useful features in this program enables the user to drag-and-drop scenes into place or move to a new position. I found Premiere Elements 7 to be fairly intuitive and easy to use. The learning curve is not as steep as it is for Premiere Pro CS4 (nor is it as expensive), and for most users this program will provide more than enough features to keep things interesting for some time to come. I highly recommend this version for the typical user.

24.) Lots to learn
Reviewed by: Elle Pece Texas
Rating:
The first thing I liked when I open the premiere elements 7 box is that has a big book of instructions to follow and explained how to use the software, but then I dislike that took a lot of time to install the software and each time I open the program take more than 30 seconds to open. I don't like the menu and the little window with the advertisement "protect your memories with the backup Sync Try it now button" if you close that small window the program is closed and you have to open again but this time open faster. After using it, is a little complicated for me. I'm a beginner and was a challenge to understand all that options but I like the results, But I need more practice.


25.) Man, The Price Is Right
Reviewed by: Boom-Body Texas
Rating:
This was one of the most difficult purchases I remember making. Every bit of video editing software I could find had mixed reviews. I picked Adobe because I thought I could trust it best, and a friend of mine had used it before. I didn't care if it was hard to use or if it was slow, just as long as it worked.

Well, it is tough to figure out at first, and it does crash whenever you try to rush through setting up your narrations, but it does get the job done. I was able to successfully make a video with it. And the best part is it doesn't cost 500 or 1,000 bucks. It's perfect to use if you just want to goof around on a youtube project.

Use the help button whenver you get stuck, find out how to work with features carefully so you don't cause the program to crash, and you can do a lot with this thing. Beats that worthless windows movie maker any day.




26.) Plenty of feature
Reviewed by: Grampa Central Kentucky
Rating:
I'm a computer geek and am not artistic. This software gives me the power to look like what I am doing when it comes to video editing. It was easy to install and very straightforward to use. It had plenty of features for the neophyte (Templates were great and plenty of items one can add to a video...effects and such.) and there are great features for me as I grow. I used an earlier version and they have repaired the features I didn't like. Make sure you have plenty of memory and disk space, especially for HD. You'll end up with multiple copies of one video so you'll need the room.

If you are looking for something high-end, this isn't it.

27.) Great product for my 9 year old
Reviewed by: funfilmsmom San Diego
Rating:
My son wanted to produce videos for YouTube. This was not the most intuitive solution for him...I had to learn it first, then teach it to him. But once we got past the basics, he took over and figured out a lot on his own. It's really perfect for him.

28.) Good for the price. Easy if you stay on the path. A little confusing off the path.
Reviewed by: Jesse Baynard Tampa, FL
Rating:
Of the two Elements 7 products, Photoshop is much more like it's big brother than Premiere is. If you just want an "instant" movie then this will make a lot of crazy transitions automatically and your family will say "How'd you do that?"... unfortunately... you won't really know. If you do go in and edit your movies manually, it seems a bit more confusing. From managing your clips to the rendering to video or DVD. Overall I think the end results look cleaner/more professional than a lot of other products I've used from Microsoft or ULead (now Corel), but I think they were easier and more intuitive to use.

But overall it's been very stable (something that isn't always true in video apps) on my Vista 64bit installation and does a brilliant job automatically. I'd like a different interface with more obvious controls over things, but for the money it's not bad.

29.) Great package for home video work
Reviewed by: The Blue Raja MD, USA
Rating:
I've worked with professional level editing systems like Avid Nitris, etc., and while this program does not compare, there certainly is no need to as it is more for home use, in my opinion. However as technology increases so narrows the gap between pro and home so if you've got good camera gear or high quality sources, then I suppose the editing software shouldn't matter so much as long as you are used to the interface.

I started with an earlier version of Premiere Elements (2.0?) a while back and found it perfect for small YouTube skits, etc. Adobe Premiere Elements 7 packs a much harder punch and certainly has many more options and updated codecs for various output formats, etc. For the price you get a great bang for the buck for the amateur filmmaker or edit-hungry home video producer who uses the net as their canvas.



30.) Good but not great
Reviewed by: Jack New York, NY
Rating:
I bought this to process HD videos of my new daughter. I am very familiar with Adobe products (use Photoshop, Illustrator, etc) so that geared me towards this. It does the job fairly well but is not as intuitive as I would have liked. It requires an extremely modern and strong computer to run, like most when processing HD files. It read the mts file easily and with no trouble and I have produced a few videos of less than 3 minutes with ease. I have yet to try longer length videos or burning to Blueray though.

31.) Good for those home movies.
Reviewed by: C. C. Westerfield Kentucky
Rating:
My wife uses this to create home movies. It takes some time to render and open large files, but overall it gets four stars for ease of use and features.

32.) Good for a Consumer level program.
Reviewed by: BranchMan Murrieta, CA USA
Rating:
I like this program. It is feature rich and easy to use. Unlike Pinnacle Studio, which tends to crash on every machine I have, this is stable and does the job. I especially like the upload to YourTube feature. Very helpful.

33.) Good functionality
Reviewed by: A. Helfer Pennsylvania
Rating:
After using Pinnacle products for years, we decided to try Adobe Premiere 7 Elements for video editing. Having used other Adobe home products, like Photoshop Elements, we were familiar with much of Adobe's format.

The video loaded over from our MiniDV camera with ease. I found the Adobe software to be more intuitive than the Pinnacle software. We haven't explored its full features yet, but setting up basic family video DVDs is pretty quick.

It runs great on our Vista 64 machine (a quad core system). Give it a whirl.

34.) Not entry level, but learnable
Reviewed by: Luv my Kindle
Rating:
Having worked a little in Photoshop, and tried several entry-level video editing programs, I wanted something that would be a step up without being over my head. This program fits into that niche. It utilizes the basic skills I already possess, and challenges me to learn more. It IS a resource hungry program, but just about every video editing program seems to be that also. I was able to quickly capture clips, assemble them into a short video with titles, and the result looks pretty good. I have much more to try, but so far I am happy with the money spent. One feature I looked for in particular was the ability to recognize MPEG-4 video. Most true beginner programs, even the new ones, could not do this, and it is the format of choice on my Sony camera. Titling was fairly simple, but I think some of the Adobe conventions carried over for me from my experience with Photoshop. Install worked the first time, but follow the directions carefully and make sure you turn off programs it tells you to disable. It is NOT a QUICK install. I would say that this is not, nor is it intended to be, a program for those who want high-end, professional video results. But for movies of my grandchildren, it's working out well. Take the time to have some fun with it. If you are NOT a Photoshop user, you might want to try Photoshop Elements as a companion product.

35.) Adobe Premiere Elements 7
Reviewed by: Wilsson E. Alexander
Rating:
Great program for movimg slideshows to DVD. The help screen is realy bad and it takes some work to get all the items you might want to add to your DVDs.

36.) Best movie software for the price
Reviewed by: Taper Jim Sacramento, CA USA
Rating:
If you need more video editing capabilities than the standard types of movie making programs that come with computers provide, then this product is for you. It also creates the automatic type movies, but for me its real beauty is allowing to overlay multiple videos and produce professional looking movies. I have only limited movie making experience but have been very satisfied with what I can do so far. There are many features that I am not even yet familiar with. The one disappointment for me is the DVD authoring is not as robust as I would have hoped for, in fact it seems so limited that I am going to have use a different program to create DVDs. But for making the movies to go on the DVD, Adobe Premiere Elements is excellent.

37.) Good for typical users and beginners.
Reviewed by: There's no going back. You've changed things... forever. The People's Republic of Indiana
Rating:
I have never edited video before in my life, nor have I researched any video editing programs. With half my brain tied behind my back, leaving the software manual completely sealed-- and nothing up my sleeve-- I installed this program and made my first video in one afternoon. One reason that I picked this up so quickly is that I have used graphics and 3D programs for years, and I have a good instinct for where to find the functions I want. If you need software that will do everything for you, this isn't a good choice. If you're willing to roll up your sleeves and work a little, you can make great, professional-looking videos with Premiere Elements.

The program took a long time to install-- so long that I had to step away from it several times, AND it required a restart. On some machines the program will lag, and if you're running on Vista you already have a hateful relationship with that stupid little circle that goes round and round forever. It didn't crash, but a couple of times I thought it would. I would advise Windows users to exceed the minimum requirements for operation, and run it on XP if you can.

Nearly everything is drag and drop. The challenge sometimes is finding what you want to drag, whether it's a certain transition, or changing text. I've never found Adobe interfaces to be particularly intuitive, and this one is no exception. What's obvious to Adobe and experienced users is not so cut and dry for beginners. This is what makes Help so important. The online-only Help is inexcusable. As easy as the program is, at some point you'll have to check Help for SOMEthing, but if you have no internet connection you're out of luck. It was also slow, and didn't link keywords and phrases like even some of the most basic programs I've had. I don't understand the apparent lack of MP4 support, either. MP4 imports are hopelessly out of sync about half the time, with no apparent way to fix it.

But what about results? I've got some slick videos for my family, and it didn't take me any time at all to do them. I've got music, transitions, credits, titles, and it was a lot easier than taping together pieces of film. This is a good product for a beginner who typically has a shorter learning curve on computers in general, or an intermediate user who is new to Premiere Elements, or not upgrading from 4.

38.) Works well for this casual user
Reviewed by: A. Silveira
Rating:
I upgraded from version 2 and have been very pleased with my results. It installed without a problem and has not crashed my system at all. This version takes a little longer to load initially, but once running it seems faster and smoother than v2. There's a better selection of transitions and effects, and the screen layout seems much more organized and easy to navigate than before. I use the product to create short (5 to 25 minute) videos to preserve our family memories, and it works extremely well for that purpose, at least for me. Perhaps some of the reviewers who were disappointed are pushing it to its limits and have legitimate complaints about its inablility to operate at that level. For me, as a casual user who just wants an inexpensive video editor with sophisticated features that can be called on when needed ... this is great.

39.) Worth the learning curve and struggle
Reviewed by: Morganna Wolf Pacific NW
Rating:
I've been a user of Adobe's Element line since Photoshop Elements 1. I was thrilled when they added Premiere Elements and have used all previous versions. Probably the two biggest additions that come out in Premiere Elements 7 is support for AVCHD (including 5.1 sound) and the new [...] web site. Another minor change is, adding media into Premiere Elements is easier as the look has changed slightly but in a way that makes access much easier.

I had some initial problems with the install that I don't have completely ironed out. I had to remove my old version of Premier Elements to improve stability. Fortunately, Adobe has excellent technical support at their web site. Adobe's web site is full of lots of great information about their product and I highly recommend it for trouble shooting and general information.

As a companion to Premiere Elements 7 I highly recommend The[...] Guide to Adobe Premiere Elements 7: The tools, and how to use them, to create great videos on your personal computer by Steve Grisetti.

This product has a very steep learning curve; however I have also found in previous version that the struggle in learning the product was well worth it. I have not found a consumer level product that offers as many features and flexibility that this product has.


40.) What can I saw - Adobe make good products
Reviewed by: Dano Great Mills, md United States
Rating:
I thought I had reviewed this but apparently not. I use Adobe products on a daily basis. While this product is the pared down version of the Adobe Premiere product it provides excellent tools to make home movies. Some of the tools are a bit cumbersome and require some trial and error to get things correct but once you get the hang of it things get better pretty fast. Really, the key to any of these products is in the way the video is taken. When you take long segments they are a little harder to blend and manipulate. I have compared this application to the Corel product and found Corel to be easier to use and provides a bit more flexibility. Sony Vegas has more tools but is equally difficult to work with. I also own Pinnacle Studio which is easier than any of these products to use but has some limitations that the others don't. All that being said I still like the product and will use it for those video tasks that it works best on. I guess what I am trying to say is the right tool for all tasks may not exist in one package.

41.) got my moneys worth
Reviewed by: Albert S. Balch lacey, wa
Rating:
I have yet to complete a project...I have elements 7 and am very happy with it and after printing and reading the manual for premier I think it will perform at the same level..

42.) For PC only!
Reviewed by: Susan Byers Willits, CA USA
Rating:
I assume this is a good product -- I had high hopes for it! But unforunately, it does not run on MACs. It did not specify this in the product information that I received, so unless I missed something, buyer beware! I was disappointed; it looks like a useful and engaging piece of software for the non-professional, but I cannot vouch for it myself.

43.) quality tells
Reviewed by: Henry Mann usa
Rating:
like all adobe purchases i havw done in past "it is of the finest quality"

44.) HEADS UP!! ...READ THIS FIRST!!! as Paul Harvey says, "The rest of the story!"
Reviewed by: Expert Mom! TN, USA
Rating:
While this is a nice program, my son, who is currently using Sony Vegas 7 & is familiar with Adobe After Effects, (Both GREAT programs, but VERY $$) says while this is in no way comparable to those 2 programs, it is a good value for what it has to offer, BUT if you are more than an occasional user, you may want to take this into consideration, to see the TOTAL cost, as what you buy here is NOT comprehensive.
FIRST- You HAVE to register in order to use most of the editing features, & as additional kick in the pants they require you to pay an additional $50.00 to use any of the dvd themes, something they fail to mention up front. They show you what the dvd themes look like, (a "preview") but you can't use them...... unless you pay an additional "subscription" (of $50.00) that will give you an additional 20 gb of online storage, & again this is an ANNUAL FEE!
Soooo given this extra info I hope there will be no hidden surprizes & you can (or not!) puchase this knowing what to expect!


45.) I'll Stick With Version 4
Reviewed by: marindavid Fairfax, CA USA
Rating:
I have been shooting home movies using a Sony MiniDV format camcorder for about six years now. Over that period, I have used more brands and versions of video editing software that I'd really like to admit to - at least 7 or 8. For a while, the basic Pinnacle seemed adequate but the eventual bugs reported by so many others began to pop up with it. AIST's "Movie X One" and CyberLink's "Power Director" were tried and found to be unsatisfactory. Various versions of Roxio, Sony's "Vegas" packages and Corel's "Video Studio" came and went. My recent experience with Adobe Premiere 7 causes me to recommend that the immediately previous version 4 is probably the overall best amateur video editing software on the market today.

Shortly before upgrading my computer to one with Vista Premium, I tried the (now obsolete for Vista) Premiere Elements 2. Although marketed as being for non-professionals, the learning curve was pretty steep for me, but I managed to produce DVDs that were perfectly acceptable for family memories. Unlike most of the other programs, Adobe Premiere Elements did not freeze up requiring hours of re-capturing the same video over and over again. I believe it was worth the change and I was delighted to find something that worked well for me.

Following my hardware upgrade, I moved up to Premiere Elements Version 4 which is compliant with Vista.

I liked Version 4 a lot. Having mastered most of the bells and whistles in Version 2, it was not especially intimidating. When I became aware that Adobe had released Version 7, I felt like Woody Allen waking up after many years in his classic film, "Sleeper" to find out that a lot of things had changed and that I had missed a great many things. Well, I was wrong. The differences between Versions 4 and 7 are not especially substantial (unless you are a U-Tube videographer or are interested in using Adobe's on-line storage site - neither of which is of interest to me.) As it turns out, I did not miss Versions 5 or 6 - They never existed. Apparently the jump from 4 to 7 as designations was more driven by the wish to have the version number compliant with Adobe's newest version of its Photoshop software.

I will not reiterate all the technical information about Version 7 here - You can read it online or on the box. The focus here is on my subjective experience with the product.

I need note that because my camera does not capture video in an HDTV format, I was not able to experiment with Version 7's tools specifically designed for use with that category of video.

There are, of course, changes. Some of the automated features, like AVCHD can come in handy for people who take HD video and some can seemingly fun and user friendly (by manual definition) heavily automated tools that are useful in integrating stills or slideshows as integrated parts of your video (Videomerge) or in creating complete `professionally looking edited movies using the built in editor (Movie Theme) and video creator that actually chopped and diced my clips into such shreds that I needed to shoot most of the footage over and re-edit it manually to get the product I was after. The Audio Integration feature is nice but does not make up for the additional twists, turns and intermittent instabilities in this new version.

Most certainly, Version 7 is better integrated with the Photoshop website, for those who choose to take advantage of that capacity. I don't.

As a somewhat experienced home and family videographer, I chose to uninstall Version 7 and returned to Version 4 which, though a tad less technically sophisticated, I found easier to use and a more reliable program for creating videos as I really wanted them to look. Less automation can equal greater control and choice. That is the case here.

There is no doubt but that there are improvements in this version. Personally, I found too many of the new `features' to be unnecessary hurdles rather than helpers to me.

Video software is a VERY subjective experience. There is hardly a program out there that is not both sworn by and sworn at. In this particular instance, I think that someone new to Premiere Elements might be entirely satisfied with Version 7 while someone else (more like me) might well prefer to stick with the reliably stable and comparatively straight forward Version 4.

I definitely prefer the Adobe programs to any of the other video editing software I have tried, but in this rather unusual instance, newer and more features do not necessarily equal a better product.



46.) A good product, needs work
Reviewed by: Unknown Editor USA
Rating:
As a previous user of Premiere Elements and Premiere, I was awaiting Elements 7 due to the hopeful inclusion of support for AVCHD editing. (I currently use a Canon HF-100.) Adobe had dropped the ball on leading the way into this new form of compression. Yes, you could edit AVCHD in Premiere but only with additional third party support.
As hoped, AVCHD support was included in Elements 7 however it is lacking in luster. This not to do with Adobe's method of managing the issues as much as the need for more powerful editing hardware.
Some food for thought.
1. I noticed that Audio dropped on almost every file loaded after a few seconds of playback in the time line.
2. Time line scrubbing was not smooth and exact marking at best was a task.
3. Rendering of standard definition to DVD show considerable artifacts that other products seem to manage better.
My editing system is based on and Foxconn x38a motherboard, Intel Quadcore Q9450, 4gig of 800Mhz ram, Asus 3870 graphics card, one 250 gig OS drive, one 250 data drive, Two Seagate 250 gig hard drives in raid 0 for capture/rendering, and Windows XP Pro. Not the fastest system but not shabby.
Some solutions I found to remedy problems with AVCHD in Elements 7.
Make sure you have an AC3 filter. (Took care of my audio issue.)
I purchased Cineform AspectHD intra-codec for use with Premiere which also works with Elements. This is not cheap software but is very effective at managing AVCHD.
Move to Windows XP/64 or Vista/64
Adobe CS4 is now out and I hope to review AVCHD management in this editor as the professional version usually has advantages over its' junior. I hope Adobe works on the compression management and releases a update to help people with average systems.
Overall rating on Elements 7 is good in my book but not the stellar product I would expect from Adobe.

47.) Adobe Premier Elements 7 - Some Nice Features But A Few Critical Flaws
Reviewed by: Technology, Music and Movies East Coast
Rating:

Adobe Premiere Elements 7 is a very useful program for video editing on your PC. I took a great deal of time using the program over several months becaus I wanted to really get into the nitty gritty of what has been changed and what has been carried over from prior versions. While many alternative products have improved by leaps and points, Premiere Elements has actually regressed in certain ways, which is unfortunate. I still use it for several of my Windows workstations, but I am going to have to take a long and hard look at the next version. If there aren't significant improvements I may switch to another platform altogether.

FEATURES AND PERFORMANCE

The list of compatible formats is more than just a bullet-list for marketing purposes. It's great that AVCHD is supported. But the limited support for MP4 is VERY disappointing. More devices are using AVC natively, but MP4 is by far the most common video standard for web video. There is some support under Quicktime, but I do not want to be married to Quicktime's format, or any other format for that matter. The fact that I have to juggle which formats are supported by which programs is an unacceptable hassle. This program needs some serious work before it is truly going to be the program of choice again.

Now, I had heard about some software issues surrounding this version of PE. I configured a dedicated system with more RAM and computing power than should be necessary. The results were still pretty disappointing. This thing is slow and unstable.

That's not to say that it's not useful. The results can be impressive, but it's often painful to get to the finish line with this application. In terms of the video finalization process, this program was equally slow as some of the free programs that are available bundled with cameras or online, like Muvee.

Ironically, this program's feature set is really ideal for beginners in video editing. Yet the problems with software and configuration issues means you need some degree of familiarity in order to get the most out of the product. That's a terrible catch 22 and the main reason I can only give this an average to mediocre rating at best.

ALTERNATIVES

Frankly, if you have a Mac, iMovie may be a better program for you all around. It may not be able to do everything that PE does but it is much more stable and has a better interface. That's not something I could have said with previous versions of Premiere Elements.

Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9 Platinum Pro Pack is the program that most often comes up when people discuss affordable video editing software. I need to spend more time with that program before I can make a judgement. While the pro version is slightly more money, the basic version is in the same price range as Premiere Elements.

I have used Corel Ulead VideoStudio 11.5 Plus for the last few versions and I don't think that it has as many features, though using it requires less of a learning curve. Corel also has the more robust Corel VideoStudio Pro X2, which is apparently going to be their focus going forward.

Cyberlink PowerDirector7 Ultra (as well as Power Producer) also is a consideration. The basic version can do some of the things that PE can do, and seem better designed for user friendliness. I suppose I am less impressed with the power of the basic Cyberlink programs, but at least they work. Once again, the Ultra is worth a try as it seems to have many of the higher end features that people look for in video editing software.

Pinnacle Studio is the application that I have had the most general success with over long term use, in terms of usability and reliability. The problem is that, for a few reasons, I only have an older version of it installed on a machine that is dedicated for another purpose. I may even consider buying an additional copy of the newest version of that for my workstation depending on a few other programs I am trying out.

While there are a lot of alternatives, none of them is a slam dunk winner for me yet. I will update this as I am currently testing several other programs now.

CONCLUSION

This is still an OK program, and it will do the job. Not to mention, everything you know from previous PE versions is here. But Adobe has to improve some major upgrades, and fast, before this program becomes a backwater. Most alternatives also have their flaws, but competing programs have improved much more than this one. Soon they may completely overtake Premiere Elements unless some serious improvements are made.

Good luck with it.


48.) Good features for someone new to editing, horrible stability issues
Reviewed by: Charles Connecticut
Rating:
This is really my first real experience with any type of video editing software. I picked up PE7 up to finally spend some time editing and backing up the hours of tape I had accumulated over the years. Because this is my first experience with software of this type I can't really offer comparisons to other options that are out there but I will give my impressions of PE7 from a beginner's perspective.

For a consumer level video editing application I found the utilities that are available in PE7 to be fairly extensive. For someone who is new to these types of applications PE7 can offer as many features and options as you are willing to play with. I installed the software and without any knowledge of how it worked explored and played around with the features, by the second day I was starting my first project. There are basic video effects/animations that you can play with, title animations and themes that can be applied to videos etc. Working with imported video clips is easy and quick. I have a 3 year old MiniDV camcorder and videos import without issues, I believe these clips are imported as AVI-DV files. I don't have an HD camera so I can't attest to the HD video editing but it is nice to have the option with this software in the future should I decide to upgrade.

Unfortunately the good features of the software can be overshadowed by some of the negatives. Mainly the crashing. It is unacceptable for Adobe to release a product that has clearly not been thoroughly tested as it crashes far to frequently. Reviews of PE4 mention instability issues, I figured 7 would address these, that was not the case. Working in PE7 you will soon get used to saving very frequently as crashes seem to pop up even when not doing anything particularly taxing to your system. Another issue I am not thrilled with is the difficulty I am having importing other videos that have been encoded using divx or xvid formats. I believe this can be solved by hunting down the correct video and audio codecs. Some have complained about the Photoshop online accounts, I do not have any experience with this as I don't intend to share any of my projects this way. I can say it is not worth signing up for a basic account if you are hoping to use tutorials, a Google search will return more useful information.

Overall I'm happy with PE7. I needed something to use to edit my video and this fit the bill. When it isn't crashing it works well for me, crashing is just way to frequent.


49.) Does The Job
Reviewed by: Thrasymacus Doylestown, PA USA
Rating:
I loaded this program recently, and found that it is up to the tasks that a 'regular user' - such as myself - will require. The install is easy, and storyboarding, and adding effects are simple.

I have to ask myself though, what does this do that MS Movie Maker doesn't already do? The answer is that you must register and pay a fee $$ to use some of the slicker features.

50.) Better than version 4, but still too slow.
Reviewed by: J. Royce Nashua, NH United States
Rating:
I have three main things that I do with video editing software:
1. Convert video to be able to watch on my PC via my TiVo
2. Convert video to be able to watch on my iPod
3. Make home movies from clips of digital camera movies, etc.

My programs of choice for doing this are: VirtualDub, ffmpeg (both free for Windows) and AVIdemux (for Linux). I've also used Windows Movie Maker on a few occasions.

Now to Premiere Elements--the program is reasonably laid out and has a nice interface--very similar to Windows Movie Maker with the familiar video, audio, text timelines at the bottom. A lot of video formats are supported and I didn't have any issues with the program highjacking my codecs like version 4 did. (Version 4 left me unable to play MPG video in Windows Media Player.) This is all good.

Importing and cutting video is straightforward, as is splicing. I had no problems using the program almost right away.

Exporting video is pretty easy too, but I am surprised to find a lack of presets for exports. The box says "Upload directly to YouTube" and I figured if there was support for YouTube, there would be support for other common formats as well--I was wrong. Sure, I can create an iPod video by choosing "Quicktime format", "MPEG4 video" codec, limit the bitrate to 800k, set the video size to 320x240 and then save this as my own template, but what if I was a beginner who didn't know all these settings for iPods?

The worst part of this program is that it is SLOW. On my Core 2 Duo 2.2 Ghz PC with 2 GB RAM, it takes 30+ seconds just to open. I tried to take a 70 minute video and encode to TiVo format (MPEG-2 with 720x480 resolution) and it estimated that the operation would take 5 hours. (I can do this with ffmpeg in about 20 minutes.) Even the install took 20 minutes and required a reboot.

I guess if you have a blazing PC and are looking to do some more advanced video editing, this might be a good program. For someone like myself who wants to do some basic tasks, I think the old tried-and-true programs are more useful.

51.) Premiere Elements 7 - Good but some problems
Reviewed by: Score
Rating:
Premiere Elements 7 is a good product - ran on Vista premium with 2 gigs of memory. Nice features and functionality. However, product locked up a lot so you need to back up frequently. I am in the process of doubling our Ram so that I minimize this problem. Nonetheless, the templates are nice and its easy to work with. DVDs that we have created turned out well.

52.) My Head Hurts...
Reviewed by: ppro Morgantown, WV USA
Rating:
I was excited to receive this product. But after a couple hours with it, I haven't accomplished anything and my head hurts.

Help - Online... What if I'm not connected to internet? No Help?

Add Files... No search and add to repository - must go find files manually?

Add Media... File browser hoplessly general AND hopelessly specific - can't get "all movies" or "all still images", etc.

Organizer... Project oriented - means must search elements for every project...
- every drag and drop changes view away from last selected

Capture... Found webcam without any problem (wow)

Drag Clips... After bottom row is full must scroll to drop next clip - doesn't automatically reveal next open box

Video Sizing - no key-sequence or other control to maintain aspect ratio

I thrashed through a number of attempts to configure the product for easy follow-up use. I didn't manage to configure the software for anything but the current project.

Thrash was the mode of operation and very quickly grew tiresome.

There's a lot of power here but it just looks like a program written for programmers who live to program. For people who want to get in, get something done, and get on with life, it's a disaster.

I gave it a medium rating because even though it's not for me, I am sure there are people who will love the thrash, gadgets and do-dads.



53.) H264 Video Authoring Info
Reviewed by: roashru FL, United States
Rating:
I have Adobe Premiere Elements 2 version 7 is the same if you want to create H264 video nothing has changed Quicktime Pro dose all of the work. even worse AVCHD media is import only. also, the "crashing" more like PC freezing due to too much computer work need to be done is caused by a file the newer Adobe Premiere Elements installs and runs in the background can be shut off (unchecked) or on (checked) with a program from Microsoft called autoruns.exe. program seems to work just fine without it.

54.) Adobe Premeire Elements 7 - Tutorial?
Reviewed by: Steven Spillman Travelers Rest, SC
Rating:
Got the software installed. Open screen forces you into Photoshop.com membership - where they encourage you to store your work, which sometimes isn't available, which is always B.S. Tutorials are online, which, once you've figured out how to navigate past the 'join photoshop.com' intro without shutting down the program, you can only find by first beginning a project and then hitting the help button so they can tell you how to begin a project. They could have made starting out a whole lot easier.
Otherwise, it's Adobe, which means that, for now, I'll trust it to work as well as other Adobe programs.

55.) PE7 Took PE4, which was Nice, Tried to Enhance, But the Release is Not Stable! Too Many Crashes & Freezes!
Reviewed by: Bruce B. Razban Silicon Valley, CA
Rating:
===Update (12/12/09)===
After two contacts with Adobe, and some additional work, I have the following to add to this review ( and up my ranking from three stars to four):
* On page 15 of the paper manual, towards the bottom of the page, I found, Important Some settings can not be changed such as FIPS, aspect ration after the first fragment is used. This explains many of the freezes and crashes that I experienced.
* PE7 seems to be very sensitive to formats. Make sure that you are using the formats that are acceptable to it.
* A better practice is to do what the manual says (Of course, I have to confess that I do not like to read manuals)and *set your settings first*, unless you like the default.
* Since I use several different formats in each youTube.com clip that I post, I have found the video converter free download at:
[...] to be great for me. You might do some digging and find a better one.
* My youTube video at:
[...] was produced by using PE7. The "grainyness" is supposed to add artistic value to the message and
is *not* the PE7 fault.

===Original Review===
Let me say these first so you put this review in perspective:
* I have used and like Adobe PhotShop a great deal.
* I liked PE4, unfortunately, PE7 has too many frequent, unexpected, and sudden crashes and freezes!
* I was amazed by the rich product features that I saw in PE7 before purchase,:
o The free music,
o Added quick movie production, etc., etc.
* Unfortunately, it is frustrating not to be able to use those features without crashes!
I think that the user interface is even nicer than PE4. To be fair, it might be that frequent crashes and freezes might have to do with my Windows Vista.
I have had a lot of trouble importing Sony FE11 HD footage and using it in PE7. The .m4v for instance is not processed properly. The audio track proceeds OK, but image frames freeze and stick. Even after frequent "saves" you lose work that was done prior to freeze. I was not successful in capturing Mino HD format. However, I do give credit to Adobe for indicating that Mino format is not supported.
There is an unexpected warning and a rapid freeze upon attempting to enter the next command before the present command is completely executed (command chaining.)
However, from Adobe, one of the most recognized brand names in industry, one needs to get a solid stable and robust "Adobe Style" product.
I hope that Adobe fixes these problems since Premiere is almost a religion! If ,and when they do, I will change my review or submit a more approving one.


56.) Decent application, almost there
Reviewed by: ARealAVFan Acworth, GA
Rating:
Adobe Premiere Elements is a decent app, just falls a bit short for me. First, a pet peeve, the launch screen always wants you to sign up for adobe's website, with the goal of charging money for storage and services. I don't want to see that, I wish that could be removed. As with PhotoShop Elements, the user interface is all Adobe's creation, with no real Windows look and feel to it, and no ability to customize, other than turning toolbars on and off. A big gripe is that adobe doesn't include a lot of movie templates, so you are forced to pony up more cash to expand the product. Obviously a trojan horse revenue generator is part of the business plan here, I just find it annoying. I found the app a bit clunky when searching for, and adding, media to be used for a project. I had used an earlier version of Premiere Elements, found it to be pretty awful, but in spite of the criticism in this review, adobe actually improved things a bit. But to go from 2 stars up to 3 stars isn't great, I'm planning to do a free trial of the next version.

57.) A lot to learn, but I'm taking it one step at a time
Reviewed by: S. Nay Wenatchee, WA USA
Rating:
I've never used any video editing software before Adobe Premiere Elements 7, so it's all new to me. It can do lots of things, but so can Microsoft Word, and lots of people are comfortable using that program. Of course, most people don't use many of the features in Word. I many not end up using many of the features in Premiere because at this point I have pretty simple needs. I'm trying to learn it one feature at a time, instead of trying to produce a Hollywood block buster the first time I open the box. Is it easy? Yes and no, but I can't tell if the "no" part is due to the program or my inexperience.
If you're new to video editing, Premiere is okay, but also check out reviews for other products.

58.) Final output very good, but not worth the instability
Reviewed by: Truth Teller Colorado, USA
Rating:
I was very excited to get the latest version of Premiere Elements and had been looking forward to it for some time. I wanted to do some editing of the 1920 x 1080i AVCHD video captured by my Canon HF10 camcorder. I was let down tremendously by the instability of Premiere Elements 7 on my system. In the end, I created a great looking DVD that everybody complemented, but it was very torturous due to the number of crashes I had to endure.

Crashes aside, the product has most the features for the level of editing that I like to do (more than Windows Movie Maker, but not pro-level). The biggest thing it has going for it is the number of available video formats for both input and output.

I found it to be mostly intuitive to use, but it is quite a bit less intuitive than iMovie '08 on the Mac and not as sexy either. The file and project organization was kind of difficult to use and quite lacking.

The help system is not as easy or as fast to use as a normal product help system since it simply launches a browser windows to the Adobe site, which does make it a bit slower. However, the great thing about it is that this means you are always getting the latest help content, assuming you have an internet connection at the time that you need the help.

Adobe has added a direct product connection with photoshop.com and this does add some value, but they also have used this as a way to upsell higher level services. I signed up for the basic free account which simply gives you 2GB of online storage. It doesn't include access to additional content, even user generated content. This is definitely a mark against the product since Cyberlink Power Director includes free access to their online community content where there is a lot of great free content. This would be less of an issue, except Adobe continually pushes ads for the premium service in the product. In fact, the main startup screen is little more than an ad which you have to click through each time you start up. The net result of this huge ad is that you get a really lousy startup screen that completely lacks a decent project organizer for existing projects.


OVERALL, I found it to be sub-par to the user interface (usability) of iMovie on the Mac and sub-par to the power and quickness of Cyberlink Power Director (Vista). The feature set was simply about par for this level of video editing software. Nothing truly exciting that blew me away. My final rating of it was greatly degraded by the instability of the software, but that only seems fair given that I tried quite a bit to overcome the instability to no avail. I spent several FULL days working with it and it seemed to me that the more complex my project got the more often it crashed on me. Towards the end it was crashing at least once every 15 minutes.


With regard to the crashes I experienced, I attempted many things to fix it, including uninstalling any other software related to video processing, fully reinstalling QuickTime (required by Premiere Elements, and fully uninstalling Premiere followed by a reinstall. I also went through the Adobe online support site and tried all the suggestions that I found. Nothing fixed the instability. I considered rebuilding my system or creating a boot partition of Windows XP just to see if it worked on XP, but decided it wasn't worth the effort. I am most definitely NOT a novice computer user and I have a system that more than meets the system requirements for this product (Windows Vista loaded on a Q6600 (Quad core) with 3 GB of RAM, a Nvidia 8xxx series GPU, and a 750 GB hard disk. An off the shelf product should work off the shelf.

Since SOME other reviewers do not have instability problems, I must conclude that whether or not you'll experience instability issues is going to be dependent on your exact computer and the software on it. Therefore, I would highly recommend downloading a trial version of the software from Adobe and doing some serious editing before paying for the software. In my opinion, it was probably released before it was fully baked so that it would be available for the 2008 Holiday season and could be packaged with Photoshop Elements 7. As for me, I'll probably be using different software for my video editing.


59.) A Complete Lack of Innovation
Reviewed by: Ron Cole
Rating:
With this latest release of Premiere Elements, Adobe jumps the version number of its extremely popular video editing software from 4 to 7. This was done to keep Premiere Elements at the same release number as Photoshop Elements - the image editing program that PE7 is often bundled with. So, does this version of the software contain enough new features to justify the big jump in version number? The answer is No.

The primary reason for this release was Adobe launching its new Photoshop website, which is Adobe's attempt to compete with social networking and video/image sharing sites like MySpace, YouTube, and Photobucket. Premiere Elements 7 allows you to directly upload/backup your videos on that site.. or, at least, you're supposed to be able to. I couldn't even get my photos to display properly on that site via Photoshop Elements (the system constantly glitched and told me the images were damaged/corrupted and could not be displayed), and I didn't feel like taking the time to test the feature with a two gig video file after the early failures. Granted, fixes for these sorts of errors will probably be added quickly (they may already have been added by the time you read this review), but it just goes to show that PE7 was released with significant problems.

Besides features based on the new Photoshop website, there's not much new in Premiere Elements 7. There are some new/improved wizards to help you make slide shows and movies, but competing video editing programs have had these features for a while. As well, some of the more common plugins have made their way into the main PE program (SmartSound, etc...), but users of previous PE versions already had access to these. Finally, PE7 is listed as having AVCHD support, but - since I don't currently use AVCHD - I haven't personally tested this aspect of the software.

If Premiere Elements 7 had some innovative new features or significantly streamlined its program, I could recommend it - but neither of these aspects are in the new version. What we've got is a piece of software that is invasive (aspects of PE7 constantly run on your system when you boot up, and altering your config files or startup to shut them down will require you to re-install PE), requires significant system resources to run properly, and just hasn't improved much since the previous version. What's worse, Adobe did not release a patch for the bugs in the previous version of PE (at least not at the time of this writing, over one year since release), so don't expect Adobe to support this version any better.

60.) Powerful but painful to use, I can't recommend it!
Reviewed by: Avid online gamer California, USA
Rating:
I mainly started using PE 3.0 awhile back to upload videos to YouTube and to get my HD movies from my camcorder onto DVD (with a few titles, etc..). I never found 3.0 that easy to use but I got the job done.

I upgraded to PE 7 about a month ago and I have been very disappointed. At first I figured I just needed time to get adjusted to the program, but here I am a month later and today started shopping for another alternative. I plan to uninstall PE 7. Which is hard for me to say. But the program is just too painful for me to use, it is not very intuitive and if you want to deviate from doing things how THEY want you to do it....well good luck.

I also get the lockups that others have complained about. Today was the last straw when trying to make a 3 min .flv movie from HD content. The program kept locking up telling me I didn't have enough memory resources. I have a smokin fast machine with 4 GB of memory...if that can't cut it then I doubt most peoples computers will. Very disappointing.

I love Adobe products normally but this one was a total failure. I suggest you look elsewhere at the many other options for the same money.

61.) Powerful, but very unpleasant software
Reviewed by: David Arnstein California
Rating:
This is the third version of Premiere Elements that I have owned. Each version adds new features. This one (version 7) includes some really advanced features, such as chroma keying, picture-in-picture, and more audio options than you could shake a stick at. I would say that using this program, you could do just about anything you wish with your video material.

I like that you can output all sorts of video. Flash, Quicktime/H.264, MPEG, and so forth. I am missing 1080P/MPEG and H.264 in containers other than Quicktime. I don't know if anyone cares about those, though.

This most recent version seems a bit more stable than the previous version too. It has not crashed on me yet.

So Premiere Elements is amazingly powerful for a home video program. It is also extremely unpleasant to use. It is, hands down, the most unpleasant program that I own.

Starting at the beginning, when I launch the program, I am presented with an "invitation" to join an Adobe online service. I will never join this service. I will have to click a button to make this go away, every time I use the program.

The program launches with the topmost part of the GUI "off screen." That is, I could see the top of the GUI if my monitor was about an inch higher. It's too bad, because all the GUI top level controls are on that topmost portion. In particular, the menu item that I could use to change the size and shape of the GUI, and therefore get it back on screen! This is incredibly irritiating.

The help system is simply a launcher for your favorite web browser. You ask for help on something, you get an Adobe web page. This method is slower than the traditional Windows help system, and less useful. I really miss the speedy contents / index / search tabs that most Windows programs offer.

The program offers an extremely rich variety of scene transitions. Cross wipes, random dissolves, animations, etc. It is really nice. What is not so nice is that I cannot find a way to automatically apply a transition to all scene cuts. This is a big problem if you have a lot of scenes. In particular, if you are making a slide show of still photos, your arm will get tired as you apply transitions over and over again. Did you forget to choose a reasonable time duration for your transitions? Tough luck. Start over again.

Putting together a title crawl or title roll is an exercise in frustration. Did you get the duration right? Did you get the speed right? Did you spell all the words correctly? Did you make one tiny mistake? Tough luck. You have to start over again from the beginning.

This is a general theme for this program: you can create wonderful things with it. This takes time, effort, and creativity on your part. That's OK. What's not OK is if you muff it even a little, you have to start over again.

I much prefer Pinnacle Studio to this program. It is less powerful though. In particular, the Pinnacle software can't do 1080P output. That's a requirement for me, although most folks won't care.

In conclusion, this program is an even mixture of great power and unpleasant operation. I would give it a three star rating (half way between awful and great!) except for one little problem. On many projects, I get so frustrated with the program that I just quit. Screw it. Therefore, the "great power" aspect of the program has gone missing. So, two stars.

62.) Unstable
Reviewed by: JD Annapolis, MD United States
Rating:
I bought Adobe Premier Elements 7 with a new Dell XPS Studio with MS Vista, 12 GB RAM, 1 TB of disk space, and 1GB of video RAM. It came pre-installed. PE7 barely runs. Most times, I do not get to the "Share" phase because PE7 says there is an unexpected error and shuts down. I even get MS Visual Studio C++ Runtime errors. The dialog says MS is looking for a "solution", but it never responds that one was found. Other times, the Open Project fails, so that I cannot even open a saved project. Very frustrating. Normal (i.e. non-esoteric) program usage like adding scene transitions, or merely clicking on the scene scroll bar also causes the program to crash, but even that is not the worst. The worst comes after three hours of video crunching, the disk write fails causing all that time to be lost.

Even with my powerful PC, I've taken all the normal precautions-- I run nothing else concurrently, only on a fresh startup or re-boot etc., but none of this seems to have any effect.

I've given PE7 two stars because amazingly enough after many false starts and do-overs, I managed to squeak out two DVDs and one Bluray movie. The bluray feature lacks a burn to file (which the DVD share allows), so if after several hours of video crunching the disk write fails-- you've lost all that time.

When it does work, it works well and I was very pleased with the quality of the finished output. However today, I cannot open my latest project and if this is not resolved, I will have lost HOURS of setup time. I cannot imagine how or why a company like Adobe would release a program like this that is so not ready for prime time.

UPDATE: After hours of re-doing yet another project, the program failed while processing the video during pre-burn processing. After walking away from the computer, I returned to find it re-booted and now although Premier Elements itself will start, that project will no longer load, causing a fatal error that causes the program to close. If I could change my rating to one star, I would do it.

UPDATE: On a lark I started another PE7 project. Got to the "Share" tab without a hitch. After 4 hours of video crunching and less than five minutes remaining, I received the dreaded "Multiplexing has Failed" error. Back to Google and oh yes, this is a problem others are experiencing too. What a fool I was for giving this not-ready-for-prime-time program another chance. The breadth of the types of failures I have experienced with PE7 has truly been staggering for a production release.

63.) Not as many features as I was expecting from Adobe.
Reviewed by: Work of Life Miami, Florida USA
Rating:
Perhaps I have become so accustomed to Adobe's professional grade design products that my expectations were just too high for this one. I was looking for something with a pro-sumer level of features. You know, better than Window's movie maker, but not as complex as Adobe Premier Pro. Yes, Elements is better than movie maker, but not significantly enough to make it worth the time, money and disc space. The interface was not as intuitive as I have come to expect from Adobe and the features were lackluster and geared towards teenage type effects. Not what I was looking for.

64.) It's lame....
Reviewed by: John P. Sullivan Roseville, CA
Rating:
This is a decent video editor for the price you pay...I mean, you'll do more than you could with Windows Movie Maker at least.

If you're a hobbyist this might be a nice value, and like another reviewer states, you've got to subscribe to the DVD themes, which is even more lame!

If you're serious about video editing, I'd look into Sony's Vegas Pro, and if you're a little less serious there's even a trimmed down version, Vegas Movie Studio that would be more useful than this "lure" of a program.

65.) One Confusing Memory Hog
Reviewed by: Video Editing Guy Miami, FL
Rating:
THE GOOD:
This is one POWERFUL program! (when it doesn't crash). Its main strength for me is the flexibility it offers when using the Picture In Picture, Text, and overall creative controls. If you are an experienced video editor, the world is yours with this program. There is nothing you can not accomplish. You will end up with a professional quality unmatched by any other video editing program I have ever encountered. Truly outstanding accomplishments!


THE BAD:
The User Interface is cheap looking, and does not offer a sense of confidence as you try to work through your project.

The software will CRASH unpredictably but consistently, this makes you have to save your project every two seconds because you don't know when the next crash is coming. I am running this software on an AlienWare computer with ample memory, a speedy 7200 rpm drive and Windows 64Bit Vista.

The feeling you get when you finish a project is like finishing a 1000 mile trip in a junker car. You feel lucky that you made it, and don't look forward to doing it again -- yet you know you will. This software is a computer-resources hog from hell. It feels as though your machine is being taxed to its limits just to keep the software open.

I often lose files (misplaced) from the visual video library. Where are they?! I have to import it again!

Additionally, the output files are way too big in size! (almost any format). I have to b

66.) No updates
Reviewed by: klad Bronx, NY United States
Rating:
They are really dropping the price on this for a reason... it's not worth it! First off Adobe Elements never patches their software they send it out and then repair whatever is broken in the next version! I have been an elements user from version one and discovered this by verison 4... they them jumped to version 7 for synergy purposes. This version is still very buggy so be prepared to hit save, save, save... and get ready to shell out another $100 in sept for the next patch with two or three new bells and whistles... because they might have fixed the problems by then... I would advise to wait until you read they have fixed them because you certainly won't get it through their updates... it only updates Adobe Reader!

67.) Be prepared for frequent crashes
Reviewed by: J. McGee
Rating:
You have to have a lot of patience to use Adobe Premiere Elements 7 because of the frequent error messages and crashes. Save often, keep the kids out of the room so they don't have to hear your swearing, and with only a few weeks of work and tons of perseverance you can put together a pretty decent AVCHD video. Something like driving a car in the early 20th century - lots of breakdowns and flat tires. But wait, isn't this the 21st century? What's up Adobe?

68.) Misleading advertising
Reviewed by: sureshot Colorado
Rating:
This was marketed as easy to use. It is not. At start up you keep getting prompted to join thier video club every time you start the application. Then you have to select a new project or recent project. It won't let you just start to look at files unless you select something.Very annoying. The get media option doesn't work if you choose HD camera. The camera is not recognized. It does show a a USB hard drive but than you need to dig through folder etc. to find what you need. I have to use the cheesy software that came with the camera to copy video from the cam to the computer because from what I can see there isn't a way to do this from Premiere Elements. The documentation is poor. Would get a full refund if I could and try Corel.

69.) Not worth $40.00
Reviewed by: Disasitisfied Houston, TX
Rating:
Not worth the money. Difficult to use, not intuitive at all. Imported video from my DVD camera leaves audio and video out of sync. I've used free programs that were easier to use only the resolution of the finished product suffered. I expected more from Adobe.

70.) Make sure you have Blood Pressure Meds...
Reviewed by: Jim San Diego, Ca USA
Rating:
Adobe Premiere Elements 7
First of all the positives...The program has some really great features. Now for the rest...PRE7 is a resource hog. You cannot edit more than a couple clips without it warning you resources are low. Yes I am 4x over the required minimums. Sometimes while editing, the program will simply become un-responsive. The only way out is to end the program...doing that also means you lose all the work you have just done. Adobe should be ashamed of this product...it is almost useless. If I had the time I would sue them to recover all my lost hours of work.
Rumor has it...the program runs much better on a 64 bit machine.
The Wise always warn life is full of disappointments...Rest assured that Adobe Premier Elements 7 is going to be one of them.


71.) Easy to use but.......
Reviewed by: J. Hayward Dothan, AL
Rating:
I have Premiere Elements 3.0 and have now updated to Premiere Elements 7.0.
The program is easy to use, but during burning to a DVD it often (3 out of 5 times for me) causes the computer to lock-up and re-boot.

My Computer has a Intel Quad 2.83 running Vista 64 bit with 8 MB of RAM. It is a very stable computer platform; except when running Premiere Element 7.0.

If not for the instability, 7.0 would be 5 stars........but the instability is nearly at a point of unacceptable.

72.) I never did get this to work properly....
Reviewed by: me Denver, CO
Rating:
I was so excited to receive this via the vine program and have now wasted aobut 40 hours in installing, reinstalling, playing with it and trying to edit video with it. I never did get it to read and edit the video I wanted it to.

sorry, can't recommend it.

73.) Better Options
Reviewed by: Kurt L. Yazici
Rating:
This software is frustrating to learn. It taxes your machine's powers and is quite disappointing from my experience. I would not recommend using this for editing video.

74.) Flawed
Reviewed by: WILLIAM MCLEAN Medford, OR USA
Rating:
This version has some serious flaws. But never-mind that. An updated version has been created. However, I do not have that updated version. Potential buyers should read reviews on the new version. No one should purchase this old version.

That says it all.

75.) Big disappointment
Reviewed by: Mike
Rating:
The only reason I give two stars is because I assume that I will eventually be able to figure out how to make this product work for me.

I bought this product because I wanted enhanced features in Photoshop Elements and wanted maximum compatibility with PSE when making videos (mostly slideshows). My first disappointment was that I could not open projects created with the previous version of Premiere Elements (I used version 3), so that the slideshows that I update on a regular basis needed to be completely recreated. (Or, what I did was keep using my previous version 3 of Premiere Elements.) My second disappointment was that I finally bit the bullet and created a new slideshow with the new (when I bought it) Photoshop/Premiere Elements package. I have so far been unable to burn this to a wmv or dvd format. A variety of errors. This is basically the same project that I was able to do with my previous versions of these products. The solutions I see to try are not things I needed to do - disable all firewall and antivirus software, for example - with the previous version. One solution is to resize all of the photos I use to a smaller format. They're kidding, right? I understand that creating videos is very memory and cpu intensive process. But I was able to do all this with the previous version of this software.

A summary of my complaints is: (1) apparently not backward compatible with projects created in the previous version of software, (2) much more difficult to burn dvds that could be burned in the previous version of software, (3) enhanced features are available online but only if you pay an annual subscription (at least for PSE), (4) help is now only over the internet, which now makes it difficult for me to find specific help because there is so much help mixed in from all versions of the software.

76.) Can't read video, can't write video but middle is a little better
Reviewed by: software_rancher Colorado
Rating:
I have a fairly new video camera but this product was unable to import the video directly. I had to use the small app that came with the camera to import the data to disk and then "import" that into Premier Elements. The failure message is pretty bizarre and comes attached to a nearly phantom window; this is clearly a gaping whole in the program. Adobe support says that it just might not be able to work with that camera.

After struggling with the clunky interface I finally put together a video that I wanted to burn to DL DVD. However, as soon as I get to that menu the program crashes (i.e., a dialog pops up to send an error report to Microsoft). Adobe support just says to be sure that everything that can be updated (there are no updates to PE 7) is updated—they were.

When I looked into getting a consumer-level video editing program about 6 months ago Premier Elements 4 (they jumped a couple numbers here to line it up with (Photo) Elements) the consensus was what PE 4 was the best of a bad lot. My guess is that with this release, Premiere Elements 7 is no longer even the best of the bad lot. With a product with so many versions, it really ought to work much better than this. I would dub it the Vista of video editors, but even Vista is not this dysfunctional. I expected more from Adobe.

77.) No DVD drives found for Windows Vista
Reviewed by: SMejia San Salvador, El Salvador
Rating:
Well, I must share this experience with you, before making expensive mistakes. We all know of the Adobe creative software excellence, but this has an anoying problem with Vista.... when I installed Pre 7 not only it self failed to recognize my burners (one internal an one external) but my Roxio Creator did it too. That problem araised as soon as I got Pre 7 in my laptop, a Dell 1420 core 2 duo home basic (Spanish). No forum, no support could solve the problem. I uninstalled Pre 7 from my 1420 and everything came back to normal with Roxio ( I must say that Windows never stopped recognizing the DVD drive...it was only for Pre7 and Roxio...). This week I got a new dell Studio 1537 Core 2 duo centrino 2 home premium (English)... but.... same problem...coincidence?, I don't think so... there must be a kind of confict between vista and Pre... so, be awared of it. Software performance is good, but you must know that some extra work in some burning software (not Roxio) may be necesary to get your project done.

78.) Had to troubleshoot to get it to work without hanging
Reviewed by: M. Keough
Rating:
I have been a loyal Adobe Premiere Elements user for 3 years (version 2 and 3).
I just bought a brand new Dell M6400 Windows Vista 64bit Quad Core workstation laptop, that I spec'ed to do High Definition Video editing. Everything works fine until I try loading Premiere elements. It totally locks up my computer. It looks like it works for about a minute, by then locks up solid. I've uninstalled and re-installed Premiere elements a few times, and even re-installed Vista (fresh install). No luck.

It doesn't even work in 64bit "compatibility mode", where it runs Premiere elements as an administrative program, and can run it like the OS is XP SP2. No difference. I then researched this program on the web, and found that there are a lot of crashing problems with release 7. I guess I'll have to get away from Adobe, and start looking somewhere else.

UPDATE 1-31-09. I went to the Adobe site, and read tons of complaints about software installation. After a few hours of reading, I found an answer from an Adobe rep to get it to work. I had to update the original Dell supplied HD audio driver (it was only 1 months old?) and then re-install the Adobe software. Also, I held down the "shift" key until the opening options page loaded. It re-builds some obscure file it needs that was probably corrupted during the hangs.

Also, I deleted some documents template file folder (sorry I can't remember where it is, you will have to look on the Adobe forums to find it), and then Premiere Elements rebuilds it. Apparently if it's corrupted, it will hang the program.

After all this, the program would load on my Vista 64 bit system. Now it seems stable. I'm still getting used to it, but it looks like a decent upgrade from my old Premiere Elements Version 3. It's very difficult to find some of the features I know are in there such as keyframe editing, etc. Guess it's just the typical Adobe learning curve.

I created a few sample High Definition videos from my Canon Vixia HV30 and they look great. Now, I'd give it a 3 star rating, but Amazon doesn't let me change the rating.

79.) Where's the sound? And the support?
Reviewed by: George
Rating:
Pros: Handles HD AVI's perfectly. Excellent video features. Easy-to-use interface.

Cons: Sound mixer broken, no manual, no tutorials, no customer support.

The product performs well as advertised, except the sound mixer does not work. In troubleshooting the sound problem (only the sound track worked - all other sounds were muted), I uncovered deficient (as in "none") customer support, and knowledgebase articles that were vague and unhelpful. I installed the product on multiple computers, all with the same results - no mixed sound. I finally bought a competitor's product and found that Adobe also omitted a user manual and tutorials that the competition includes. This product works well for making simple home movies on par with Windows MovieMaker.

All-in-all, this product was a disappointment.


80.) Not an Upgrade, use older versions
Reviewed by: Larry Buckeye AZ
Rating:
As a longtime premiere elements user, this version is not recommended. Very slow response. Fewer options and they are hidden, for example to make a WMV, click share (not export), Pick some portable device that uses WMV and edit its settings.

Performance on a dual pentium with 4 gigs is slower than PE 1 or 2 on a single Pentium 4 with 1 gig of memory.

Wasted $99 and if you buy watch the rebate. They took months and then said I submitted more than 6 weeks after purchase, not true. And the don't answer the phone he you try to complain. I guess I'm going back to Sony Vegas Movie Studio


81.) Unstable/Slow particularly with HD
Reviewed by: jn347 Plano, TX USA
Rating:
Tremendously unstable product overshadows a beautful interface and incremental feature upgrades from prior versions. Too slow to be useful with HD video, and too frustrating to suffer through program crashes each time you try even simple steps like burning a DVD, rearranging a timeline, etc. Never so disappointed with an Adobe product.

82.) Bought it and brought it back the same day
Reviewed by: george10112003 manchester, NJ 08759
Rating:
I was hooked into the visual appeal of the UI. Big mistake! In a nutshell it it very slow and locks up. It is not for the occasional user(like me) as it is not intuitive to even do simple tasks(like trimming a video file). I ccouldn't get more than one video file in the time line. I followed the help files instructions and still couldn't successfully trim the file or get multiple clips on the time line, After 3-1/2 hours of trying I uninstalled it and returned the software.

83.) Don't waste your money, It doesn't work.
Reviewed by: Average Customer Georgia
Rating:
I recently purchased a Cannon HF S-100, great camera and I love it. I need software for post-production that will work with the AVCHD format. I ordered Premiere Elements 7. It would not load on my laptop, and did not work well on my desktop.

My computers were old, so I bought a new desktop PC. I purchased a quad core, Intel i7, with 500 GB HD and 8 GB DDR3 ram. The OS is Windows Vista 64-bit. I went to edit my first video (1920x1080 HD) and dragged two clips into the sceneline. Then I clicked the transitions widget, and Pre froze up. I can do whatever I want and the PC is running fine. But Pre 7 is frozen.

I went to adobe's forums and what do you know, everyone editing AVCHD is having this problem. Adobe isn't responding with any fixes except to say maybe your computer is slow (not the case here). I also love to hear a company blame their customers for their product failures. I tried calling Adobe's support line, and got a message saying they were upgrading their system to serve me better, so they aren't taking phone calls. I won't be a customer when they get it finished. :)

Don't WASTE your money!!!

Oh, and thank goodness Amazon has a return policy for this garbage product.

84.) Just too difficult and quirky for my abilities....
Reviewed by: Chipper USA
Rating:
Gave me fits sometimes trying to use this software. Frustrating is a good word to use for this item. I thought with the name Adobe it would be the best, but not so.
I don't think it's been updated since it was introduced.

85.) Buggy product with poor product support.
Reviewed by: Action Jackson Illinois
Rating:
I'm an intermediate computer user. I was having problems burning multiple copies of a DVD at one time. I contact customer support, but they were not helpful. They gave me instructions that did not work and then closed the case. Really not a good experience.

86.) Should be better than this
Reviewed by: Charles Jennings costa rica
Rating:
Amazon offers me the option of a video or a written review. Do you see a video review here? Is this video editing software we are reviewing? Guess why.

I tried it. It slowed to a crawl. Perhaps I need more than the maximum amount of RAM permissible (4 gigs) on a 32 bit Windows 7 2.4 ghz processor to run this software.

Then I did the only thing I could: I switch to Sony Vegas. I'm sorry I spent the money on this product.

87.) Stay away if your running Vista
Reviewed by: WTH Iowa
Rating:
This program has many memory crash problems. Im running Vista Home Pre 32 bit on a Dell 530 desktop, Core 2 Duo 2.33ghz, 4gig of ram, and a sata HDD with 90 gig of free space and all microsoft updates. Im using AVCHD files off a Canon HF200 camcorder. These are the hi res 24mbps mts files. PE ver 7 usually crashes at the 93% rendering point, which is just when the rendering from AVCHD/mts to DVD format ends, and the burn to disc starts. Would also not recommend the new ver 8 that just came out early this month, unless you can find where Adobe has cured this problem with the new ver8.

88.) Does not work on vista with usb input
Reviewed by: Anton Dotschkal South Carolina
Rating:
I am finding it increasingly difficult to find a video transfer program that will work on my laptop with usb only inputs using Windows Vista as a platform. The problem is centered on the "Capture" phase of the video transfer. Most VHS to DVD programs work fine once you can get the video to be stored in a file on your computer. The problem is getting that video into a computer file.

89.) Don't expect your refund
Reviewed by: DAM Indy, IN
Rating:
The program is pretty sub-par, but my rating is only one star because they stiffed me on the refund.

They make you send in a "special tab" from the box. They claimed I didn't send it (which I did), so what do I do now? Great job Adobe, you got $20.00 but lost a customer for life.

90.) Most Frustrating Software EVER!!
Reviewed by: Mo Los Angeles, CA United States
Rating:
I should have heeded the other reviews, but, NOOOOOOOO, I just knew my experience would be different. Adobe PhotoShop Elements 7 does what it says it will do; not so with Premiere Elements 7.

I purchased this software because I created a slideshow in PhotoShop Elements for my mother's 90th birthday party but could not burn it onto a DVD; one could do that (theoretically) only using Premiere Elements, and that's why I went ahead and purchased it.

After several hours spent attempting to a burn a DVD of the slideshow and having all attempts thwarted ~ low memory messages; "Error compiling movie, out of memory"; "Adobe PRE7 encountered a problem and needs to close" (that happened 49 seconds before the end of the burn); and the very frequent "TRANSCODING ERROR"!!!!!

Just what the heck is a "transcoding error" any way? I'm not alone in encountering these problems, as evidenced by going through various message boards. Adobe creators of this program need to hang their heads in shame.

I uninstalled the program and re-installed the program. I cleaned up my brand new computer, turned off the screen saver, etc. I even tried creating the entire slideshow using Premiere Elements. What I ended up doing is going back to PhotoShop Elements 7 and creating a video CD of the slideshow, and, luckily, it plays in all of my DVD players. I wasted all that time and money attempting to use PRE7.





91.) Adobe P Elements 7 is a piece of CRAP
Reviewed by: Darkgudda Sacramento, CA United States
Rating:
Hey I have been editing with Adobe products for a long time since Adobe Premiere Elements 3 and with Adobe Premiere as well. Well I needed to edit HD video that I shoot with my Canon VIXIA HF100. After using Premiere Elements 7 I have come to dislike Adobe. I am in the works to going to Mac. My elements 3 is way better here are my reason for a crappy Elements 7.

1. Crashes (running on Vista)
2. To do a little more you have to subscribe to a subscription (themes, certain effects etc).
3. Audio is skipping on less you rendered which is surprising, I did not have to do that for version 3 or 4.
4. Always get the low resources message: hmm this is a quad core, 500gb, 3gb of RAM now at first thought it was some other things installed on my PC that is taking up the resources. But I had the same issue when I installed this program on my machine when I first got it last year or so. So there were no programs installed except what came with the PC when I bought it. This is a DELL XPS 420.
5. Codec issues up the wahzu.

Overall its a chore to edit now you can do almost everything quick and easy but to finalize, burn it, save it replay it then you have a nightmare. I do not recommend this hopefully version 8 is better.

92.) Do Not Buy!
Reviewed by: Andy Maine
Rating:
I have a Sony Vaio VGN-FW170J that runs on 4gb RAM and 2.26 GHz Processor. Every time Premiere runs it freezes and goes into a white screen. If I wait for at least five minutes it will come back. But as soon as I try to edit more of my project or video it will do the same thing. Also video playback is very unreliable, it never plays the whole piece, just the audio runs and it stays at a certain picture of a scene most times. I recommend saving your money and purchase something else. I don't like to advertise, but if you want something easy and runs smoothly, Magix works decent. If you have a Mac, you should know to stick with FinalCut.


93.) Never have software bugs wasted so much of my time.
Reviewed by: Mike Los Altos, CA USA
Rating:
I've used Premiere Elements versions 1, 2,4 and now 7. Every version has bugs that cause me to waste hours of time. Adobe software seems particularly poor at interfacing with hardware.

I have two 2-hour movies which Premiere Elements cannot burn to Blu-ray. After six hours of rendering, the process aborts with "fatal error." If I burn to DVD, it doesn't track properly in my DVD player. Fortunately for DVD, Premiere Elements can burn to a folder, then I can use a reliable program like Roxio to burn a DVD. For some stupid reason, Premiere Elements can't burn a Blu-ray to a folder or disc image.

I also experience frequent glitches when Premiere Elements imports from HDV tape. I often have to import tapes several times to get a glitch-free copy.

I can make a Blu-ray by exporting to MPEG and using Roxio to author the disc.

Adobe support is utterly useless. They take three days to respond with stupid suggestions like uninstall and reinstall Premiere Elements. What good will it do the reinstall the same buggy software?

I wish I could find something else to edit video on the PC, but I've invested a lot of time learning how to use this software. If you haven't invested the time to learn this software, avoid it at all costs.

94.) Garbage, Garbage Garbage!
Reviewed by: HiFi / Photo / Comp Geek SC United States
Rating:
I bought the older version *(7) in hopes that the name "adobe" would protect me from garbage.

It did not.

I am in the process of uninstalling the buggy mess from my dual processor Intel with 4 Gigs of memory.

It never did one thing properly without crashing on my up to date not prone to crashing Windows 7 machine.

I feel tricked and 'had' .



95.) Terrible product
Reviewed by: Enpee
Rating:
Adobe has earned a well-deserved reputation for quality professional software such as Photoshop and Illustrator. That being said, the Premiere products are horrible abominations that consumers should avoid at all cost. I have never come across such a poorly engineered and sloppily implemented product. It features an unintuitive interface that was obviously designed by computer programmers, rather than video editing professionals. And woe to any computer musician who tries to run Premiere, as it will mysteriously try to load in music "VST" plugins, which inevitably cause it to crash. There is no solution to this, other than renaming the VST directory every time you want to run Premiere. I gave up on Premiere Elements when I tried fruitlessly to save a project in less-than-HD resolution. The program gave me no opportunity to do so.

Obviously Adobe puts its best designers and engineers on their Photoshop product line. Premiere seems to have turned into a second-hand afterthought in their corporation.

Caveat emptor!

96.) Not good at all
Reviewed by: Dennis J. Nolan Naples, Florida United States
Rating:
It does not work at all on a Vista System. The program constantly generates a "not responding error" and Adobe support does not have any answer for this.

97.) A Real Piece of Trash
Reviewed by: GDV
Rating:
I've seen some crappy software when it comes to video editing but this is even worse than what Corel foists on the unsuspecting customer. I was working an a few small clips and the program crashed. Now no matter what I do short of uninstalling and reinstalling the application, it will no longer run. Is that stable software or what? I never have like Adobe products and this just reinforces my conviction in that matter.

98.) India tech support meets development effort
Reviewed by: S. Blumenschein Washington, DC
Rating:
It is no secret that every developer was based in India - this is clearly documented on the splash screen. Do you like their tech support?

The fact that Adobe decided to eliminate .MOV support is further proof this product is a distaster right out of the box. They are only able to sell it because you can't return it after you open the box.

RUN AWAY!!!!!!

99.) Patience needed by the bucketload
Reviewed by: Eat Drink Read Woman Houston, TX
Rating:
OK I admit I'm a newbie, never edited a movie before. In fact it was the first time we made a movie with our Canon HD video-camera. But 3 weeks later all we have managed to do is load the clips. Struggled for hours with making titles. This in not an intuitive program and there is no easy to follow guidebook provided with the software. Although there is a lengthy online manual but it was impossible to follow. Even some of the Adobe videos online weren't really helpful. I think we're going to give up and buy something simpler. I haven't got the time to become an editing professional, have you?

100.) Had it with this software - UNRELIABLE
Reviewed by: Ed the C Ca
Rating:
I've had the product now for quite a few months. To those considering buying it - DON'T. Ungodly slow loading, frequent crashes, lock ups, and the ever popular "Transcoding error" or even worse, lots of just plain "Error". Gee, that's informative....

My use of the program could not be much easier - grab a bunch of clips from my video camera, string them together and spit out a DVD. Pretty basic - but the program falls on its face flat. It takes forever to load on a 3G Duo core. Frequent crashes - no explanation, just good bye. Often will not run twice in a row - must reboot. Output errors galore. Examples:

- just putting out a DV AVi file, the file is incorrect. Missing footage. Audio is intact, but the video is some other frame.

- DVD. you get a message "Transcoding error". Non of the fixes I found on the 'net helped.

- Plan old "Error". Pops up at times.

The feature set is pretty cool, and the editing is pretty easy and intuitive, but if the program crashes, what good is all that? Seems like they spent a bunch of time on "pretty" features (like how the interface dims and lights up) but not enough time on the meat of the program.

Bottom line, I am looking for another program. One that I can actually test first before wasting my money.

Note to ADOBE: your reputation has gone to heck. Are you not reading all over the 'net how lousy your software has become? It WILL bite you in sales if it hasn't already. FIX what you have if you have any sense of how to conduct business.

101.) Disappointing
Reviewed by: David W. Kraeuter
Rating:
I bought a copy of this program and installed it on my computer. When I try to run it, so far all it does is put a notice on the monitor saying it has encountered a problem and must shut down. For $80 I expected a little more performance than this!

102.) Adobe Premier elements 7
Reviewed by: Gill D. Brubaker
Rating:
I am running Win XP Pro SP3 and this package refused to run.
It installed, but crashed within seconds after starting a video file.
$90 wasted i guess. :(
If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

System components are:
Thermaltake VC3000BWS Armor Junior ATX Case with Window (Black) amazon-ordered $119
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80569Q9450 - Retail
CORSAIR 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN3X2048-1333C9 - Retail
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
EVGA 01G-P3-N869-AR GeForce 9600 GT 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
ASUS P5K3 DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-05 - OEM
Thermaltake Purepower W0100RU 500W ATX 12V 2.0 Power Supply - Retail
Rosewill RCR-103 USB 2.0 Card Reader - Retail
LG Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model GDR-H30NK - OEM

Features of Adobe Premiere Elements 7 [OLD VERSION]

Item #: U35236. Adobe Premiere Elements makes it easy to create incredible movies. Get started quickly with automated moviemaking options, add knockout visuals and sound, and share your movies everywhere.

Adobe Premiere Elements 7 features movie making options that make it easy for users to create their own blockbuster in minutes, while also offering opportunities to grow and stretch their editing abilities.

Category: Creativity application
Subcategory: Creativity - video editing & production
Version: 7
License Type: Complete package
License Qty: 1 user
License Pricing: Standard
Language(s): Universal English
Platform: Windows
Distribution Media: DVD-ROM
Package Type: Retail
OS Required: Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition, Microsoft Windows XP SP2, Microsoft Windows Vista

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With Adobe Premiere Elements 7 software, making incredible movies is easier than ever. Get started quickly with new, automated options that instantly turn your raw footage into polished movies. Enhance your stories with knockout visuals and sound. Share your movies on YouTube, your own website, disc, and everywhere else. New Photoshop.com membership* works with Adobe Premiere Elements 7 so you can protect your videos with automatic online backup and 2GB of storage, and access your movies and clips anywhere you are.

Enjoy a variety of easy ways to show off your movies. Share far and wide by uploading directly to YouTube, or share with family and friends on your personal website. Burn to DVD or Blu-ray Disc. Or play your movies on mobile phones and other portable media devices. Click to enlarge.

Let Adobe Premiere Elements automatically analyze and tag your footage based on quality and interest (such as brightness, focus, or content) to make it easy to choose the best clips for your movies. Click to enlarge.

Add visual appeal with hundreds of effects and transitions, interactive disc menus, animated titles, and professional credits. Click to enlarge.

Go from camera to DVD or Blu-ray Disc, complete with menu and scene index, in a few easy steps.

Instantly create polished movies with no effort. Just choose a theme, and InstantMovie automatically edits your footage using Hollywood directors' techniques.

Do it all with one powerful yet easy-to-use product
Use Adobe Premiere Elements 7 software with Photoshop.com* for all your video needs: import and organize your clips; edit them together yourself or choose automated options to effortlessly create incredible movies; enhance your movies with knockout visual and audio effects, titles, and interactive disc menus; share them on the web, disc, and everywhere else; protect your videos; and view them anywhere you are.

*Available only in the U.S.

Introducing new Photoshop.com membership*
Works with Adobe Premiere Elements 7 to help you protect your videos from computer loss and hard drive crashes with automatic online backup and enough storage (2GB) for up to an hour of DVD-quality video, and access your movies and clips anywhere you are. Upgrade to Plus membership at any time and get 15GB more storage, and a variety of inspiring ideas, tutorials, movie themes, and special effects delivered regularly to your software.

*Available only in the U.S.

Quickly find your best clips
Let Adobe Premiere Elements automatically analyze and tag your footage, so you can quickly find your most interesting, highest quality clips.

Create a polished movie, instantly
Create polished movies with no effort. Just choose a theme, and InstantMovie automatically edits together your best clips with coordinated music, titles, effects, and transitions. You can even customize the final result if you wish.

Conveniently share your movie and enjoy the latest technology
Follow easy steps to create your movie once, and then in the Sharing Center choose to save it to disc, the web, or mobile devices. Share on high-quality HD or Blu-ray Disc, so you can enjoy your movie on virtually any screen, from your iPod to your HD flat screen TV.

Make movies with drag-and-drop ease
Create your story fast in the Sceneline, an easier alternative to the more traditional video-editing Timeline. Make your movie by simply dragging and dropping thumbnails of your clips, transitions, and effects.

Edit and preview in one convenient place
Edit and view your movie in one convenient place--the large Monitor window--where you can easily trim and split clips, drop filters and effects right on a frame, create fun picture-in-picture effects, type titles and text right on the screen, and more.

Easily enhance with dazzling effects and transitions
Choose from hundreds of amazing special effects and TV-style transitions that you can drag onto your movie to add a unique look.

Start quickly with all your media at your fingertips
Find what you need fast using an Organizer similar to the one in Adobe Photoshop Elements software. Visually tag clips to categorize by people, places, or events, and easily browse thumbnails in the new clip preview and tagging window. Then search and sort files by date or ratings, or browse Smart Tags to quickly find your best clips.

Energize your movies with music
Use SmartSound to add a variety of musical soundtracks that automatically adjust to perfectly match the length of your movie. Even synchronize scenes to the beat of your soundtrack.

Personalize your movies
Add polish and personality with custom, interactive disc menus, animated titles, and professionally designed credits.

Use footage from virtually any device, including AVCHD camcorders
Bring in video from all your devices, including the latest camcorders (even high-definition AVCHD), digital cameras, webcams, and mobile phones.

1.) Stay connected with your favorite people and memories with new Photoshop.com membership;
2.) Get started quickly with automated moviemaking options;
3.) Enhance your stories with knockout visuals and sound;
4.) Share on YouTube, your own website, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, and mobile devices;
5.) Protect your videos with automatic online backup and 2GB of storage--enough for approximately 25 minutes of DVD-quality video;

Package Height x Length x Width: 7.4 in. x 7.4 in. x 5.5 in.
Package Weight: 0.5 lbs.