Premiere Pro highlights....

[Dr Mordrid]

Two of my fellow Premiere Pro betas have written previews for the Creative Cow forums;

Mike Velte:

http://www.creativecow.net/articles/velte_mike/premiere-pro/index.html

Tim Colb:

http://www.creativecow.net/articles/kolb_tim/premiere_pro/index.html

Adobe's page:

http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/main.html

Gone are A/B editing, the navigator, the previous method of storyboarding, support for any M$ OS but WinXP and just about anything else that would make it easy to identify it as a version of Premiere other than the name in the title bar.

New are multiple timelines and the ability to use one timeline as a clip in another timeline and the ability to use transitions on any track. Also new are a multitude of changes to appearance and how things are done in general including improved Photoshop layer support, HD video and 5.1 audio mixing.

One thing that took me a while to get used to is how transitions are applied. In most single track editors you abutt two clips and just drop a transition between them. The editor then splits the transition duration in half, automatically "overlapping" the clips 50/50 and centering the transition. Off-centered transition adjustments can be made separately.

Does PPro do this? Nope. Instead you lay the clips on the timeline, "trim" the number of frames in each clip that will be involved then drop the transition. Granted this allows you to set up off-centered transitions immediately, but I find this all a bit busy. Other users will have to judge for themselves. Some have adapted their workflow by simulating A/B editing using the ability to use transitions on any track.

What becomes easier is the modifying of a transitions "centering". In Premiere Pro's ECW (Effect Control Window) you can just drag the transition to one side or the other of the cut line instead of having to set keyframes for the transition degree percentage.

IMO all these and other workflow changes will result in a rather steep learning curve both for users of previous Premiere builds and those used to A/B editing in general.

One good thing is the ability to burn DVD straight from the timeline while using index points as chapter markers. This doesn't allow you to do complex authoring, but it does simplify basic jobs. If the built-in burning doesn't cut it then you can export MPEG's that have index points and use them in Encore DVD. Ulead needs to get this capability into their products.

Time will tell if people like Premiere Pro's new paradigm or if Adobe will have to adjust it.

Dr. Mordrid

[Brian Ellis]

It's interesting, but I won't rush out and spend 700 bucks on it

I agree with you that timeline markers used for chaptering DVDs is something sadly missing in MSP7.

However, what is interesting is that it is essentially P4-designed, like Encore and MSP. Do you think that AMD will eventually be ousted from the serious video editing market? Certainly, Intel seems the way to go today. However, I see they have joined the HT bandwagon, but you do need some serious hardware to run it.

[Dr Mordrid]

It actually runs quite nicely on the AthlonXP, but it will not run on older Athlons or Durons. I would expect the Athlon64 would be supported when it arrives, but I've seen nothing official yet.

As you noted everyone is going HT, but the advantages there are no different than running dualies....and actually a bit less with most software.

Dr. Mordrid

[Elie]

Adobe Premiere Pro is awesome, the more I use it the more I like it!
You are not limited to a transition track any longer, and it supports 5.1 audio awesome colour correction and all the tools an editor will require.

Also Premiere Pro is very customizable, you can darken or brighten Premiere, you can move tools around, you can change colours, and the audio mixer is professional enough for any project.

Cheers,
Elie

[Dr Mordrid]

Yes, but it does have its quirks. I personally think the method for adding transitions could be more intuitive, but to each their own. On the other hand nested timelines, exportable DVD chapter marks and most of the other new features are long overdue.

Dr. Mordrid

[Ted222]

Do we still need to choose between using Premiere's real-time effects or the real-time effects of the RT.x100?

Ted

[Dr Mordrid]

Adobe totally changed the way Premiere Pro works and so the SDK used previously is now worthless. As a result a whole new version of the RT.X drivers will have to be tested and qualified with Adobe.

Dr. Mordrid

[paulw]

I wondered how long it would take some one in this area of software to produce some thing that will only work on Win XP. Well on that basis I would rule it out as I will not switch to XP. Win2K will be my last M$ OS..

[Dr Mordrid]

Expect more of it as this is a real trend, at least as far as video software goes.

Dr. Mordrid

[Elie]

Actually Paul I don't know how you can say Windows 2K is your final OS.

Ok fine it works now, however we are seeing a trend of software not supporting Win2K for several reasons and this will be more evident as new software is released to the Market. Eventually no software package will be able to run sufficiatly on Win2K and the companies writing the code will not support you either.

Don't expect Win2K to last more than a year.

Cheers,
Elie

[paulw]

Ellie,

What said was Win2K will be my last Microsoft OS. I refuse to buy any software that says I must activate it to run. If software house do that then I don't buy. I'm quite happy with what I've got. May be in the future if Linux gets better penitration or Apple port to the Intel CPU then I may go that way but not the M$ way..

[Dr Mordrid]

PaulW;

I'm no happier about it than you are since I also think the EULA situation stinks, but facts are facts and Elie is stating the facts.

I also smell a bit of a M$ rat with them making sure this situation exists. I'd be willing to bet real money that Win2K could be made to work just as well as WinXP with the new software, but getting everyone under that EULA is more important to them than anything else.

Yeah, I strongly believe that WinXP is nothing more than a software dongle.

Dr. Mordrid

[wkulecz]

Don't bitch. Vote with your $$$

IF people don't buy XP only software W2K versions will quickly follow!

I'm a member of MSDN. Exactly what windows SDK functions are in XP that aren't in W2K and are "needed" for video?

Maybe the next version of DirectX won't support W2K, is that it? If you don't buy software that requires it, the W2K version will follow quickly enough.

--wally.

[Dr Mordrid]

Not the Windows SDK.....Premiere's. Things have changed so much that a lot of hardware won't work without a driver rewrite.

That said I still smell a rat.

Dr. Mordrid

[Taliska]

Can't see what the fuss over XP's activation is... if Microsoft's software wasn't pirated so much, then there wouldn't be a need for it, consumers have only themselves to blame.

We wouldn't need tax disks in our cars if we all remembered to pay on time.

It's life...

{ Let's not get too heavy about the subject }

Anyway, what's this Premiere Pro then - just got an RT.X10 with Premiere 6.5 - is it going to be of any use to me? Could I upgrade if I wanted to?

Thanks for your opinions...

Taliska