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Adobe Premiere Elements 2

Product summary

The good: Media Downloader makes it easy to import video from DVRs, mobile phones, and camcorders; interface improvements make basic editing tasks easier; stronger DVD menu customization options; Dolby audio support.

The bad: Sluggish performance; can't import HDV or export to MPEG-4; subpar support options.

The bottom line: Adobe Premiere Elements 2 is a great video editor for those willing to take the time and effort to learn it.

Specifications: License qty: 1 user ; License type: Complete package ; Operating system: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP1 , Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP1 ; ; See full specs

CNET editors' review

  • Reviewed on: 10/19/2005
  • Released on: 09/27/2005
Version 2 of Adobe's enthusiast video-editing package sprinkles important improvements all around the program, making basic editing easier, allowing the program to import video from more than just standard camcorders, providing far better DVD menu options, and much more. It's by far the most professional of the consumer-level video editors, and as before it can be intimidating and isn't for the dabbler. If you'd prefer to turn out attractive videos quickly, look to Ulead VideoStudio 9; but for creating polished videos on a budget, Adobe Premiere Elements 2 can't be beat.


Click the start-up screen for a tour of Premiere Elements 2.

Though feature-rich, not everything about the program inspires devotion. For one, it's a big system hog. Installation is simple but slow; it took around 20 minutes on our test system. Occasionally, we thought it must have frozen, but no, it's just poky. The program requires 2GB of drive space for the installation: to edit video, a rep recommended having at least 20 percent of the hard drive free. While our test system met the requirements, playback of a simple video clip was extremely jerky, which made creating edits and viewing our work a chore. In fact, playing a clip was all it took to drive our system usage meter to 100 percent. A rep told us that the new MPEG decoder takes a sizable system hit and suggested defragmenting the hard disk; it didn't help. We suggest having a lot more than the 256MB of RAM that Adobe says will work. In addition, we did a lot of resizing on our 17-inch screen and recommend at least a 19-inch display.

Furthermore, Adobe hasn't improved the subpar support options. The company still offers only a bare minimum of FAQs and support documents on its site, and there's still no free e-mail or phone support. That's poor for a consumer program this complex. A single-incident support call is a whopping $39, which is ridiculous to ask of home users. A rep told us that how-to books for Premiere Elements (such as one that Adobe itself sells) do especially well. We can see why.
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Reviews from around the WebPowered by alaTest

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    Editors' rating: 88

    Summary: alaTest has collected and analyzed 327 reviews of Adobe Photoshop CS from international magazines and websites. Experts rate this product 81/100 and users 79/100. Comparing these reviews to 30892 other Business reviews gives this product an overall alaScore™ 88/100 = Very Good.

  • maximumpc.com

    Editors' rating: 50

    Summary: Changes to the program include AVCHD editing support, which we welcome, and the addition of wizard-like features, some good, some so-so. InstantMovie, for example, allows you to easily turn a bunch of clips into a movie, parsing the best clips and ...

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  • maclife.com

    Editors' rating: 80

    Summary: . Premiere will miss out on many pro-level video projects until it accepts more video formats. Still, it has plenty of great stuff to offer, and it really sings for anyone who works a lot in other Adobe software.

    Read full review

  • whatlaptop.co.uk

    Editors' rating: 80

    Summary: A fully featured editing suite that may be too intense for laptop use

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  • macformat.co.uk

    Editors' rating: 80

    Summary: A solid, highly usable video-editing app that has superb integration with Adobe's other creative tools

    Read full review

  • digitalartsonline.co.uk

    Editors' rating: 80

    Summary: It's probably the main feature that sets Premiere apart from a competitive marketplace. If you then add in the other products that ship with the main editing tool, Premiere Pro CS3 represents very good value, especially for small video production ...

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