Adobe Premiere Elements 2

Pros: I have no idea

Cons: Built for New computers only

Summary: Here is my story:

First let me start by saying that I have used Pinnacle Studio since Version 6. Here is a run down:
Version 6 $80
Version 7 Upgrade ($80)
Version 8 Upgrade ($80)
Version 9 Upgrade ($80)
Misc add-ons ($50) (i.e., still picture panning)
Version 9 Plus ($50) (Includes Still Picture Panning)

I was just about to go to version 10. In all this time, I thought that I loved this program. It crashed all the time, films came out wrong, but overall – I still loved it, made great films with it, just taught me patience. Even upgraded my computer and software (operating system) just for it. I am really big into video editing, I have over 600G of Hard drive filled with AVI – and I do it semi pro. (I would be the first to admit that I still have a lot to learn) So let me go on…

Recently I have had some real problems, the videos were losing sound, just randomly, in the middle it will play for 3 seconds and then go a way. I always use Window Movie maker as a back to test my AVI’s and it didn’t have a problem. After a month of trying to get help from Pinnacle (again – they suck – I have gone through this in all my versions for one thing or another – but I don’t know if any other company is better), I decided that the thing to do (as always) is upgrade. But I was tired of it, so I started researching, and reading, and researching, and reading. Let me start off by saying Thank You for Trial Versions!!! After all the reading and reviews, and more reading I wanted to try an other program – seeing that there were other people unhappy with Pinnacle too – made me feel better. The 3 I chose to try (and the ALL had trial versions) were:

Cyberlink PowerDirector
Ulead Video Studio 9
Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0

Adobe seemed the most promising, but guess what – won’t work on my system. I read that but hoped it wasn’t true, so downloaded the 100MB Trial, and yep – won’t work. Even thought about upgrading my system for it, but decided (being not made of money) that I could not afford a $250 upgrade for a $100 program. In time I will have to upgrade anyway – so forget it. Thanks adobe! - NOT. (I have an AMD 2600)

Cyberlink was the one I was most hopeful about – It took me a half a day to realize I would rather stick with Pinnacle! There were not as many options, and not as intuitive, and some things were just too dang simple. And all their wizards made me feel like an idiot. Not to mention, the playback was crap, and the rendering was slow,) slower than Pinnacle – which I could not believe!) and the end product was crap too. After that I thought I was sticking with Pinnacle.

But what the hell, I will try Ulead. Yes Baby! What a program. It is simpler, but not stupid. It had every option Pinnacle had (and even the picture panning was fantastic!). It allows you to use smart sound technology, and filter out the ones you have with the ones you need to buy – none of the others did that – it was SUCH a pain – but Ulead – a simple snap! The Transitions were awesome (and even has a fade to black then next scene which Cyberlink didn’t!) What else, the capturing, and importing were fast and flawless, and the rendering was incredible! I couldn’t believe that I was banging my head the whole time with pinnacle. It even adjusted your screen (unlike Pinnacle that made it stay at 1280 x 1024). Everything I thought it couldn’t do – I figured out how to in less than 5 min after looking for it. The only thing I didn’t like was (minor) the lack of DVD menus – but I think that is because it was the downloadable trial. I don’t know for sure. This had features I only dreamt of too! Quick DVD’s fro DV – that is great those visiting guests - Burning only your audio, or EVEN ADDING TRACKS FROM A PREVIOUS BURNT DVD! – FREAKING AWESOME. I am purchasing this program, and never looking back. I could go on and on – but let me just end it with this:

Download the trials – and try it out for yourself. I believe that Cyberlink is good for fast editing, and Novices.
Adobe – No Idea.
Pinnacle – The Masochist.
Ulead – for me.

I hope that this helps some of you in your decision. – Good Luck!