Should I upgrade to PPCS4

[demalibu]

I've got PE4 and love it.
Runs really well on my XP service pack 2, easy to use and has all the features I have needed. I think the audio mixing and eq'ing and normalisation features are all simple and really efficient for 95% of what I do.
I'd like to do a bit more colour grading which PE4 is a bit short on and also the keyer and titler seems a bit limited. I like the easy use of properties to crop, scale and apply effects.
Should I upgrade to PPCS4
Is it worth the money?
What do others think?
What are your favourite features?
I'd rather PPCS4 than FCP as I don't like the FCP workflow even though the majority of cutters use it.
Thanks in advance
Chris

[Chuck Engels]

For Keying you won't find much difference in Premiere Pro, you can do more with After Effects.
For Titling you won't notice much difference at all between Elements and Pro, get something like Heroglyph or one of the other title creator plugins.

As for color grading and similar effects pro will be a big help. Being a Elements user you do get a discount, and I even think you can even buy the upgrade.
Just checked, Premiere Elements upgrade price is $699, Full price is $799, Upgrade from earlier versions of Premiere Pro $299. I have never liked Adobe's pricing structure at all

Multiple sequences (timelines, like a project inside a project), nesting sequences, multi cam editing function, many more project settings and export options.
Lots to say for Premiere Pro if you find that Elements just doesn't meet your needs anymore, it happens to a lot of us

[tiny]

If you don't have After Effects, then I would go with that.

I got the master collection at the beginning of the semester due to most of the software being required for a variety of classes I'm taking.

Previously I was using Elements, with an old copy of After Effect 6.5 Pro I got on Ebay for $50 a year ago.

Now being upgraded to CS4, here are my thoughts: I really like Premier Elements, and I still could do most of all the things I did in PE4 easier than I can do them in Pro. The reason why I use pro is because of its integration with After Effects. If I didn't have After Effects, then I would probably still be using Elements.

So if you have the money, and don't already have After Effects, then maybe you might be interested in that. If you already have After Effects CS4, then the advantage to upgrading to Pro CS4 is the link between the two, being able to modify clips in AE without rendering, and being able to update those links at any time.

[demalibu]

Thanks Chuck and Tiny,
A couple of things.
Can I buy After effects seperately and incorporate PE4 projects and then export out as normal.
Also you mentioned heroglyph as an improved titler do you like it?
Have you ever downloaded fonts from dafont.com and incorporated them into the titler - can you do that?

[tiny]

Concerning the import question, I don't know if I follow. Does it recognize PE projects? Nope. You would have to render first.

You can download trials of both pieces of software. It may be worth your time to do that.

[demalibu]

What I meant was if I'm working on a PE4 project and want to, for example, colour grade the first 10 seconds, will After Effects be compatible with a PE4 clip.
Once I finish the grade of the clip in AE do I just render it and continue on in PE4?
Hope this is clear?

[tiny]

You can just render the first 10 seconds (set work area, and then render only work area, not entire time line). Import rendered video into AE. Apply effect, render out. Bring rendered footage back into PE.

Hope that helps.

[Bob]

I have After Effects and Premiere Elements. Clips I produce in Premiere Elements and export can be used in After Effects easily and vice versa. What you don't get is the integration where you can dynamicaly work in Premiere Pro and After Effects and pass sequences back and forth. To get that level of integration, you have to get the Creative Suite Production Premium. The standalone products don't integrate that way.

After Effects contains much more sophisticated tools for color grading than Premiere Elements (which contains only very basic and limited color correction capabilities), but it is also considerably more expensive. I believe there are some color grading plugins available that will work in Premiere Elements, but I haven't researched or used any.

If you are eligible for the student editions, I'd recommend looking into the Production Premium suite for the integration and the extra included products.

[Chuck Engels]

In regard to Heroglyph, I love it. Also have Vitascene, very nice effects program also from ProDad.

Some of the members use other titling software, can't remember the names right now.
I got Heroglyph and Vitascene along with Mercalli on sale at DigitalJuice.com about a year ago.

You can download fonts and Premiere Elements will be able to use them in most cases.
You need to install the fonts correctly and you might have to copy them into the
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Font
folder, but most downloadable fonts should work. I have downloaded a number of them myself and they work fine.

[demalibu]

Bob, yes I guess what I mean is do PE4 and AE work dynamically, which you've said they don't. So i would have to export my clip as an avi into AE, work on it and bring it back again - is that right ?
It seems that AE is quite expensive on it's own and production premium may be the answer - just go for a total upgrade.
As I say, I really like PE4 and can zip around it pretty quick, get most things done, burnt, mixed etc. it's just the grading, motion graphics and keying thats lacking, but hey for the money who's complaining.
Chuck, thanks for the font tips, I'll try a few and see how they go.
Is there any other particular functions that you guys like in PPCS4 that PE4 doen't have.
Has anyone tried this Onlocation function? I often hire cameramen who shoot digi-Beta, XD and HD and it sound like PPCS4 may be geared to accept these formats more easily.
At present I just SDI to my HV30 - hit DV lock and pics are beautiful (bit of a waste sometimes I know) but I usually just cut roughs which are finished in an online suite such as Flame.

[tiny]

So i would have to export my clip as an avi into AE, work on it and bring it back again - is that right ?

Yes. Rendering all along the way, where as the production sweet allows you to edit those files without ever rendering them. Which ideally saves a lot of time.

Is there any other particular functions that you guys like in PPCS4 that PE4 doen't have.
Has anyone tried this Onlocation function? I often hire cameramen who shoot digi-Beta, XD and HD and it sound like PPCS4 may be geared to accept these formats more easily.
At present I just SDI to my HV30 - hit DV lock and pics are beautiful (bit of a waste sometimes I know) but I usually just cut roughs which are finished in an online suite such as Flame.

If you are running a business or have the money to hire camera men, then I'm sure the added functions of the production sweet will be worth it for you. I was just assuming that you were making little family video's or something. :P

Truth be told, I've had to reinstall the programs several times and have hit several glitches. However, when it is all working nicely, it is worth it. For what I do, I could have never justified the purchase, even if I got the extreme education discount, but since I needed most of the software for school, it was only a little more to get everything.

[demalibu]

Tiny, I do both.
Originally I bought PE4 for fun stuff, family,etc.
I have been editing since linear suites were around and I had to make a tape dub just to do a dissolve!!
So, when I discovered Elements over FCP or Vegas or Avid it really was an eye opener. Programs like FCP are so much more difficult to use, especially when it comes to exporting to DVD and the web. Whereas a little program like PE4 was great. But it has certain limitations like colour grading.
I just noticed on the Adobe website that Premiere Pro had all this new functionality including stuff for XD, Red, HD, etc. which is why I asked the question about the reasons to upgrade.
It's a reasonably pricey upgrade to Premiere Production and Pro so I wanted to see what others thought.
It seems like a few things (such as soundbooth) are not particularly good.