Should I buy PE8?

[Joelben18]

Hey everyone,

I just joined the forum, and I'm hoping people out there can enlighten me.

I've been working with PE3 since it was pretty new, and I'm pretty happy with it. I am doing more editing now for an events company, and I'm considering moving up to PE8. Imagine my surprise when I read all the nasty reviews from consumers! Look at Amazon customers responses (for example, but there are others...), and ALL the reviews give it a big thumbs down! Crashing, freezing, and so forth!

I'm shocked! What's the story? Has Adobe addressed these issues? Should I stick with what works? What do you recommend?

Also, if PE8 is working well now (BTW, I have a powerful, new computer and a good graphics card) what will it give me over my current software? Is it significantly faster? Better options?

Thanks for any help in this matter.

Joel

[Bob]

PE 8 started out with some real stability problems. Crashing while loading, capturing HDV, Playback for starters. A patch was released that addressed a lot of that and made the product more stable. It definitely works better if you don't have a underpowered or marginal PC. I'm not a PE 8 user, so I'll let the PE 8 users here address the current usability of that version.

One thing to keep in mind is that PE is released on a yearly cycle, usually between mid-September and mid-October. Given that this is the end of July, PE 9 is just a couple of months away. If there's not an urgent need, you may want to wait and see what PE 9 has to offer.

If you want to see what PE 8 looks like, there is an 8 part Premiere Elements 8 Basic Training series in the free downloads learning section. And, of course, Adobe provides a free trial.

[George Tyndall]

...BTW, I have a powerful, new computer and a good graphics card) what will [PE8] it give me over my current software? Is it significantly faster? Better options?

I started with PRE3 and then went to PRE4, but I'm happier than ever with the PRE/PSE7 bundle, which function really well together -- I create HD slide shows in PSE7, then easily "send" them to PRE7 for further editing.

I did have an occasional problem, when I was still using XP Media Center 2005, with PRE7 crashing when I would send over an exceptionally long show from PSE7, but since I began to use the machine in my signature (thanks again for your guidance, Bob) the entire process has been, literally, solid as a rock -- not only can I edit with PRE7 on my 52-inch Samsung but also I can play back the unrendered PREL file in Full Screen Mode extemely smoothly. This is a tremendous time saver as I no longer need to render the project for smooth playback so I can check for flaws prior to burning a HD MPEG2 file.

I'm so contented that I call the setup in my signature a happy "marriage of the three 7s":
--Windows 7 Home Premiun
--an Intel i7-930 processor
--PRE/PSE7

P.S. The PRE/PSE7 bundle is still available.

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Adobe-Photoshop-Elements-7-Premiere-Elements-7-/370406969447?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item563df9d067

[Steve Grisetti]

Hi, Joel. Welcome to Muvipix!

I always say the best advice is NEVER upgrade unless you specifically want features available in the new version. If you're happy with what you have, stick with it. Don't upgrade thinking you'll get much improved software. Particularly with version 8, this isn't the case.

As Bob says, Adobe even broke precedent and issued a patch to fix some of version 8's stability issues. It's a better program -- but it's still a resource hog with some features that aren't fully functional.

So, unless there's something you're not getting what you need from version 4, I'd hold onto it for now.

Meantime, stick around our little community here. We've got lots of great resources on our products page -- much of it for free. This forum is about the friendliest, most knowledgeable you'll find anyway. And, if and when there is a version 9, I promise we'll be the first to let you know everything about it (including if it's worth the upgrade price)!

[Joelben18]

Thank you to everyone who responded. It sounds like I'm sticking with PE3 for awhile (especially because I'm running XP).

So another question... I edit material from an event, like a wedding, and I also want to create a highlights clip set to music of 5-6 minutes. How can I "set aside" pieces of the raw material easily during the main editing project so that I can string them together to create my highlight montage in PE3?

Thanks again!

Joel

[Steve Grisetti]

I'm not quite sure what you're asking -- but there are a couple of ways to "set aside" footage.

1) You can open a folder in your Project media panel. As you find video you want, just drag it into the folder so that it's set aside from the rest. You can even double-click each clip to open the Clip Monitor, where you can "pre-trim" each clip so that only includes the segment you want.

2) You can also put each clip on your timeline, edit it as you'd like and use Share/Personal Computer/AVI to output this edited segment as a finished clip. If you open a new folder on your computer's hard drive, you can just put all of your "finished" video clips in it. Then, when you're ready to do a final mix-down, you just open a new project using the DV settings, use Get Media to get all of the footage -- and you'll have your 'best of'!

BTW, have you checked out our wealth of tutorials and other products yet? And have you looked into any of my books? They'll take you a long way in learning these tips and tricks.