My 10 minute test of Premiere Elements 9

[Chuck Engels]

I do know that this version is very dependent on current video drivers. I had to update mine after having many issues. The video driver update did make a big difference in the end.

[RJ Johnston]

For the animated title issue, if I add an effect to the video clip that runs at the same time as the animated title, then playback is correct. The effect that is added to the video clip can be reset to 0 after it's been added. I used the blur effect.

Additional note, the problem occurred only after rendering previews and when exporting, but now the workaround fixes that.

One thing I immediately noticed about version 9 is that the quality of the preview is a lot better than it was in version 8.

[JohnnyO]

I ran a couple of more tests.

1. Rendering video - I am not seeing the same problem RJ was seeing. I rendered the timeline and the RED line turned GREEN. I then exited the program and re-loaded the project. The Rendered video was still there and the GREEN line remained. Playback proved that the rendered video was there

2. Animated titles. - I added an animated title. It worked perfectly. Even when I do not apply an effect to the video clip below the title, the title work great. I am doing my testing with AVCHD-Lite video.

[RJ Johnston]

JohnnyO, did you render a preview after adding the animated title?

[JohnnyO]

RJ,

Yes. I rendered a preview after adding the animated title. I also restarted the program to make sure the rendered video was still there and it was.
I'm wondering if it has to do with the type of video. But who knows.

[RJ Johnston]

JohnnyO,

I tried a hi-def AVCHD with an animated title and didn't have any problems with the animation.

[JohnnyO]

Update:
I did some additional testing. I put well over an hour of AVCHD-Lite video on the timeline, added some random effects, and exported the video. everything went fine - no errors. I can't get this version to crash

I also tried the capture of AVCHD-lite from my camera, and it worked well. I will still be using the Panasonic software that came with my camera instead (PhotoFun HD) as that software puts the timestamp of the file in the name which I like. PRE9 does give an option to put the date in the title, but the date is the day you captured it into the computer. The timestamp of the video when the video was taken is preserved, so it will show up in the proper order in the Organize, r however I just like to see the date and time that the video was taken in the title. Also Panasonic recommends always using their program as there are other files that get downloaded that they claim are needed. These additional files gave iis, cont and tmb extensions. I have no clue as to what they do. And although the video I captured with PRE9 did not capture those files, and the clips played fine, I am a little cautious not using the Panasonic software.

Anyhow, even though I have an old slow computer (Pentium 4 HT 2.8 GHZ), which is way below the minimum specifications for editing AVCHD video, I have found that so far, PRE9 to be stable and responsive. I have not been having the need to even do proxy editing as rendering the timeline produces a very nice smooth playing video.

[Chuck Engels]

This is great to hear Johnny, thank you so much for the additional testing and comments

[Barb O]

Testing entering a reply from my Android phone.

Thanks again Johnny for starting this thread.

[JohnnyO]

For all the testing I have done before now I have used AVCHD-lite video in a NTSC SD 720x480 project. When rendering the timeline the video played smoothly.

I just tried a 720p project and put 1 hour of the AVCHD-lite clips on the timeline. AVCHD is native in PRE9 so you can't render the timeline. However the video played back smoothly anyhow. I am now exporting this 1 hour video to a HD mpeg2 clip.

As far as authoring goes, I use Sony DVD Architect Studio 5. I looked at the menus fro PRE9 and it llooks like the authoring to DVD/Blueray part of this program has not changed. I will make sure the 1 hour clip can be read OK with Sony DVD Architect Studio 5. I'll let you know how this works out.

I have spent a lot of time testing PRE9. I am almost done with my testing. So far I have to say it is the best Premiere Elements yet.

The 2 flaws I have found so far are:

1. The GPU effects are not present. Looks like they dropped them.
2. The NewBlueFX effects I own do not show up in PRE9. I believe this is a NewblueFX issue and they are investigating. Hopefully they will release new plug-ins soon.

On the plus side - all is is fantastic. It is stable and it performs very well. Coming from PRE7 this is a major upgrade. All the PRE8 and PRE9 features is what I will be upgrading to.

The new Guided Edit part of Photoshop Elements 9 is awesome. I will be looking to buy the combo package. I will most likely wait until Black Friday or Cyber Monday to see if I can get a better buy.