Stability of PRE 10

[hiker48]

Hello, I have PSE and PRE version 8 and admit I am a new user, but I have had enough of the crashing problem. I have spend hours creating slide shows only to have PRE crash on either rendering or burning. Is version 10 more stable or does it crash continually too? If I decide to upgrade PRE 10, can I still use PSE 8 to create slide shows and import to 10 for burning DVDs? I am so frustrated that I am looking at other programs since I am disgusted by PRE 8. I have no loyalty to Photoshop Elements so is there another program you would recommend to burn slide shows on DVDs for watching on TV?

System: Core i5
450 photos resized to 1000x750
Audio added
60 minutes long
NTSC widescreen 1080i

Thanks for any help with this decision.

[George Tyndall]

I am so frustrated that I am looking at other programs since I am disgusted by PRE 8. I have no loyalty to Photoshop Elements so is there another program you would recommend to burn slide shows on DVDs for watching on TV?

There appears to be consensus that the Elements 8 bundle is Adobe's worst ever, therefore, it would be a mistake to judge the Elements line based on your experience with 8.

Your best option would be to download the free trial of the 10 bundle from Adobe and see how it plays on your particular system. If you decide to purchase, buy it from Adobe directly, as there is a liberal return policy if you discover problems later, after you've paid for it.

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=photoshop_elements&loc=en_us

[Steve Grisetti]

And of course, make sure that all of the photos you load into a slideshow are no more than 1000x750 pixels in size.

If you're using photos larger than that, your instability may actually be the program just overwhelmed by the unnecessary workload.

[Barb O]

hiker48
first,
I agree with the comment that version 8 of Premiere Elements has experienced more than a normal share of problems and I agree with the recommendation to use the Trials of version 10 Premiere Elements and Photoshop Elements.

For the question of using Premiere Element 10 with slide shows from Photoshop Elements 8, my comment is that I recommend against it. Adobe designs the Photoshop and Premiere Elements of the same version number to work together.

How do you use Premiere Elements ?
FYI - There have been reports that if you only use the Burn to DVD disc functionality of Premiere Elements, you can mix selective combinations of version numbers. However if now or in the future, you choose the Edit in Premiere Elements function of the Slideshow Editor from Photoshop Elements, I do not believe that it can work with a different version of Premiere Elements. So no matter what you do today, I recommend upgrading Premiere and Photoshop Elements together at the same version number..

Second,
you say NTSC 1080i
What form of output are you intending to produce from Premiere Elements ?
At first I suspected that you would be writing a DVD disc, but a DVD widescreen format is roughly the equivalent of 848x480 resolution. So I wonder if you are intending to produce HD 1080 resolution height output ?

FYI Steve --
the poster did say that he had downsized the resolution of the photos to 1000x750. However, I subsequently noticed that this is intended for widescreen output, so perhaps cropping to widescreen aspect ratio should be discussed.

[Steve Grisetti]

I've always thought cropping 4:3 photos to 16:9 was a bit odd, Barb. I suppose they could do it if they want to -- but I prefer to just use a standard 4:3 photo and let the video frame crop it.

For hi-def, this would be a photo 2666x1500.

For standard def, this would be a photo 1333x750.

[hiker48]

Thank you all for your input. I guess I wasted $100 when I bought PSE and PRE 8. It's too bad Adobe didn't "recall" this worthless product. You say not to judge it by the one version, but it is hard to forget all of the headaches it has caused and to HOPE that the next version will be better. All I want to do is make a nice photo slide show DVD that I can watch on my 42" TV with decent resolution. Maybe I should choose DV widescreen and see what happens. I have so many coasters now that I hate to waste many more trying to get it to work. Does anyone have an opinion about Pro Show Gold?

[Steve Grisetti]

If all you want to do is create slideshows, it's well worth checking out.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

..... Does anyone have an opinion about Pro Show Gold?

Vernon Robinson is our resident expert on ProShow. Hopefully he will be along soon.

Meanwhile you might find some insights into Pro Show in the Pro Show section of the forum.

[VernonRobinson]

I have not made the upgrade to Version 10, but I have kept pace with ProShow. ProShow Gold is quite powerful out of the box. If all you want to do is create slideshows with limited Video, it is hard to beat. ProShow Producer has some nicer upscale features that allow you to more easily keyframe your slideshow. Most of the really out there stuff is done in Producer, but that is not to minimize the power of Gold. Both are excellent.

i find that I use PrEl and Producer in tandem. If I have a lot of video and a few slide segments, I make the slideshow portinon in Producer, export it out as AVI (Producer Only), Gold has MPG, and then use it in Adobe as another film clip. If there is a lot of Photos with some video, I import the video into Producer and continue on. Producer/Gold is quite rudimentary when it comes to handling video. However, some of the effects that you can easily do in Producer and Gold would drive you mad trying to keyframe in PrEl.

HTH,
-Vernon

[hiker48]

Thank you, Vernon. I think I will try Proshow Gold and see if I have better luck.

[VernonRobinson]

Good luck.

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