9.0

Adobe Premier Elements 8

Although Adobe generally have the photo and video manipulation market covered, their biggest competitors in our books are Apple which is definitely a bonus to the consumer because the latest version of Adobe Premier Elements 8 is easier to use and boasts a plethora of fantastic new features. Perhaps from the competition?

At its core, Adobe Premier Elements 8 is a video editing software package designed for the home user and even amateurs. Of course, Adobe Premier Elements 8 still does all the import features of video editing such as fixing shaky footage, lighting or errors, however it's the new fun features that had us most impressed.

Features

• Do it all with one powerful yet easy-to-use product
  Use Adobe® Premiere® Elements 8 software for all your video needs. Import and manage your video clips; edit them together yourself or choose automated options to effortlessly create incredible movies; enhance your movies with professional-quality effects, sound, titles, and Hollywood-style motion menus; share them on the web, disc, and everywhere else; protect them with automatic online backup and 2GB of free storage;1 and view them anywhere you are.1 (Get 20GB with Plus.)

• Create a polished movie instantly enhanced
  Use creative editing techniques from Hollywood directors. InstantMovie automatically edits together your best clips with coordinated music, titles, effects, and transitions from the movie theme of your choice. All-new themes are included, and you can easily customize to achieve the results you envision.

• Quickly find the clips you're looking for enhanced
  Want to find your best video clips or clips that meet a particular set of criteria? Take advantage of the Auto-Analyzer, which automatically tags your footage and photos for quality and interest. A variety of smart search options make it easy to zero in on just the media you need.

• Add professional-quality effects and transitions enhanced
  Add entertaining graphics that automatically follow the action in your movie. Easily combine elements from different scenes for entertaining results. And add visual appeal with hundreds of amazing special effects and TV-style transitions, including several all-new options. (Get ongoing effects and transitions with Plus.)

• Energize your movies with music
  Use SmartSound® to add a variety of musical soundtracks that automatically adjust to perfectly match the length of your movie. Even synchronize scenes to the beat of your soundtrack.

• Get creative inspiration enhanced
  Bring your ideas to life with relevant tutorials that give you even more ways to explore creative possibilities.2 (Get ongoing tutorials with Plus.)

• Conveniently share your movie and enjoy the latest technology
  Follow easy steps to create your movie once and then share it in many ways, including on disc, the web, or mobile devices. Share on high-quality HD or Blu-ray Disc. You can enjoy your movie on virtually any screen, from your iPod to your HD flat screen TV.

•  Do more with Adobe Premiere Elements Plus
  Adobe Premiere Elements 8 Plus2 includes the award-winning software, 20GB of online storage, enough for up to four hours of DVD-quality video or 15,000 photos3, and ongoing deliveries of exclusive, easy-to-use tutorials, movie themes, effects, and more directly to your desktop.

• Make movies with drag-and-drop ease
  Create your story fast in the Sceneline, an easier alternative to the more traditional video-editing Timeline. Make your movie by simply dragging and dropping thumbnails of your clips, transitions, and effects.

The installation process of Adobe Premier Elements 8 was a breeze and it auto installed on our test machine with no hassles whatsoever. We also tested the program on Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit) which ran perfectly.

Once installed, we were greeted to a slightly revamped interface that could be used by a wide variety of users from novices to amateurs and even professionals. New users to the product will be pleased with the tutorials that come with this program that are thankfully written for a level that most users should have no problems with. Additional tutorials can be accessed via Plus membership.

Retailed for a recommended retail of $149.95 (AUD November 2009), Adobe Premier Elements 8 goes one step beyond its predecessor with the inclusion of a powerful new Organiser that now allows the user to put keywords with their videos and even photos, making it extremely easy to catalog, view and work on files. The organiser also supports full screen viewing that makes browsing a truly pleasant experience.

Although the work aspect, including performance is heavily improved, the cool things in version 8 for us were the new manipulation tools which allowed you to perform a variety of strange effects on your movies which is quite reminiscent of some Apple products. For instance, the ability to put thought bubbles in movies thanks to the motion tracking capabilities of the software did allow us to create some truly entertaining videos, especially with my dog exploring the backyard and sniffing god knows what.

If reference to thought bubbles, version 8 boasts a variety of new animations which can be added to your movies and you can create some truly surreal movies with live action and animation. Adding this into your movies is quite easily done thanks to the intuitive menu system of the program and easy to access library. For instance, we chose a cartoon head and placed it on our dog as she wondered around the backyard and although it did look a little tacky, the ease of this functionality was quite amazing.

InstantMovie is another useful tool that allows budding Hollywood film makers create their own impressive looking home movies which assists in music, titles, effects and the like and once again, another easy to use program. Those users who have home networks or even office networks, the program now supports the syncing of media between computers and if changes are made to one file, this will be automatically synced to the other PC's in your network.

Although we're not a big fan of sharing your files on the web, version 8 does allow you to create online albums which can be shared with friends and family, provided they are registered. Best of all, the program has the capabilities to import a variety of video formats from classic VHS formats to new high definition AVCHD camcorders.

Another feature that we're pleased with are the Smart Fix tools which automatically attempts to adjust your videos for imperfections and Smart Mix that assists in balancing out the sounds in your video which offers a variety of choices to the users. Smart Mix is also great for adding background music that doesn't become the dominant sound in your productions.

Testing through the traditional features of this program allowed us to improve the lightning in our videos, cut, paste new areas and basically create those almost perfect movies which for us, was almost as simple as 1-2-3. The interface is one that can be used by all users and if you need a program to edit your videos, than we do suggest you investigate the latest version of this product.

At the end of the day, this is a very well made program that we could recommend to most users who wish to use video editing, without the complexities of many other programs available. It's quite affordable, powerful and easy to use, Adobe Premier Elements 8 is your one stop shop for all your video editing.

Check it out!