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 - Suprised by the low scores....I was completely shocked to see the reviews. I've been using this program for a week and it has worked very well. Very easy to use, does exactly waht it is supposed to. I've not yet got into HD video. I'm converting DV-AVI to DVD and the like. I was using Ulead VideoStudio 11 and it had some bugs, namely blowing up every time I tried to scene detect. I've got nothing but good things to say about Premiere Elements 4. Rating:  - How can a company like Adobe release something this bad? I'd give it zero stars if one could choose that. The product is not worth the money or the frustration. It is very `buggy' and nearly unsupported. When using standard definition video, it is somewhat stable but still prone to crashing. So, much so that after nearly every operation, one will become a habitual clicker of "Save" because without developing that habit, a lot of work is lost. Just to be clear, my machine meets the standards on the box for HD video. To rule out issues with installed software and such as their useless Technical Support documents will blame, after having a lot of problems, I took a blank hard drive, loaded XP (to avoid known issues with Vista), all the XP updates and then Adobe Premier. I then started to create a 15 minute movie from AVI files created by converting MOV file with the codecs found only after the XP and PE 4.0 installations.. All the errors occurred here as well. I had to use AVI files because the software crashed consistently when using MOV files (Quicktime files, and no matter what it says on the box about support for them, it is not really true). The problems get far worse and more frequent when using HD sources of 720i or more. When using HD video the software will crash often with projects greater than 10 to 15 minutes. The crashes can be very frequent and more so when editing titles. Playback is also problematic and has obvious `memory leaks, because when run too long or too often, the playback will freeze the video and sound will continue. This makes one wonder how much testing was done prior to release of the product since it is obvious that no memory testing could have been done of this would have been found. The use of various video formats rely on codecs that Adobe does not supply nor does it maintain total compatibility with them. Even something as common as Quicktime (MOV files), which Adobe does not support without a download of the Quicktime software from Apple, is problematic causing crashes when rendering a project or attempting to "Share" (output to DVD or other format). All of the files that were used in project that crash in PE 4, play fine in Quicktime itself. So, they need to be converted, usually to AVI but the code does not link to the Quicktime DLL correctly and crashes. Another odd thing is that one of their support documents will tell you that if you have problems, to "Share" your project video as DVD AVI. For HD, one would assume this means DVD AVI Widescreen, the most obvious choice. However, this does not result in a full HD AVI, in fact is rendered at only 720 X 480, and actually saved in 4:3 but played back in !6:9. There are no option to change the settings for DVD AVI. You will loose the whole reason fro using HD, resolution. The HD "capabilities" of the software are not really there, but just added on top of some old C++ code from prior version and it does not work. Examples of common other failures that Adobe does not address on their web site nor acknowledge follow. Premier Elements errors when opening some projects after creating all graphic views in the TimeLine, and this while Task Manager does not show any spike or near limit use of memory or page file: "Adobe Premier Elements is running low on system memory. Please save your project and process with caution." How Premier is making this determination is beyond me but what is obvious is that it is the first indicator that even their software engineers knew it was about to crash and did this so often, they needed to warn you of the impending doom created by their poorly written code. What is is really saying is, "the code is a bit lost right now and because we've no error handling in the code, it will soon crash but please don't be upset, we warned you!" An occasional crash when saving a project: AppName: adobe premiere elements.exe AppVer: 4.0.0.0 ModName: kernel32.dll ModVer: 5.1.2600.2180 Offset: 0001eb33 A common crash when editing titles. I get this one every 15 to 30 minutes and sometimes after editing titles 3 or for times no matter how much time has passed. Could be just a few minutes. AppName: adobe premiere elements.exe AppVer: 4.0.0.0 ModName: medialayer.dll ModVer: 4.0.0.0 Offset: 0033bfb8 There are also C++ runtime errors, indicating also that a lot of the code is legacy cove from MS Visual C++ and even way back then they did not include any error checking or handlers in their code! You'll get no place with this and if you read their forms and other multimedia forums, you'll find these errors are very common. Avoid this product. Rating: - I can't believe this is really from AdobeI've used Sony's Screenblast Movie Studio for about 4 years. Recently I've started looking around for a replacement that can deal with higher-resolution video. I decided to try the free trial version of Adobe Premier Elements 4. The Adobe web site seemed to offer a free disk, thus avoiding a long download, but the link didn't work. So I downloaded and installed the program. After a frustrating two hours of trying to work with it I ended up ununstalling it. The user interface is difficult to use, the help function is murky, simple actions like inserting a title with a plain background and non-moving text require complex effort, and it crashed on my Windows XP system over and over. I can't believe Adobe put its name on this product. Rating: - Glad I read all the reviewsI was considering purchasing this product until I read all of these reviews. It sounds like Adobe released a terrible product and refuses to provide the needed technical support to correct the problems. I always try to purchase products only after reading some reviews. I am so glad I did this time. Adobe. You won't get my money! Rating: - Worth persevering withI have just completed several projects which were otherwise covering vast acres of one of my hard drives. I had put off doing this because of the difficulties and frustrations involved in using video editing software. The difficulties encountered by other reviewers of Premiere Elements are not lost on me. However, I do believe that Premiere Elements is a very good piece of software, and is probably the best of its type on the market for the amateur videographer. The first thing to say is that editing video is of itself a complex task which requires a good deal of thought, planning and then some complex workflow if one is to achieve anything of merit from the reams of video downloaded on to your PC. There is simply no such a thing as a 'Quick Fix' button which will do all that is required of making even a short home movie. If your expectations fall along these lines then either accept the product of your camera 'artwork' as is, or take up another hobby. If you accept (or can be cajoled into accepting) that making a video is time consuming and involves knocking into shape large sound and image files into a composition which not only tells a story, but does so without jumping all over the place, and also accept that you will need good software to assist you in this task, then Premiere Elements is probably the best software to use. I have had problems with the software freezing on me, but for some reason, as I have become more practised in using it, it is happening less and less to me (using the 'Save' command regularly is a big plus in this regard). Yes, operations in Premiere Elements can take a long time (often when creating a DVD I will let it run overnight), but if this is understood and worked out in advance, and if you can plan around it, then the software will do its business (Note that during such operations I let the PC get on with doing its job without doing anything else on the PC - browsing the web, or fiddling with Windows Explorer whilst using Premiere Elements is a no-no). If your use of the PC doesn't allow this, then based on my experience, you will have problems. As for the software itself, there is quite a steep learning curve associated with it, but if you can get through 2 or 3 projects you should reach a level of competence which allows you to knock up acceptable short movies quite quickly, and also allow you to move on to more advanced stuff. Being just about this stage myself, I find using Premiere Elements to be quite fulfilling, if not enjoyable. The workflow arrangement is excellent, and one can move backwards and forwards through the process of making a movie with ease (subject to the limitations expressed earlier), and the features available with the program should allow any amateur videographer to do anything he/she needs to. The black screen works well if your monitor is reasonably calibrated, and the edit screen and various tools and features are laid out well and very easy to find and use. I am pleased with the results, and when Premiere Elements gets to the 'Done' stage, I am invariably pleased with what it has produced. I am going to give the product 4 stars. It is an excellent piece of software, but is hindered by its attempts at pushing the limits of consumer PC technology. There is no denying that its stability may be an issue for some, and no denying that editing video is not as intuitive or easy as editing still photographs, but if you are prepared to work with the software and the limitations its load places on your computer, and also persevere with your video artwork, you will find Premiere Elements to be an excellent partner in your home video work. By way of explanation I have a 2 year old 3 GHz Pentium P4 based PC with 2GB ram. It is far from the capabilities of todays machines, and probably falls within the definition of an average home PC.
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