Product Reviews

PC video production software is getting increasingly sophisticated, but Premiere Elements is moving in the opposite direction. Version 1 was a spin-off from a powerful editing program aimed at professionals, and Adobe changed very little to create the consumer Elements edition. As such, it was (and still is) extremely powerful, but not the most inviting program for beginners. Version 4 sees the biggest overhaul yet to appeal to home users.

The redesigned interface has a larger, higher-resolution preview window, and the properties panels have been brought together into a single task-based tabbed area. New features include Movie Themes, which essentially edit your video for you - handy when you just need a quick result. The various export options are now all in the Sharing Center, with straightforward templates for DVD, iPod, YouTube and plenty more besides.

Some weak points remain. When a clip is truncated or deleted, subsequent clips on the timeline roll back to fill the space, a process known as ripple editing. This is often exactly what you want, but at other times it's a nuisance. There are workarounds if you know the keyboard shortcuts, but an on/off switch for ripple editing would be better. We also dislike how playback stops as soon as you edit a parameter. Sony's rival Vegas Movie Studio carries on regardless, making it far easier to adjust time-based effects and see results instantly.

Premiere Elements' biggest problem is that there's no middle ground

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between its beginner-friendly drag-and-drop editing mode and the dense lists of parameters used for precise editing. If you want to customise effects, you'll need to get your hands dirty with some pretty intimidating controls. They're not as tricky as they look, though, and the rewards are great if you're willing to put the time in. Object motion is particularly impressive, with the ability to define curved paths and vary the speed at which items move along them.

All on tape

Few people can have missed the hype surrounding high-definition video, and now that HD cameras are available from around £500, it's well worth making the jump so your video productions don't look hopelessly low-resolution in a few years' time. Premiere Elements already supports HDV, an established high-definition camera format, but we're disappointed that version 4 doesn't add support for the increasingly popular AVCHD camera format - something that nearly all of its rivals have done in recent months. Essentially, this means it won't work with tapeless cameras.

It's not all bad news, though, because Premiere Elements can now create Blu-ray discs with the same menu design tools used for DVD authoring. With Blu-ray writers falling below £200, set-top players (and Playstation 3s) available from around £280, and the proliferation of HDTVs, it finally looks like a realistic proposition to film, edit and watch home videos in high definition.

There's no doubt that Premiere Elements is a fantastic piece of software, but whether it's the best one for home users is a closer call. It's no use at all if you own or have your eye on an AVCHD camera. However, Blu-ray support tilts the balance the other way for HDV camera owners who are itching to unleash the benefits of their high-definition footage - a feature that Sony Vegas Movie Studio currently lacks. With sheer editing power that nothing else at this price can match, and a shallower learning curve than before, Premiere Elements sets a new standard for consumer PC video production, and is an unbeatable buy.