Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5

Although this is only a 'dot' release, and the enhancements are welcome, one area where we were hoping to see big improvements was in real-time video mixing capabilities. With the competition from Canopus Edius 2 and Pinnacle Edition Pro 5, Premiere was really starting to look long in the tooth in this respect. Adobe has made noticeable improvements in this department, but it's still not enough. Although Premiere can now edit MPEG, it can't mix it with DV in real-time like Edius.

While you can use both the Canopus and Pinnacle software on little more than a fast PC with good graphics and a FireWire adaptor, Adobe needs Matrox or Canopus hardware to really shine when it comes to real-time rendering. This isn't a disaster, considering the incredible bundle deals Adobe has with Matrox cards - you can virtually get an RT.X10 or RT.X100 for free. But this drastically limits its potential by being tied to hardware when the competition has already made the break.

In its favour, though, Premiere Pro still has its unique nested sequences and comprehensive integration with other Adobe apps, plus massive third-party plug-in support. It also has the most familiar interface in the business, and will be the easiest for a newcomer to get to grips with. But unless Adobe addresses the core issue of real-time rendering performance, professional editors will continue to look elsewhere for a speedier workflow.

Author: James Morris