Test Bench:
Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0 Video Editing Software (page 2)

A powerful interface design decision was to move away from free-floating windows and tool palettes in exchange for interlocking panels. This eliminates overlapping windows by having adjacent panels enlarge to fill empty space or decrease in size depending on how the user changes its neighboring panel. We immediately became comfortable with this new interface dynamic, wondering why this idea took so long to come to fruition. Individual panels can have their own real estate or be joined with other palettes in a tab-like fashion.

When it comes to outputting, Premiere Elements 2.0 keeps up with current trends, allowing an editor to burn dual-layer as well as single-layer DVDs, encode for hand held devices and cell phones as well as output for email, the web and VHS. Premiere Elements 2.0 can even burn PAL DVDs, though we have to take their word on this as we do not own PAL playback equipment. In addition, the program will automatically encode DVDs at the highest possible quality depending on the length of the work; a very nice tweak not found in other entry-level authoring programs.

The folks at Adobe have just raised the bar for entry level editing software. For less than $100, beginning editors can have a program with a relatively low learning curve, but with enough functionality to keep them cutting well through their ascent into the intermediate ranks.

ESD Price: $90
Trial Version Available: 30 days (limited set of DVD and title templates, DVD burning is disabled)
Operating System: Windows XP SP2
Minimum CPU: Pentium 4, M, D or Extreme Edition, or AMD Opteron or Athlon 64 (SSE2 support required)
Minimum RAM: 256
Minimum Hard Drive Space for Installation: 4GB
Capture Formats: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DV, Windows Media, QuickTime, JVC Everio MOD, 3GP, ASF, WAV, WMA, Dolby Digital Stereo, PSD, JPEG, PNG
Batch Capture: Yes
Automatic Scene Detection: Yes
User Interface: timeline
Number of Video Tracks: 99
Number of Audio Tracks: 99
Nesting Tracks: Yes
Audio/Video Level Envelopes: Yes
Audio Scrub: Yes
Keyframe Animation: Yes
Number of Video Transitions: 41
Number of Video Filters: over 300
Realtime Software Previews: Yes
Optimized for Dual Processor/HyperThreading: Yes
Third-party Plug-in Support: Yes
Encoding Formats: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DV, AVI, Windows Media, QuickTime, WAV, Dolby Digital Stereo and JPEG
DVD Authoring Software Included: Yes

• Adjustable workspace
• Customizable DVD and title templates
• Imports and edits MPEG

• Not available for Mac
• Mediocre audio tools

It's hard to beat this robust, sub-$100 editing software.

Morgan Paar is Videomaker's Technical Editor.