If there is one thing Adobe is good at, it's software integration. You can purchase Premiere Elements 4.0 standalone or bundled with Photoshop Elements 6. To test their interoperability, we fired them both up and got creative.

First, we generated a simple still image to insert into the program. We saved it to disk, imported it into Premiere Elements and placed it in the timeline. Then we went back to Photoshop Elements and altered the still. When we jumped back to the video timeline, the monitor immediately refreshed with the changes. The ease of adjusting images to fit the program makes this very powerful.

Then we did the same thing with an animated slideshow created in Photoshop Elements. The update was automatic (and the funny clipart pig was just the touch we were looking for).

All in all, Adobe Premiere Elements 4.0 packs a lot of features into a $99 program. Fifteen years ago, if you could even purchase such a program, it would have cost as much as a luxury car. We just don't know how good we've got it these days.

Operating System: Windows XP (Service Pack 2) or Windows Vista
Minimum CPU: Pentium 4 or Celeron 1.7GHz (P4 3GHz for HD or Blu-ray)
Minimum RAM: 512MB with XP / 1GB with Vista (double each for HD or Blu-ray Disc)
Minimum Hard Drive : Space for Installation 4.5GB
Minimum Display: 16-bit color, 1024x768 at 96dpi or less
Drivers: DirectX 9- or 10-compatible drivers required
Import/Capture: Formats MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, DV, AVI, Windows Media, QuickTime, JVC Everio MOD, 3GP, ASF, WAV, WMA, Dolby Digital Stereo, PSD, JPEG, PNG, DVD
Batch Capture: No
Automatic Scene Detection: Yes
User Interface: Timeline, Sceneline, monitor, virtual audio mixer
Number of Video and Audio Tracks: 99
Audio/Video Level Envelopes: Yes
Audio Scrub: Yes
Keyframe Animation: Yes
Number of Video Transitions: 107
Number of Video Filters: 89
Background Rendering: No
Real-time Software Previews: Yes
Optimized for Dual Processor/Hyper-Threading: Yes
Third-party Plug-in Support: Yes
Encoding Formats: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, DV, AVI, Windows Media, QuickTime, 3GP, WAV, Dolby Digital Stereo, JPEG, PNG, DVD, Blu-ray
Disc DVD Authoring Software Included: Yes

• New interface helps the learning curve
• Cool filters and transitions
• Simple DVD creation
• Good Organizer for media files

• Some controls are buried in pop-up menus
• Waiting for AVCHD support

The newcomer and home user can get really creative with this user-friendly program. It provides a lot of features for a modest price.

Greg Robinson is the owner of an independent production company.

Adobe Systems Incorporated
345 Park Avenue
San Jose, CA 95110
www.adobe.com

$100 , Upgrade: $80, Bundled with Photoshop Elements: $150