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| [ Home ] [ Capture ] [ Editing ] [ Corrective ] [ Artistic ] [ Transitions ] [ Titling ] [ Slideshow ] [ Auto-Movie ] [ Audio ] [ Rendering ] [ Authoring ] | ||||
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Consumer Editor Reviews - Editing Features |
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Editing |
Adobe Premiere Elements |
Magix Movie Edit 10 |
Pinnacle Studio |
Ulead VideoStudio |
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Main Interface |
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| Basics: | ||||
| Timeline/storyboard |
Timeline, no real storyboard, just a thumbnail view
of assets in the library.
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Both | Both |
Both |
| Number of tracks | 99 audio and video. | 16 total for audio and video | Two video, one title, four total audio. One video (with audio), one overlay (with audio), one title, one music and one narration. | Two video, one title, four total audio. One video (with audio), one overlay (with audio), one title, one music and one narration. |
| Qlutter Quotient |
Can get cluttered if you don't manage the windows
well. This is especially an issue with the Effect Controls window.
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Fixed, some clutter from multiple windows with completely different looks and feels. | Completely fixed interface, can't get cluttered, though some screens can get a bit lost. | All windows are fixed, so clutter is never an issue. |
| Asset libraries |
The ability to create folders makes the bin easy to
organize. Best bin of the bunch from an organizational perspective. That is,
it's a true bin, which collects projects assets, that you can organize with
folders.
On the other hand, you can't really prep assets in the library, because you can't split or otherwise trim. For this reason, you do pretty much all of your editing in the timeline. Fortunately, a capable trim window makes this fairly simple. |
No real project bin, simply displays the assets in
the currently selected subdirectory, lumping all assets (video, audio and
images) into one library. Can split videos in the library, but operation is cumbersome. Most folks will want to do this on the timeline. Overall, the library function isn't a real positive. |
Studio does the best job allowing you to prepare
assets for editing with multiple libraries (one each for video, audio and
images). Each allows you to split and annotate your videos so you can
isolate and use relevant scenes. You can't delete scenes, however, which is
a drag.
That said, the library is not a true bin, it just shows the assets present in the directory that it's then pointing to. If you import or copy all assets into one directory, that's not a problem, but if you collect content from around your computer or network, you may have trouble later finding some files. Of course, once a file is included in a project, it stays in the project, even if you move away from that folder.
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Where most other
programs clear the asset bins with each project, Ulead doesn’t. When you
start a new project, assets Ulead ships with the program and assets from the
previous project are in the bin. Since the bin is small anyway, this
basically forces the user to delete assets each time they start a project.
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Trimming features |
You can trim on the timeline or mark assets in and
out in the source window, which is pretty intuitive.
If you trim on the timeline, Premiere Elements converts the preview window into an elegant trim window that enables precision without confusion. Compare it to Magix's trim window and you'll see what I mean.
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Can trim on the timeline, and there is a separate
trim window that I found very confusing. Though there are tool tips that
might help, 50 word descriptions flash in and out of view too quickly to
read. A much simpler tool (like Premiere Elements) would be vastly
preferred.
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Can trim on the timeline or using a very easy to
use trim window.
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Can trim on timeline or using trim handles in the preview window. Doesn’t update the preview window when trimming on the timeline, which makes it more difficult to choose the precise start or end frame. |
| Preview features |
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| Other comments: |
Premiere Elements directs workflow with a taskbar atop the interface like capture. That generally works well until you try to customize effect controls. Applying an effect is easy enough, but unless you know you have to look for the effect controls window (it's not on the taskbar) you're probably going to struggle with how to customize the values. Interestingly, the approach used by big sister Premiere Pro, which parks the effect controls window on a tab in the monitor window, is less confusing. Also, understand that once you get beyond the main screen, which Adobe customized for Elements, you'll be working with the same controls that professionals use with Premiere Pro. The good news is that you'll have excellent control over your edits and that lessons learned in Premiere Elements will apply if/when you move up to Premiere Pro. The bad news is that the learning curve could be daunting, especially if you're not familiar with the program. |
Makes no distinction between movies and projects, which is initially confusing, and surprising for a product with this many releases. So, you save a "movie" when you want to save your project, and save your "movie" as when you want to render. This hurts usability. Also a very busy interface with lots of tiny, obscure icons and bright colors. Definitely better suited for someone on the south side of thirty, and not at all for those upwards of 40.
Varying function windows in Movie Edit Pro look totally different, like they're components of another program. Some new function windows (like Story Maker) are simply updated versions with new marketing oriented names of older windows that are still in the program.
This gives the program a disjointed feel, especially in contrast to the unified, uniform interface of the other three programs. |
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| Extra points: |
Adobe Premiere Elements |
Magix Movie Edit 10 |
Pinnacle Studio |
Ulead VideoStudio |
| Scene detection (in timeline or library) |
Lacking here. Elements can detect scenes during capture using time code, but can't detect scenes in imported video. |
Nice feature, worked well in our tests.
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Can subdivide scenes in library by shooting time and date, content and by interval. Operation is much faster than real time |
Can split by scene in the library by either content or time code - is faster than real time and worked well in our tests.
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| Arrow keys drive video in timeline. | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Multi-trim tool | No | No | No |
Ulead’s multi-trim tool has both jog and shuttle devices, making it simple to pick in and out points in your videos for very fast trimming. A unique and highly useful feature.
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| Lose points: |
Adobe Premiere Elements |
Magix Movie Edit 10 |
Pinnacle Studio |
Ulead VideoStudio |
| Can't preview out the DV monitor | Can Preview out DV Port | CAN'T preview out DV Port | CAN'T preview out DV Port | CAN Preview out DV Port |
| Summary Line |
Pluses:
Negatives:
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Pluses:
Negatives:
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Pluses:
Negatives:
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Pluses:
Negatives:
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| Feature rating | 4.5 | 3.5 | 4 | 4 |
| Ease of use rating | 3.5 | 2.5 | 4.5 | 4 |
| Total | 4 | 3 | 4.25 | 4 |
