Editing HDV using Premiere Elements 3.0 on a Laptop

[drbill]

Well, after all the issues with my new Sony HC-7 HD camcorder, it is a pleasure to report that I started editing the footage today with my Dell E1505 Duo Core laptop and Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0 with surprising results.

Although the laptop only has a 5400 rpm hard drive, it flawlessly captured about 20 minutes of footage (out of 60 on the tape) without a dropped frame. I was surprised at that. I have a 7200 rpm external drive for the laptop, but it is attached to my desktop for some other editing I'm working on at the moment.

Premiere Elements 3.0 is quite a change from my last version of premiere (6.0). There is a bit of a learning curve since some functions have new names in this version. I also miss the split monitor (although it may still be an option on this version... I haven't checked to see).

My editing methods required a significant change from 6.0 where I would edit using the Source monitor window to set in and out points and drag the clips to the timeline. In Elements 3.0, I edited on the timeline itself using the split clip function. Not sure whether I like this better or not. One thing I appreciated was that when I trimmed a clip on the timeline and deleted it, the gap was eliminated and the rest of the clips automatically moved to the left.

I'm not taking time to really learn the new version right now as I want to get the four hours of HDV edited and archived in a hurry. However, I wanted to report that I am surprised at how effective it is on my laptop... quite a surprise. Oh, and it hasn't frozen up once. That's been a "feature" of Adobe Premiere 6.0 on my "ancient" video editing desktop computer. Usually have to reboot several times during a full day of editing.

Your mileage may vary, but I was surprised at how the software functioned on somewhat minimal hardware.

 

[LowVizWiz]

Thanks for the post Dr Bill...

I feel your pain too, moving to a new app or having things changed in an app considerably can be frustrating, but I'm sure you'll figure it out soon enough. You may even enjoy the new way to do things.

As far as the gaps being removed when you delete a clip, it's called a ripple and it just may be turned off in the app. I'm not familiar with Premiere, but the feature is pretty standard NLE tool it may be as simple as turning a button on!

Good luck.

Wys

 

[paulpost]

Well, after all the issues with my new Sony HC-7 HD camcorder, it is a pleasure to report that I started editing the footage today with my Dell E1505 Duo Core laptop and Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0 with surprising results.

Although the laptop only has a 5400 rpm hard drive, it flawlessly captured about 20 minutes of footage (out of 60 on the tape) without a dropped frame. I was surprised at that. I have a 7200 rpm external drive for the laptop, but it is attached to my desktop for some other editing I'm working on at the moment.

Premiere Elements 3.0 is quite a change from my last version of premiere (6.0). There is a bit of a learning curve since some functions have new names in this version. I also miss the split monitor (although it may still be an option on this version... I haven't checked to see).

My editing methods required a significant change from 6.0 where I would edit using the Source monitor window to set in and out points and drag the clips to the timeline. In Elements 3.0, I edited on the timeline itself using the split clip function. Not sure whether I like this better or not. One thing I appreciated was that when I trimmed a clip on the timeline and deleted it, the gap was eliminated and the rest of the clips automatically moved to the left.

I'm not taking time to really learn the new version right now as I want to get the four hours of HDV edited and archived in a hurry. However, I wanted to report that I am surprised at how effective it is on my laptop... quite a surprise. Oh, and it hasn't frozen up once. That's been a "feature" of Adobe Premiere 6.0 on my "ancient" video editing desktop computer. Usually have to reboot several times during a full day of editing.

Your mileage may vary, but I was surprised at how the software functioned on somewhat minimal hardware.

Dr Bill, looks that you are preparing for tropical waters, lap top to make you mobile is the sign for your move, but what I want to know is if your premiere elements is a trial or is the full version? I was looking to get this software too.

 

[drbill]

Wysmar... I've been editing for 6 years now with Premiere. The difference in this version is that it automatically does the ripple delete whereas on my earlier versions it was a two-step process. I like it this way!

Paulpost... I'm using the full version of Elements which I bought last week.

 

[ScubaBob92651]

Well, after all the issues with my new Sony HC-7 HD camcorder, it is a pleasure to report that I started editing the footage today with my Dell E1505 Duo Core laptop and Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0 with surprising results.

Your mileage may vary, but I was surprised at how the software functioned on somewhat minimal hardware.

I'm using PP 1.5. I remember there being many changes being version 6 and 7/PP, the funny thing is now, I forget what they were! I just took a look at Premiere Elements on Adobe's site and it looks like it is a much more simplified interface. Probably will take some getting used to.

I started out using VideoWave about 7 years ago (pretty new to this). After seeing how complicated Premiere looked, I didn't think I would ever like it. It didn't take long to learn the basics however, and it's nice that it seems like there's still so much to learn to get the most of PP.

Quick question regarding editing HDV using Elements, is it also converting the HDV to the Cineform intermediate, or is it editing raw m2t files?

 

[drbill]

Whew... now I know I got a true Adobe Premiere product and not some rip-off. It locked up my new system last night for the first time.

Despite that I am still impressed that Premiere Elements 3.0 has captured several hours of HDV footage to a 5400 rpm drive without a lost frame. I truly did not expect that and still have my 7200 rpm external drive ready to attach when needed.

It is becoming easier as I learn the new menu structure for Elements 3.0 vs Premiere 6.0 (for example, "Get Media From" instead of "File Import"). I'm happy with everything so far. Of course unlike mini DV footage, the edited files still have to be reconverted to export back to tape.

Only thing I've been unhappy with is that I haven't found a way to export the edited video segments to MPEG-2 format (which they are in the unedited and captured files). I can only export the entire project in MPEG-2 unlike Premiere 6.0 which allowed me to export video segments ("work space") as a variety of different MPEG types.

Bob... to answer your question, Elements 3.0 at least as I am using it captures the footage in MPEG-2 format. For the time being I'm not worried as I'm not recording anything critical to save in highest quality. I haven't explored the software enough yet to know if it can capture in M2T or Cineform formats. Anyone else out there have the answer?

 

[Mafiaman]

Only thing I've been unhappy with is that I haven't found a way to export the edited video segments to MPEG-2 format (which they are in the unedited and captured files). I can only export the entire project in MPEG-2 unlike Premiere 6.0 which allowed me to export video segments ("work space") as a variety of different MPEG types.

Bill, Top menu line go to >TimeLine>Render workarea

 

[drbill]

Thanks, Mafiaman. I was hoping there was a way to do that (although I don't understand why they'd do it under that menu option instead of "Export/Movie"). Will check it out when I'm back on that computer.

 

[drbill]

Mafiaman, thanks again for the suggestion but that option does not seem to render an MPEG file unless I missed something. With Premiere 6.0, I can select a work area on the timeline and export it to files in a variety of MPEG formats.

 

[Mafiaman]

You are correct Bill, I was over zealous with my post. Not often do I get to find the answer. This time would appear not to be any different!
So it renders it in it's native format then you have to open it and export in a disired format? an Extra step.