REVIEW: Adobe Production Premium CS6

HD Magazine by Adam Garstone

Tacitly, even Adobe admit that Premiere Pro used to be a bit ‘pants’. Several versions ago, it didn’t really do much, and just when you had found something it would do, it crashed. I can only think that some of this taint still follows it, as it’s never really gained traction in the broadcast and feature film industries, even though it’s now a much better product.

The latest version, released as part of CS6 Production Premium (there are other options, discussed later) has some new features which could, just maybe, see them as the go-to alternative to Avid Media Composer, in the same way that Final Cut threw off its ‘amateur’ mantle in the early 2000s.

Most noticeable, once you have installed the software, is the new-look user interface. As an aside, installing the software was a frustrating experience (on a Mac) – the installer won’t run reliably from a disc image, you have to copy the files to your desktop (I found out… eventually… by trial and error).

The new UI has a couple of major attractions. Firstly, it is a lot cleaner than any previous version of Premiere. On a single screen, the default layout has big source and programme monitors in the top half of the screen, with a tabbed Project/Effects/Media window bottom left, and the rest of the screen showing the timeline, tools and audio meters. If you have a couple of monitors, you can throw the Projects window over to the second monitor (and pull out the tabs, have multiple bins open and so on) leaving you with an even cleaner layout on your main monitor. Equally importantly, the transport controls have been reduced to the essentials, and there is a handy button editor (the second major attraction), allowing you to customise which buttons you want to be show on-screen. For me, these two, simple changes have improved Premiere Pro CS6 more than any of the other enhancements – allowing the editor to concentrate on the pictures, sound and the timeline, without any unnecessary visual clutter. read more...

Check out these items featured in this post and available now at Videoguys.com.
	Adobe CS6 Production Premium Upgrade from CS3/4 (LIC, ESD) $899.00			Adobe CS6 Production Premium Upgrade from CS5.5 Collection (LIC, ESD) $359.00			Adobe CS6 Production Premium Upgrade from CS5 (LIC, ESD) $699.00