Windows 8 Pro and Professional Video Apps – Upgrading My NLE Box

doddleNEWS by Jeremiah Hall

My friends thought I was nuts, and they may be right. I bought Microsoft Windows 8 Pro over the weekend and replaced my Windows 7 with it. I do a lot of editing and visual graphics work and wanted to find out first-hand how the new OS did with video applications.

I played with Windows 8 Pro at a local big box retailer the morning it came out. It looked interesting. I’ve been working on an article about compatibility issues with Windows 8 Pro and some post-production software, and decided maybe I should take the bull by the horns and dive in. I’m not the type who usually does impetuous things with my OS, but after talking to Adobe - Premiere Pro is my primary NLE – and getting a positive answer, I made the decision to jump in.

First things first, I backed up all of my files on a 2TB external hard drive – just in case. Next I deactivated every piece of software on my machine that I could. That included CS6, Final Draft, all of my Boris products. . . I even deauthorized my iTunes software. I also took this opportunity to do some basic system cleaning. I had some old project files gathering digital dust on my video raid.

Once everything was backed up / deauthorized, I went to the Microsoft website. I navigated to the Windows 8 page, and clicked the button marked “Download Pro for $39.99.” This downloaded the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant, a small piece of software that checks your system to make sure it can run Win 8. I ran it. It told me I had a display issue and should change my resolution settings to something higher. A quick trip to the control panel took care of that. I also said I had 36 programs that were compatible with Windows 8. Among them were Adobe Premiere Elements 11, Adobe Photoshop Elements 11, Final Draft 8, and Sony Acid Music Studio 9. read more...