A Rendering dialog box appears. Rendering is the process that Premiere Elements goes through when it applies your edits and compresses a movie pro- ject into its final output format. Rendering may take a few seconds or minutes, depending on the length of your movie and the speed of your computer. When rendering is complete, locate the movie file, and double-click it to open it in Windows Media Player. Congratulations! You’ve just made your first movie!
Figure 1-15:
Exporting your movie in a Web- friendly format is easy.
Chapter 2
Equipping Yourself for Moviemaking
In This Chapter
Choosing a computer that can handle Adobe Premiere Elements Comparing video cameras
Selecting capture cards and other hardware
Not so long ago, the price of a good video-editing system could have bought you a pretty nice home in the suburbs. But thanks to programs like Adobe Premiere, many of those suburban homes now havegood video- editing systems — and the owners of said homes didn’t have to take out second mortgages to purchase the equipment. For several years now, Adobe Premiere has been revolutionizing video by providing professional-grade edit- ing capabilities in a software package that runs on affordable computers. Now Premiere Elements is so affordable that even video hobbyists on the tightest of budgets can afford near-professional level editing capabilities.
Another revolution has been the recent affordability of digital video (DV) hardware. Amateur videographers can now shoot near-broadcast-quality video on cameras that cost as little as $500. Apple created the IEEE-1394 FireWire interface a few years ago, and that technology — which works on both Macintoshes andWindows PCs — makes it easy to save the high-quality videos you shoot on your computer. These three things — video-editing soft- ware, digital camcorders, and FireWire — have come together and created a synergy that is changing the way people think about and use moving pictures.
When you have the software (Adobe Premiere Elements), you need the hard- ware to go with it. This chapter guides you through the process of finding a computer to serve as a video-editing platform. You also get a look at digital cameras and other hardware that you may need or want as you get serious about video.
Choosing a Computer for Video Editing
Although ultra-powerful computers have certainly become affordable, you should be aware that you can’t expect to edit video on just any old PC. That PC your parents bought you for college ten years ago, for example, won’t cut it. In fact, almost any computer that is not fairly new or has not been significantly upgraded for a couple of years is probably barely adequate for use with Adobe Premiere Elements. The following sections help you identify what kind of com- puter you need, including specific system requirements.
Macintosh computers have long been favored by video professionals, but as of this writing, Adobe Premiere Pro and Premiere Elements are both Windows- only programs. This is a departure from earlier versions of the software, which were both Mac and Windows compatible up through Adobe Premiere 6.5.
Identifying your needs
First, you need a computer that is capable of running Adobe Premiere Elements without crashing. Beyond that, your computer should run Premiere efficiently without making you wait for hours on end while it performs a simple action.
You need lots of storage space for your video files. And you need special hard- ware tailored to video editing. The next two sections describe the computer that you need.
Minimum system requirements
Like virtually all software programs, Adobe Premiere Elements has some min- imum system requirements that your computer must meet. You’ll find them emblazoned on the side of Premiere’s retail box, as well as in the INSTALL READ MEfile located on the Premiere Elements installation disc. The minimum requirements are
Pentium III processor, 800 MHz or higher Windows XP
256MB of RAM
24-bit video display and a monitor capable of displaying a screen resolu- tion of at least 1024 x 768
DirectX compatible sound card IEEE-1394 / FireWire adapter
1.2 GB of free hard-drive space for program-installation files
You must be logged in to Windows XP with administrator rights to install the software. You must also be able to restart and log in again to Windows with administrator rights to complete installation.
The real system requirements
You’ve seen the minimumsystem requirements, but I think you’ll find that you can work a lot easier and faster if you use a computer that well exceeds those requirements. Video editing puts unusually high demands on a computer.
Video files require massive amounts of disk space, as well as special hardware to capture video and lay it back to tape or burn it to DVD — and the computer’s memory and processor are utilized to their maximum capabilities when you render video for playback. Premiere Elements works computer hardware especially hard as it displays effects and other complex edits in real-time.