Premiere Pro CS4

Premiere Pro CS3's debut on the Mac last year was impressive, especially given the challenges it faced. It not only had to overcome the lackluster reputation of its previous Mac-compatible predecessor, Premiere 6.5, but it also had to reclaim the territory it had ceded to Apple and Avid editing systems during its long absence. Today, Premiere Pro has more firmly established a reputation with Mac-based editors, and this new version will enhance its credibility.

Premiere Pro CS4 rectifies the previous version's most conspicuous flaws, and introduces some useful new features. In contrast to the previous version, Premiere Pro CS4 includes the same software bundle as the Windows package and can accept a wider range of tapeless formats. A new Media Browser panel, extensive support of metadata, revamped editing controls, blending modes, and batch processing are among its other notable new features.

Package equality

With Creative Suite 3, Adobe nearly achieved parity between the Mac and Windows versions of Premiere Pro. But whereas the Windows version included companion programs Adobe OnLocation (formerly Serious Magic's DV Rack), and Adobe Ultra (another benefit of Adobe's acquisition of Serious Magic), the Mac version included only OnLocation--and that could only run via Boot Camp. Creative Suite 4 eliminates the disparity by providing a Mac-native version of Adobe OnLocation CS4, and--surprisingly--by excluding Adobe Ultra from both packages.

The absence of Ultra, a program for keying subjects (such as those shot against a greenscreen) and compositing them with virtual sets, may simply reflect Adobe's desire to equalize the Mac and Windows versions, albeit at the expense of Windows users. Until Adobe decides to restore Ultra to the package, users can turn to the Keylight effect included with After Effects for professional keying, but will have to look elsewhere for virtual set features.

OnLocation CS4 gives Mac users a valuable production tool that allows them to use a laptop to monitor and capture video in the field. OnLocation not only lets your laptop serve as a field monitor, but also as a portable waveform monitor and vectorscope, instruments used to accurately measure video luminance and chrominance levels. (However, users accustomed to traditional video devices might wish that OnLocation's waveform monitor didn't measure the video signal in terms of RGB instead of IRE, the customary metric, named for the Institute of Radio Engineers). You can also use the program to capture video to a hard disc while shooting, bypassing the additional step of capturing footage later from videotape.

Capture disparities

When you do need to capture from tape, you can use Premiere Pro CS4's Capture panel, which differs little from the previous version. It provides a unified interface for specifying capture settings, controlling a wide range of camcorders and decks, logging, and batch capture. But it also retains some of the previous version's shortcomings, and represents one of the few areas where differences remain between Premiere Pro for Mac and Windows. On Windows, Premiere Pro's Scene Detect feature identifies points on the tape where the camera stopped between shots and captures the shots as separate master clips, each linked to a corresponding media file. But on the Mac, Premiere Pro captures a single master clip and creates a subclip for each shot. Both master clips and subclips work fine when it comes to editing. But because the subclips are linked to a single, large master clip and media file, managing media and storage space could be more difficult. And as in the previous version, Premiere Pro for the Mac can't display HDV footage in the Capture panel; you'll have to use your camcorder's built-in screen or an attached monitor instead.

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