This is not just the latest version of Premiere ... Adobe's (ahem) premier digital video editing software ... This is a completely new kettle of fish ... and did I say powerful? Adobe's Premiere Pro ... has Real time previewing, multiple nestable timelines, serious new audio tools including surround sound, native YUV video processing including 3 point color correction, totally customizable hot keys, powerful new Photoshop file handling, waveform and vectorscope and "Direct Export to DVD" ... Yep ... that is powerful! So powerful in fact that Adobe have limited its use to Pentium IV and above computers which run Windows XP. Leaving older computers behind and it seems the Mac as well. Does this mean Adobe are signalling defeat to Final Cut in the Mac arena?

I've always found the Premiere interface quite logical and straightforward and what I love about the new interface is that even though it has been enhanced and improved, as a Premiere 6 user I didn't become lost or find it too alien. Although no AB editing was something that left me feeling a little faint for a short time. I'm not quite sure of the logic in saying goodbye to my old friend "AB editing" but I'm sure I will get used to single track editing eventually. I'm kidding really as I believe Adobe have made serious changes to the product so that the product will be taken more seriously. New users take heart ... this is a logical Video Editing package and one that most will find easy to use.

Given the above ... I found the most impressive interface improvement in Premiere Pro to be support for multiple and nested timelines. Components can be created in separate timelines, which are called sequences, and then they can be nested as elements in a master timeline. Sequences can be docked as tabs in the Monitor and Timeline windows, or dragged out as separate windows. This allows effects to be applied in one operation to an entire nested sequence and the ability to try out different versions simply by copying a timeline.

Premiere Pro shares common interface elements with other Adobe tools, including tabbed windows and floating palettes. It also provides a more powerful integration of file and data formats with the other Adobe applications. My favourite amongst these being support for layered PSD files from PhotoShop ... which can be brought in as a single flattened file, or with each layer on a separate video track. Yes!

For DVD authoring there is a straight to disk option for instant play DVDs but for anything fancy I guess you would need to add the cost of a separate authoring tool like Adobe Encore or perhaps this is a good reason for looking into purchasing the Adobe Video Collection. Another nice feature is that the Media Encoder tool now contains comprehensive export options for Windows Media and Real Media files, so Web export is pretty well catered for.

Beyond the interface changes, Premiere Pro seems to have overcome some of Premiere's deficits. For example, with color correction, Premiere Pro introduces a control with color wheels, histograms, and vector scopes. For less advanced users, Adobe includes an eyedropper tool to adjust pixels that should be black, gray, or white in a video. Premiere Pro adjusts the color balance automatically, but you can fine-tune it. For chroma key and other video overlays, Adobe added separate key frame controls for blue-screen parameters like threshold, cutoff, and smoothing. And the list goes on ...

Being a Premiere afficiando leaves me little room to offer an unbiased opinion here ... so I heartily give Premiere Pro a huge thumbs up. I believe Adobe have stepped up the pace in the digital video arena and have the ability to harness another generation of Premiere fans with this fine product. I was going to clutter up this review with some stills of the interface and other features but I have decided that what you should really do is take the virtual tour (created with Premiere Pro) and really "see" what this tool is all about - Adobe Premiere Pro Virtual Tour.