Premiere Pro Offers Plenty of Controls

The top video editing program for PCs gets even better.

The Premiere Pro Timeline illustrates your entire production, making it easy to add, remove, and reposition chunks of video.

If you take video editing seriously and you need software loaded with professional-level features, you'll find that there's a lot to like in the new Adobe Premiere Pro.

The $699 package--which runs only under Windows XP (Pro or Home)--uses a minimalist interface in which all the tools occupy windows that you can open, move, or close.

This time, Adobe revamped the Premiere Pro Timeline, which represents the flow of the video over time. The update makes the tool easier to use.

Premiere Pro supplies an extensive set of filters for doing color correction and for cleaning up video. Owners of Adobe's After Effects visual effects program can readily employ the two programs in tandem to add cool visual effects.

Adobe also comes with tools for fixing poor sound and for mixing audio tracks together.

Premiere's biggest limitation is its lack of DVD authoring tools. Though it can burn video to DVD, it lacks the ability to create menus and other extras (to do those tasks, you need Adobe's Encore DVD).

Overall, authoring quibbles aside, Premiere Pro remains the best video editing program available for the PC.

Adobe Premiere Pro

Beta software, not rated The most powerful program for video editing on the PC. Price when reviewed: $699. Current prices (if available)