So I have been chugging along with Premier Elements (PRE) and getting stuff done, but I am struggling with the amount of hardware that is required. I have PRE on a server and a laptop, but on both things are running very slow.

I have asked for help and received a lot of good information that made a difference, but the fact of the mater is that it is STILL TOO SLOW to produce anything over three minutes.

I have been evaluating Vegas Platinum and I am very happy with it's performance. I am even able to cut HDV across a network quickly and effectively.

Right now I am not seeing any features in PRE compelling me to stick with PRE and deal with the painfully slow processes, but I would like to know your opinions on the differences.

What are your thoughts - all of them - I really want to know what (if anything) makes Platinum better?

Interesting....I use Premiere Elements 4 and have been editing 2 hour length standard definition and various length high definition .mov files from a Canon T2i without transcoding, with little or no problem. My computer is a Pentium 4, 3ghz, with 2GB RAM and a 256kb video card.

Now, if I was editing AVCHD on a daily basis I would recommend more computer - for Premiere Elements or for Sony Vegas Platinum.

If Sony Vegas Platinum is literally twice as powerful as Premiere Elements I would switch also.

I too would like to hear the differences that makes Sony Platinum faster.

Ok, so to make this more clear.
I have a Dual Core 3.1ghz server with 4gb ram, Nvidia 1gb video running Server 2003 and I can get things done - but it's slow with rendering on and if I turn it off, I can really watch the monitor effectively without manually rendering (again slow) and this machine WILL NOT capture HDV without PRE complaining if not locking up. I have to use HDSplit to capture.

I have a Gateway FX P-Laptop with Dual Core 2.9ghz 4gb ram, 1gb Nvidia video running Vista 64 and this is even slower here - but if I PRE does not complain about the video driver I can get things done - just takes forever.

Both machine running 7200 rpm SATA drives (laptop has 2 and the server as 4) - editing movie files on the respected machines HD (not over the network).

I also have a 5-6 year old Toshiba Laptop a single core 1.6ghz, 2gb ram, single 80gb IDE 5400rpm hard dive running Windows XP that WILL NOT rune PRE at all.

However, it runs circles around both machines above with Vegas Platinum, even on WiFi with the movie files on the network server! It is truly night & day.

I have only had Vegas running for 24hrs so I am not proficient in it as I am with PRE, but I created a simple project in minutes last night where it would have taken me hours with PRE.

I just want to make sure that I don't shoot myself in the foot as far as functionality is concerned.

For what it's worth .... I did an evaluation of several of the low-cost versions of editing programs and settled on Vegas Platinum.

One of the reasons was that I was sure that one day I would want to upgrade to the full version and Vegas appeared to be the only program where the "junior" version has exactly the same interface as the "pro" version, making the upgrade transition easier.

BTW, I've now made the move to Pro!

Thanks Chris,

In Platinum, how did you get past the lack of text effects?

I do a lot of Photojournalism, Interviews & Documentary type work, and the ability to manipulate text is vital to most of these projects.

In digging deeper last night I ran smack into a wall with text.

An example of a clip will have an image that "rolls" in form the left with a faded blend in form the bottom (at the same time) and then a person's name will slide in form the left along the fade, hold for a couple of seconds then explode off the screen.

the ability to manipulate text is vital to most of these projects.
I must admit I'm a bit "old skool" so not really in favour of "text effects" per se :)

.. but I did a couple of jobs that required something a bit "animated" text-wise in Platinum so I bought a very inexpensive program called BluffTitler that came up with what was needed.

Chris S, there's no reason that effect cannot be done in Platinum. Sliding the text is very simple. To explode the text, simply add an exploding transition on the end.

Chris S, there's no reason that effect cannot be done in Platinum. Sliding the text is very simple. To explode the text, simply add an exploding transition on the end.

Hello Edward,

I have tried to figure this out and have not been able to.

Thinking that I might not be clear, I created a very short example and posted it on Vimeo.
Flying Text Example on Vimeo

This is a very "basic" example of what you would see heavily in my training videos.

There's still no reason it can't be done in Platinum. The lower-third will need to be on a track above the video. You can use Pan/Crop to slide it in and out. Then put the text on another track above the lower-third. You can move the text using "Placement" tab in the generated media or Pan/Crop.