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Premiere Pro CS4 is a major upgrade from CS3, which includes enhanced integration between other CS4 applications, the new automatic text transcription Speech Search function, and a redesigned OnLocation for recording direct to disk and laptop monitoring.

Upgraded Photoshop Support

Flexible Photoshop layer options: Premiere Pro CS4 gives greater control of exactly how Photoshop files look when imported into Premiere Pro. You can preview all layers, choose which layers to import, and then choose how to import them—as individual layers, merged, or as a sequence. There is even support for Photoshop files with video.

Photoshop blending modes: I have always, always found it quite aggravating when I realize that I have multiple blending modes in my Photoshop document and cannot import any of them in Premiere, resulting in me having to alter the timeline or original document. Premiere CS4 now supports Photoshop blending modes. So now you won't feel bad about leaving your blends, multiplies, and dissolves in Photoshop.

Integration Throughout Creative Suite CS4

Send sequences directly from Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 to Adobe Encore CS4, where they open immediately without rendering. From within Encore, open Adobe Premiere Pro sequences, and then use the Edit Original command to make a quick change to the sequence. Any changes you make in Adobe Premiere Pro are automatically reflected in Encore.

Copying and pasting between programs is absolutely essential for enhanced and improved workflows. The two that I can't live without are pasting paths into After Effects from Illustrator, and pasting Illustrator graphics into Photoshop. Without them, my whole day would be spent importing and exporting files between programs. Adobe has tightened the integration throughout Creative Suite CS4 by adding copy and paste text support. Achieve the same look for text in multiple deliverable formats. Copy and pasted text will retain all supported formatting, including font, spacing, and styles.

Speech Search

Put yourself in this situation: You are three quarters of your way through editing your documentary. You did a great job sub-clipping and marked all the good takes, but there is just one missing clip from an interview that you know you remember seeing during the capture process. You can watch three tapes worth of captured footage which will waste half your day, or do a search for the exact words spoken from the interview — which takes seconds.

Speech Search technology in Premiere Pro turns spoken dialogue into text-based metadata that makes your video searchable. Every word is linked to the timecode and synchronized. The time-accurate text that corresponds to spoken words is embedded in the output you render from Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, so your video is searchable by other tools that can read XMP metadata, such as search and indexing engines. Speech Search even works great for scripted projects as well. Imagine looking through a script, reading a line, and immediately being able to pull up the clip of that line spoken by the actor.

Direct-to-disk recording with cross-platform, redesigned Adobe OnLocation CS4

Having a laptop of any size is significantly better to use than your camera's tiny flip-out LCD. But that's just the beginning. From there you can calibrate the camera, monitor footage, and check video and audio levels using on-screen tools such as the waveform monitor, vector scope, and audio spectrum analyzer. Using these tools, you can identify and correct errors before they are committed to hard disk.

If you have a laptop and a camera, it's almost a given that you should be using OnLocation. (Unless you're shooting underwater or doing a 90 mph car chase, which A.) would be awesome, and B.) would probably void your laptop's warranty.) New for CS4 is a completely redesigned interface and the availability on Mac. (The previous version was Windows only)

Multiple File Delivery

Premiere Pro has updated its export options to accommodate the multitude of formats digital media artists are expected to deliver to. Premiere Pro uses its own encoders along with Encore CS4 and Adobe Media Encoder's to export to any format . Use Adobe Encore CS4 software to deliver on standard-definition DVD or high-definition Blu-ray Disc, and with a single click create SWF-file versions for the Web through Adobe Media Encoder.