Jake,
I'm going to put myself out there and say that I'm pretty experienced with Premier Elements, and it is a great little program.

It'll handle HD footage just fine (30F and 60I, not 24F) and it's got a lot of really great tools build right in. But, as people mentioned before, it does leave a bit lacking in the color correction department.

I've got some blog posts talking about my issues with it, and how I learned to use the tools and overcome my problem. It wasn't that there is a problem with Premier Elements, I just didn't know what the hell I was doing.

Will Mahoney's Blogs - Color Correcting, Deep Focus, Bright Sunlight and Classic Cruisers - Part Two.

Long story short: If you're really just starting out, shelling out the $100 for a robust, easy-to-use software program isn't a bad idea. This isn't iMovie, where you can really only stick video files next to each other and maybe cut at certain points. This so far has been a fully fuctioning piece of software that's done a lot of great stuff.

But now that I've been rocking Elements for over almost two years I'm ready to step up. Have fun!

P.S. And do check out my blog post (above.) It's a good piece about the limitations of Premier Elements, and how I overcame them.

Will,

So Premiere Elements can handle 30p and 60i, but not 24p? If you will pardon a stupid beginner's question...why?

Hi Jake,

NTSC isn't 24P.

I'm not sure why. I think it has something to do with all video normally being some version of 30 frames per second (29.99, 30F, 60I - all similar, no?). And the software is built to handle 30 frames per second.

Maybe adding the 24F functionality to Premier Elements would take it out of the entry-level price point.

But I like Premier Elements a lot.