When I saw the "great update" of Premiere CS3, and then I saw what Apple did with FCP Studio 2, I thought: how come Apple can do it, and Adobe can't?

I have been a great fan of Premiere for some time, but after these cosmetic changes supposedly warranting a release of a new edition, I think I'm going to switch to Mac.

Bart, there's more to it than cometic. The inclusion of otherwise expensive options (actually more expensive if purchased seperately), such as OnLocation (aka serious magic's DV Rack HD -$500) and time remapping. Both easily worth the upgrade alone. Cosmetically, you would want the application to remain the same. It keeps the learning curve down, and allows you to focus on the new tools.

I'm not sure if the main objective of the premiere team is for a bug hunt, but more for getting tighter intergration with AE, Encore, and photoshop, (including Soundbooth). I would think that they have their hands full squashing bugs to meet that challenge. In any case it's still a step forwards.

I think the integration between PPro CS3 and Soundbooth is going to be key. Just as SONY's Vegas 7 and Cinescore work hand in hand, this Adobe 1-2 punch is going to make my work more enjoyable. Let's hope they integrate XDCAM support with SONY's announcement of the XDCAM EX series.

I can certainly see why you feel that the upgrade is worth getting.

However for me:
1. Premiere is the only professional video editing program that does not support XDCAM HD. The plug-in that supposedly adds that support is $500 and it does not work (tested).
2. OnLocation will be next to completely useless.
3. Discontinuation of multitrack Audition and instead giving out a cheaper Soundbooth is a major disappointment for people who work with audio.
4. There is no mention of better integration with AE, and frankly, unless they can make Dynamic Link more "dynamic", it's more of a hindrance than of help:
4a. When I update only one of the compositions in AE, I want Premiere to retain the rendered files of all the ones that are updated. So far - no luck. Every single switch to After Effects (even without any changes!) forces me to rerender stuff.
4b. I miss "send to AE" option after selecting a clip or a series of clips. That said, I miss the possibility to send to audition the whole track as a separate project, or even to send 2 or 3 clips without actually rendering them. That's what I'd call dynamic.
5. Time warp has been already present in AE, and it has been present in every other professional editor except Premiere for some time.
6. I could use more "professional" color correction tools, like masks, vignettes, and above all - dynamic styles.

Don't get me wrong - I've been a fan of Premiere, and I used it extensively. It is one of the most flexible editing programs that I worked with. But I hoped for much more, than I'd be getting with Premiere CS3. And unfortunately Apple has delivered, what I've been expecting Adobe to do. So...

Deke, CS3 will allow you to open multiple instances of the project window, each of which you can display by list or thumbnail and do drag-n-drop rearrangement of the clips, as well as smart searches.

A couple other general comments:
- I haven't heard one way or the other specifically on XDCAM, but at NAB Adobe was stating CS3 as being "format agnostic." Unless someone has found a source document stating XDCAM won't be supported in the final version, it is an open question.
- FUD not fact: "OnLocation will be next to completely useless."
- Audition is NOT being discontinued; it will continue to be sold separately for those who are focused primarily on audio production. Soundbooth will contain a rich toolset for the videographer, including new music creation features. Many of the big tools carried over from Audition will also now be alot easier to use. Like Bart, I was initially concerned that Soundbooth might be "dumbed down." After seeing it at NAB, I'm more than satisfied with the feature set and excited to have some of the new features.
- For those things that we don't like, that don't work as well as we think they should, or for new feature requests, make sure to let Adobe about your good ideas:
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/...?name=wishform

For me, as I use it only for post, not for shooting. Sorry for not being clear enough in my post. OnLocation may be the very reason some people will upgrade, but for others like me it is not.

I'm certain it has a lot of new interesting features. However from what I've seen the things that were most pressing for me - dealing with workflow between Premiere and Audition - have not been solved.

I've been doing it for quite some time, alas to little avail.

I really haven't worked with CS3 enough to discover all its features. However, I have a "borderline" machine and was apparently having memory handling problems with PP2 and couldn't easily use Cineform.

I downloaded and installed CS3, copied the Cineform folders, and no more memory crashes. I also copied the DebugMode file to Plug-Ins and am nicely frameserving CFHD in YUV to Tmpgenc Express for downsizing (Lancosz3) and compressing files for Encore. Very nice DVD's

I'll keep playing with CS3, but already it has solved a big problem for me. Maybe when it's actually released I'll be able to simplify my workflow. That'd be nice.