The new Adobe CS5.5 Production Premium portion of Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 update (see earlier post) steps the core production tools to new 5.5 versions, including Premiere Pro, After Effects, Media Encoder, Device Central, Flash Professional, and Flash Catalyst.
CS5.5 also adds the full Adobe Audition audio editor into the suite, replacing the simpler Soundbooth tool from CS5. Audition provides deep support for multi-track recording, nondestructive editing, and mixing, plus audio restoration and effects. The new Audition now is native on Mac and Windows, with a rebuilt multi-threaded playback engine to import and edit and apply effects in parallel.
The improvements in CS5.5 Production Premium extend themes that we have seen developing in previous versions of the Creative Suite, including straightforward workflow editing directly in native file formats, 64-bit performance with more GPU-accelerated effects for powerful editing even on a laptop system, integration across Adobe applications and with other products, and delivery beyond conventional computer and Web formats to smartphones, portable devices, and Internet-enabled televisions.
So what does the new CS5.5 Production Premium tell us about Adobe's ambitions and the state of video editing?
Part of this is a continuation of trends across previous Creative Suite releases -- smoother workflow in response to customer feedback, focus on cross-platform performance (Mac / PC and workstation / laptop), interoperability within the suite, and open formats to work with other products.
There's also a strong push by Adobe further into the broadcast and film markets, with end-to-end metadata starting with scriptwriting, RED camera support, and rapid editing and multi-format delivery in news broadcasting.
But at the same time CS5.5 expands options for independents, with fully-accelerated editing on laptops, native support for DSLR video cameras, and Audition now on the Mac with deep audio correction and enhancement tools.
And don't forget the subscription access to any or all of the suite of CS tools, available when needed, or just to experiment.
See my full article for Videomaker magazine: Adobe CS5.5 Production Premium Advanced Editing Software
See my article, Summary: Adobe Creative Suite 5.5, for a breakdown of the tools and suites, and highlights of what's new with the CS5.5 applications.
See my Video Editing Software Gallery for more on consumer and professional video tools.
Find Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5, CS5.5 Production Premium, and CS5.5 Master Collection on Amazon.com.