Is it really worth upgrading to CS6?

[Tom Daigon]

Im sure glad I did. I love the following in CS6 – (I use most of the software…)

redesigned, efficient, customizable user interface

dynamic trimming, including trimming with JKL and other keyboard shortcuts

adjustment layers

Warp Stabilizer effect

expanded multi-camera editing, with more multicam angles and improved interface

improved performance, extending GPU processing to some systems using OpenCL

new and more powerful audio features, including adaptive audio tracks, customizable audio channel mapping for output, and improved Audio Mixer panel

new native import of ARRI Alexa, RED Scarlet, RED Epic, and Canon Cinema EOS C300 footage

improved color features, including integration with SpeedGrade and redesigned Three-Way Color Corrector effect

improved workflows with other applications in Adobe Creative Suite, as well as with Final Cut Pro and Avid software

faster Adobe Media Encoder, redesigned to make authoring for multiple outputs and mobile devices easier

enhanced Adobe Encore for creation of DVDs, Blu-ray Discs, and web DVDs

Adobe Transmit and Kona 3 performance

If thats not enough then I guess you should stay with 5.5 😀

Tom Daigon
PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRIg6h-LIm0
HP Z820 Dual 2687
64GB ram
Dulce DQg2 16TB raid

[John Mayer]

I’ll wait a little if I were you. It a crash fest since my upgrade. Unless you are interested in the new features badly, you have to be prepared to spam ctrl+s keys.

[Tom Daigon]

Jon, sounds like you have some system problems.

Ive been using CS6 since its release and havent had any of the kind of problems you are experiencing.

Thats both on the Mac and PC.

Tom Daigon
PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRIg6h-LIm0
HP Z820 Dual 2687
64GB ram
Dulce DQg2 16TB raid

[John Mayer]

My system is fine, I never had problems with CS4 nor CS5 until I upgrade to CS6, and this is tried on two different computers. Adobe support was just clueless about my problems, put all the updates and still have random crashes or weird behaviors. And I don’t even make a full use of it. I just can’t recommend it to anyone right now, me and my coworker have the same problems.

[Chris Tompkins]

I find CS6 to be well worth it and a huge improvement for the Mac side anyways.

Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC

[Walter Soyka]

[Perry Cheng] ” I am very disappointed with the features, no real significant added features, feel more like a .x update. “

The feel of the application is vastly, vastly improved. I’d suggest you download the 30-day trial and give it a spin. I believe that once you use it, you’ll change your mind on the scope of the update.

Tom gave you a nice list of new features. There are two features I’d add.

The first is hover scrub. If you drag the mouse cursor (without clicking) over movie icons in the project panel, you can skims through the media right in the icon itself.

The second is a biggie — uninterrupted playback. You can now do other things like tweak effect parameters while program playback continues live.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Joseph W. bourke]

Hi Walter –

I have been requesting that feature since my days working with Combustion. It was always there in Combustion – you could start a RAM preview, then change settings, and the RAM preview would update and continue playing. That’s worth the price of admission alone.

Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com

[Chris Borjis]

I’ve been waiting for CS 6 since the day it was announced.

It has delivered in nearly every way I wanted it to.

What a lot of folks don’t realize is that it does require a pretty
fast system with a supported CUDA/OpenCL card and RAID storage
to ensure smooth consistent playback.

It might not look much different, but under the hood its a
wholly new and improved experience.

I’ve not once yet had any random crashes that shut premiere down like I had with CS 5.5
(running mac version on 10.6.8 with black magic hardware)

My only gripe is that unrendered playback has synch issues, but
that can be expected I suppose when you have 5 layers of camera native HD footage and graphics.

Rendered it plays back perfectly.

I’ve been using it daily since it came out and it’s never caused any problems
that didn’t allow me to get a job done on time. Even with clients in the room.

[Perry Cheng]

Thanks folks. I think I should take Walter’s advice to trial it. Really, I am just an video edit enthusiast, therefore, no need for the fancy stuff. I don’t use MAC, so, no need for the improvement in that regard… so, what features attract an average user, not the professionals?

redesigned, efficient, customizable user interface
>> nice, but not entirely have to be for me, cause the interface in CS5 is pretty good already.

dynamic trimming, including trimming with JKL and other keyboard shortcuts
>> improve efficiency but I don’t see how I would need that. Good to have.

adjustment layers
>> yes, sounds very useful. Like PS.

Warp Stabilizer effect
>> The only attraction. But, like I said before, Mecalli is better, right? This feature basically is just take from AE plugin to make it PPro plugin.

expanded multi-camera editing, with more multicam angles and improved interface
>> Useless for non-professional.

improved performance, extending GPU processing to some systems using OpenCL
>> Nice, but another toy.

new and more powerful audio features, including adaptive audio tracks, customizable audio channel mapping for output, and improved Audio Mixer panel
>> For professionals

new native import of ARRI Alexa, RED Scarlet, RED Epic, and Canon Cinema EOS C300 footage
>> For pros

improved color features, including integration with SpeedGrade and redesigned Three-Way Color Corrector effect
>> For pros.

improved workflows with other applications in Adobe Creative Suite, as well as with Final Cut Pro and Avid software
>> For pros.

faster Adobe Media Encoder, redesigned to make authoring for multiple outputs and mobile devices easier
>> minor improvements.

enhanced Adobe Encore for creation of DVDs, Blu-ray Discs, and web DVDs
>> an minor improvement.

Adobe Transmit and Kona 3 performance
>> no idea what these are for.

Overall, it is not worth my upgrade. When you compare CS4 to CS5 PPro, there is a lot of great new features (Cuda support, customizeable workspace, fast color corrector, Ultra)while CS5 to CS6, just basically improvements. How are improvements worth the upgrade? Photoshop CS5 has the content aware vs there is no such feature before is what worth an upgrade. An minor improvement on content aware by allowing you to choose where to sample from is not worthy of the upgrade. Well, may be it is just me. I am happy with CS5 so far. Thanks for your feedback though.

Perry

[Alex Udell]

“dynamic trimming, including trimming with JKL and other keyboard shortcuts
>> improve efficiency but I don’t see how I would need that. Good to have.”

This IS the core of what editing is.

good luck with the trial.

Alex