What’s New with Premiere Pro (14.6)
A new version of Premiere Pro is finally here!
With the changes coming into the winter season a new version of Premiere Pro has finally released for the month of November. While there are no new QOL improvements from version 14.5 (read fixed issues here)there are 2 new features that I am really excited to talk about; let’s get into it!
“Quick Export”
While I never really had a problem with exporting rough/fine cuts via Media Encoder, it seems that there has been enough demand from editors to warrant a quick export feature baked right into the Premiere workflow. I’d say that this is welcome addition even if it’s something that I wont use personally. To use this feature one simply has to glance over at the header bar where workspaces are usually placed. There you will find an icon that looks like this:
From here, you are given the option to export your currently selected timeline either by matching the timeline’s settings or from a small list of H.264 presets. This includes a 4K version, 1080p, 720p, and even a 480p option. After setting a file name and location, just click away and you’ll be good to go. Again, I think the lack of features here makes it something that I won’t want to personally use since I am not in control of the bit rate or codec options, but I think that this simple feature has it’s justifications. For one, this might be Adobe’s answer to other NLEs that offer simplified exporting options for users that are not as well versed in editing software or containers/codecs. Some that come to mind are iMovie and Microsoft’s photo app. Another reason why this quick exporting option exists is to possibly help send over preliminary edits around the studio to get some notes in.
DNxHR 444 12-bit encode and decode
DNxHR. Digital Nonlinear Extensible High Resolution. This is a codec that was introduced by AVID in order to deliver upon it’s commitment to the Film & TV industry. This codec, which was first implemented in their software in 2014, is only 1 of 2 codecs that currently support the need for HDR imagery. (If you haven’t already please read my piece on the Davinci Resolve 17 beta which talks about HDR as well). HDR, being a requirement for modern TVs and cinema, is going to be the standard for HD and 4K projects moving forward. It’s nice to know that the codec is widely accepted and used by major NLEs like Media Composer and Resolve, this is just Premiere’s way of including 12-bit support in order to meet the standards of cinema delivery.
Additionally, adding 12-bit support comes at the cost of removing 10-bit support. DNxHR 10-bit was causing issues with workflows involving Resolve or AVID; often importing media from these software packages caused Premiere to read them as audio-only as opposed to including both video and audio. Don’t expect to create any projects in 10-bit anymore and get ready to start working in 12-bit!
And that’s a wrap! These are some nice features even if they are very minor and probably won’t affect our actual workflows all that much. It’s nice to see Adobe looking out for the first time editors as well as the working professionals. I can only imagine where the Creative Cloud is heading into 2021; it seems to me that Premiere is carving out it’s path in the digital media space really well, but cannot find itself in too many Hollywood studios at the moment. Don’t get me wrong it does happen from time to time, but not nearly on the scale as Media Composer has for the past couple of decades.
Happy editing!