Adobe Premiere and editing of long movies...

[arminio]

I never edit feature - only short movies in Premiere Pro 2 (on Windows XP) and I had several problems with some 30 minute videos I edited. Mostly unexplainable occasional crashing of Premiere and sometimes saved project couldn't be opened later (!)

Now I am starting to edit one feature documentary which will be approx 80 minutes long. Can somebody tell me their experience with editing of long movies in Premiere and stability of Premiere Pro 2 while working with lots of long and short clips in timeline?
Do you edit long movies entire in one project? Do you use sequences (I noticed that Pro 2 crashes whebn you use lots of sequences - especially if you use one in another) or use multiple projects (divide video in small segments and edit in separately projects and later connect everything together)?

Also, is CS3 more stable?

[JohnnyMalaria]

Instability with Premiere is quite common. I used Premiere for many years (due to lack of viable alternatives) and never ceased to be amazed at Adobe's inability to get it right.

You should use the trial version of CS3 to see if it is more stable or not. You can only really tell by running it on your PC with your kinds of project.

[arminio]

Thanks. Is Premiere on Mac more stable?

[JohnnyMalaria]

I don't have any experience with that - sorry. If you have access to both a Mac and a PC, you can try the trial version on both to compare.

[Blue_MiSfit]

CS3 is significantly better in terms of speed and stability. It's a massive upgrade.

~MiSfit

[smok3]

honestly with my experience CS3 is actually downgrade, stability and speedwise...

[Mug Funky]

may be a late reply to this thread, but generally it's good practice to edit in less-than-20 min reels, and join the sequences together when you're ready to output/conform/online.

this is not just for premiere, but for everything. i'm sure avid can hack longer timelines, but there's so many programs and processes along the line that can't handle long stuff that it's worth doing.

also, 20 mins is the max length of a release print reel, as the cans are only so wide... so if you're going film out it's essential to work in reels. rather than one big sequence.

[arminio]

I am aware of this practice... Is it OK to have multiple sequences (dividec in 20 minutes "reels") in one project or I need to have new project for each sequence? What is more stable option for Premiere?