Is Premiere Pro CS3 the right program for me?

Question

Is Premiere Pro CS3 the right program for me?
I am looking for a program that I can:
Import files that were recorded on a DVR (mp4 format)
Take two files placed next to each other on one screen and record a DVD
| | | |
| | | |
| image one | | image two |
| | | |
|______________| |_______________|
Also export the files to other file formats, AVi, MOV

Answer 1

Dave,
Premiere can do a PiP, Picture in Picture (basically, your PiP is one half of the frame), BUT your MP4 source is not the best to edit, especially with PP. If you had DV-AVI files, Captured in PP from a miniDV (tape) vid-cam, it would do a great job, but so would its little brother Premiere Elements, which wants the same source files as PP.
I have not used Womble, that Jeff recommends, but think that it has PiP. Ideally, you want to keep any re-compression down to a minimum, as you are already working with compressed MPEG files, and every additional re-compression WILL cause image degredation. Depending on the CODEC used to create your MP4 files, you have probably lost a lot of info already, and when you go to MPEG-2 (DV CODEC), for DVD, you'll loose even more. About the only way that I see you keeping any quality is if your MP4's are coded for Blu-Ray, and you can find a program with Smart Render, leaving them just as they are, allowing you to edit, then burning to a BD. Lot of "if's" in that.
I'd check out Womble and see if it can do PiP and if it works with MP4. If Jeff recommended it, it's very likely to do that. Juat expect a major quality hit, because you're already compressed the heck out of the image data once, and will have to do it again.
You could convert your MP4's to DV-AVI with a 3rd party program, Import them into PP, or PE, edit and then burn to DVD - with Encore in PP, or directly from PE. See above for comments on quality hit. It's those source files that are the problem. That format is meant for distribution/viewing and not for editing. The effect, however, is easy as can be. There are many tutorials on how to do it with variations, on the Web, but nearly all NLE programs want better source material to start, if any quality is to be maintained.
I'd also post on the Premiere Elements forum, as a lot of people there work with less than ideal source files, and might know of good free, or cheap, conversion programs to use. If you have the CODEC on your machine, DigitalMedia Converter can handle the conversion for you, and do it in batch. It's cheap at ~ US$45, and can batch process, but it cannot improve the quality, or get back the data lost in the first compression - nothing can.
If this is all you want to do, with the above comments on conversion first taken seriously, Premiere Elements will cost about US$100 and do it easily.
Sorry for the bad news,
Hunt