Sorenson Squeeze 4 Compression Suite

Squeeze 4 is the latest version of the successful video compression software from Sorenson, The idea behind the software is that it is a one stop compression suite. Before this product arrived, you were expected to use several different pieces of software to make QuickTime and Windows Media video files.

Nov 2004 - review by Darren Richardson Jens wrote a review on the previous version of Squeeze back in 2003 which goes into more detail on that side of things, what I would like to go through, are the new features in latest version.

The Interface
For a start you have a new looking interface with your input options on the top left and going down the left side you also have filters which are preset, you have the option to add new filters or edit current preset filters. Next is your Format and compression settings, again like the filters, you are able to add your own. I will come back to these as they are a major part of the whole application.



Below this is the new details window, I found this very useful, it will display short information / help when your hover over a panel or button.

To the right, you have the video view. In this area you are able to detach the view panel into a separate window which may suit some people; I personally like the interface as one. You have editing functions here too, like crop and zoom, and of course the playhead.

You can have multiple file type compressed at the same time, so set it off running, make a cup of tea, come back and hey presto - it's all done. They couldn't have made the interface easier to use, I give them a big thumbs up for that alone. It's a simple 4 step process to create a squeezed file.

New features
Sorenson AVC pro codec encode faster than windows media 9, this they say, is the codec of the future. Sorenson has new HD presets available for MPG1, MPG2, MPG-4, Window Media 9, RealMedia and QuickTime the also support AVC encoding which creates the industry leading formats. Squeeze 4 supports several new formats (listed at the end of this article)

I covered the basics and had a really good play with this application over the past day or so, and to be honest; it is fantastic. I reduced the size of a 88mb movie to a 1,6 Mb flash swf file, still with good looking video. Now that's what I call "a squeeze".

Supported output media formats:
• AAC
• AIFF
• DV
• DVD
• FLV 1.1
• HD for MP1, MP2, MP4, RealMedia, and Windows Media 9
- MOV
- MP3
- MPG (MP1 and MP2)
- MP4 AVC (H.264)
- RM
- SVCD
- SWF
- VCD
- WAV
- WMV
Supported Input Formats
- AAC
- AIF/AIFF
- ASF
- AVI
- DV
- MOV
- MP3
- MPEG-1
- MPEG-2
- MPEG-4
- WAV
- WMA
- WMV

Well in conclusion, go and buy it now if you see yourself doing video work in the future, and lets face it this is the way the web is moving anyhow, so jump on the wagon sooner than later. If you already have a older version, you should consider upgrading if somebody sends you MPEG files to be encoded. This feature alone is worth the upgrade.

http://www.sorensonmedia.com/

 

 

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