So you've shot and edited your video. Now what? There are just so may different ways that you'll want to deliver video these days -- over the Web, burned to disc, played toyour PC -- from high-res on a widescreen TV to low-res on a mobile phone.
Which means you'll need to understand how to best deliver your productions to your indented audiences, in the appropriate video file format, and compressed to fit the constraints of the different delivery mediums.
But, each video format can support a variety of compression algorithms, resolutions, data rates, and other attributes. And each delivery medium supports only some of these formats, with additional constraints for the compression settings. Yeesh, what a mess!
Today's video editing applications typically support exporting a production in most of these formats, and provide packaged presets to set the appropriate options for common delivery options.
But if you're finding yourself repeatedly exporting videos using a variety of formats, and need a more efficient way to package up compression options and then apply them as a batch to a group of files, then check out Sorenson Squeeze 5, the latest version of this convenient and powerful compression and encoding software, for both Windows and Macintosh.
Squeeze has a simple three-step interface, with deeper options: Import (or capture) one or more video clips, apply compression format presets, then press "Squeeze It" to export them. Even better, build a list of clips, apply enhancement filters, select and customize the output compression formats, and then sit back while Squeeze batch-processes the whole job.
Sorenson Squeeze version 5 was released in March 2008. It includes faster multi-file encoding, improved MPEG1-2 and H.264 codecs plus Microsoft VC-1 codec for Blu-ray, new video filters (watermark, hue and saturation, sharpen), improved audio with VST audio plugins, AC-3 compatible surround sound encoding, and new duration and volume filters.
Sorenson Squeeze 5 is available packaged or as a download for $499. Squeeze 5 Pro is $599 with the On2 VP6 Pro Encoder and Bias Soundoap plugins, plus the Complete Squeeze 5 Training DVD. Squeeze 5 Pro with the WMV Component for Mac is $779.
If you're creating Flash video for the Web, Squeeze 5 for Flash also is available for $119, and Squeeze 5 for Flash Pro is $299.
You can try out Sorenson Squeeze by downloading the trial version from the CyberLink website -- it's a 14-day free trial.
See my Video Editing Software Gallery for information and links to pro video editing tools.
Formats and Options ...
Squeeze organizes the compression presets by Workflow (delivery mediums) -- portable Devices (iPod / iPhone, Sony PSP, mobile phones), optical Disc (DVD, Blu-ray), PC Presentation (Keynote, Powerpoint), Set Top (Apple TV), and Web (download, streaming).
Or they can be sorted by common video formats -- Adobe Flash, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 (AVC / H.264), QuickTime, and Real Media, Windows Media Video.
And, of course, you can define your own favorites and custom presets, and export and share presets. Squeeze provides deep control of compression options, including Variable Bit Rate (VBR) compression, one-pass (faster) and two-pass (quality), and Adobe Flash with Spark and VP6 codecs and export to FLV and SWF files, linked or embedded.
While Squeeze is not a video editor, it does support basic trimming and cropping for clips, and provides helpful audio and video filters to enhance clips, including normalize, deinterlace, telecine, and noise reduction.
But the real power in Squeeze is in batch processing a group of clips into a variety of formats. You import a collection of clips, apply multiple presets to all of the clips in the job -- or customize the presets for each clip and each output format -- and then have Squeeze batch encode the entire job to convert your clips into the desired formats. You also can set up Squeeze to monitor a directory for new files to process. And it can publish the output files to a local directory, via FTP, to an application, or to a hosting site.