My Compression tools
Jim Geduldick
Tue, Nov 25, 2008
I get alot of questions and emails about what I use for Compressing to different formats for web,DVD,Blu-ray and just archiving so I thought I would make a little quick list of links and what I am using right now day to day .
Apple\’s Compressor 3 mainly because I have been using this compression software the longest and have so many presets and custom settings over the years I stick with it through the hard times of it not working and working just how it should. With all the presets and customizable options you have with this application alot of times it is more then enough to get the job done.(If it works for Apple’s HD trailers it can work for you )
Episode Pro Flip4Mac tools this is almost like a partner to Compressor and also being a great standalone compression software as well. Episode Pro comes with a plug in for creating WMV and Flash videos from Compressor or within Episode itself. This one happens to be now cross Platform for both Mac and PC which gives it a advantage in cross platform studios. I have found Episode to be a bit quicker on some mpeg encodes since the recent version 5 release.
Squared 5\’s Mpeg Streamclip best thing about this one is its FREE and does a good job of encoding and decoding lots of formats (even Divx). If you happen to be working remotely and get handed some wierd file formats that some other apps are having a hard time with I have had luck with this handy tool .
Handbrake another must have in your compression arsenal . If you get formatted DVD’s or use Video_TS /VOB from personal or archived material then you know how sometimes you need a tool that allows you to pull the data back into a format that is then editable by your NLE of choice. In this case Handbrake supports popular video formats like MPEG-4,H.264 VBR and Audio AAC,MP3 or AC-3.
ffmpegx Video/Audio encoder for Mac is yet another donation-ware application kind of like a mini swiss army knife for encoding DVD,Xvid,H.264,handheld devices and other video and audio formats. There are some step by step guides as some people get a little confused with the advanced settings in some of these tools.
Adobe Encore part of Premiere Pro (CS3/CS4) is currently my root for getting Blu-ray work done .The other lure of this application is the dynamic linking between the other Adobe applications and being able to make a Blu-ray experience then author that to a Flash compatible file for the web .
Roxio Toast 9 another handy tool for compression for disc , portable devices and your favorite media players. Also supporting Blu-ray authoring capabilities if you have a burner/player to test it one this is another cheaper way to go . Lots of HD support in this little powerhouse including the newer AVCHD format.
This one is actually hardware encoder mixed with a very easy to use software . You have an accelerated H.264 USB encoder that lets you spit out High Quality videos for youtube,iPhone,iTunes and iPods.
I am a bit biased towards this set because Nate has been working hard on these presets and I keep telling him to add more at the last minute. For anyone who uses Apple Compressor these over 300+ presets for Vimeo,PS3,HD HQ ,Blu-ray,web you name it we have brainstormed on the most used presets we knew professionals and other users of FCP Studio apps would need and want. This is about to drop very soon so keep your eye on the site.
I have given you my top list of tools and many of you may think it might be overkill to run all these apps but in todays ever growing list of new formats and authoring options it is better to be prepared then get caught trying to convert formats with the wrong tools .
I did not purposely leave out Visual Hub which is also a great tool now in the hand of the open source community but I still have my copy crunching away .(Just made a back of it to disc as well)
Alot of these are free and others have demos so try them out and see which works best for you workflow.
Enjoy
Tags: Adobe, Blu-Ray, compression
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