As I alluded to here, I’m in the middle of a really big HDCam SR job right now. Lots and Lots of data. Part of the job involves batch format conversions. The kind of stuff I usually do with Cleaner, Compressor, or even Batch Export in FCP. For a number of reasons, each of these stepped up to the plate and wiffed. Limitations in cropping, some quality issues, some conversion time issues, etc.. I don’t want to be too critical or specific about my problems with each program because each of these products is great in its own way with individual strengths and weaknesses and our issues were pretty job specific.
What I do want to do however is rave about a great little freeware app from Squared 5 called MPEG Streamclip. When we started to have issues with our usual suite of software we looked around for some alternatives and ended up here. I must admit I was skeptical that it’d really be able to help us on a job of this scope. I’d played with earlier versions of this software when I was doing some HDV conversion and thought it was a pretty cool little utility, but the latest version is really fast, has really stunning quality options, does batch processing, is available in Mac and Windows versions and is free. Really nice work and it looks like the developer is adding features and tweaking the interface at a nice clip.
I’ve crashed a couple of times during heavy batches and it’s a little bit of a concern putting complete faith in a product where the support path is unclear, but download the app and see if it meets your needs. Looks like it’s going to really help in a pinch.
MPEG Streamclip, a great little free utility for batch format conversions
July 10, 2006 at 5:00 pm · Filed under Commentary, Utilities
As I alluded to here, I’m in the middle of a really big HDCam SR job right now. Lots and Lots of data. Part of the job involves batch format conversions. The kind of stuff I usually do with Cleaner, Compressor, or even Batch Export in FCP. For a number of reasons, each of these stepped up to the plate and wiffed. Limitations in cropping, some quality issues, some conversion time issues, etc.. I don’t want to be too critical or specific about my problems with each program because each of these products is great in its own way with individual strengths and weaknesses and our issues were pretty job specific.
What I do want to do however is rave about a great little freeware app from Squared 5 called MPEG Streamclip. When we started to have issues with our usual suite of software we looked around for some alternatives and ended up here. I must admit I was skeptical that it’d really be able to help us on a job of this scope. I’d played with earlier versions of this software when I was doing some HDV conversion and thought it was a pretty cool little utility, but the latest version is really fast, has really stunning quality options, does batch processing, is available in Mac and Windows versions and is free. Really nice work and it looks like the developer is adding features and tweaking the interface at a nice clip.
I’ve crashed a couple of times during heavy batches and it’s a little bit of a concern putting complete faith in a product where the support path is unclear, but download the app and see if it meets your needs. Looks like it’s going to really help in a pinch.
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