I am about to upgrade from CS3 to CS5 probably before the end of the year. However, I just found out about the Sorenson Squeeze promo (where you can upgrade from any version of Squeeze to Squeeze 6.5 for $200.00) I am currently running Squeeze 4.5, so it will save me 400 bucks!
Question I have is whether squeeze is worthwhile in CS5, or if the encoding tools in CS5 Production Premium are good enough and fast enough to do the job properly? Anyone out there using both? Or have you decided not to, and why not?

Thanks,

Bill

Hi Bill,

I looked into external encoding programs to use alongside Premiere but none of them were worth using. For example, just to use Squeeze, you need to render a master from Premiere and then setup Squeeze to render. This requires an extra step; thus, it requires more of my time.

With AME's "Maximum Render Quality" checked, I have not seen any other encoding software match AME's quality and Premiere's CUDA speed. Prior to CS5, I had used TMPGEnc for maximum quality when needed, but there is no need anymore.

Furthermore, you can set up 'Watch Folders' in AME; so, you can render a master to a folder and then AME will automatically encode to whatever formats you have set for that folder. For example, render a Cineform master to Folder A, and AME will encode an iPad version, a Vimeo HD version and a DVD version. Or render to Folder B and only a Vimeo HD and a DVD version will be encoded.

Btw, nothing out there can match AME's MPEG2 encoding speed with a computer loaded up with ram.

Thanks, Steve. You confirmed what I was thinking, that at best, the Squeeze is redundant, but at worst it will cost me a couple hundred extra dollars, and take more time to get final output.

Bill

My copy of Squeeze has gathered dust since the upgrade to CS5. The AME is much better now, and I don't see any benefit to adding to the workflow. I mainly used it before for converting to FLV using the On2VP6 codec, but those days are long gone and MP4 (h.264 preset, not Quicktime) produces great web video for me.

My copy of Squeeze has gathered dust since the upgrade to CS5.

My experience exactly.
Squeeze used to be my prime web encoding tool- with CS5 it is now redundant.