Thinking ahead to next year

[Bryce Comer]

Hi all,
I have a question regarding just how good Sorenson Squeeze is. I use Liquid 7.2 for my editing & although i have not had bad results with the encoding for video on the web, i am wondering if Sorenson would be worth the money for this task. I have downloaded the trial version, but was not able to get any good results, & not even as good as from within Liquid. I have seen the quality of your video Per Johan & know that you too use Liquid 7.2 but do all your encoding with Sorenson, so i figure i must have been doing something wrong.
Any comments would be welcome.

Thanks,

Bryce

[Per Johan Naesje]

Bryce, sorry to hear about your problems.

Well, here is my workflow using Liquid 7.2 for editing and Sorenson Squeeze for web compression.

I shoot all my stuff in 1080/50i (interlaced) and edit on a HDV 1080/50i (1440x1080 16X9) timeline. I think Australia also use PAL, so this will be suitable for you to use too.
When done in the edit process I do a mark in and out and export the sequence to a Mpeg-2 file, where I choose HD 720p as the format, I leave the settings default which mean:
- Resolution 1280x720
- Interlacing Progressive
- Frame Rate 25
- Audio Fomat 48 kHz ...

Switch to Sorenson Squeeze.
Import the file, then choose Quick Time, then HD 480p, apply this setting, click the + sign and right click SV3 Pro, then choose Edit
In this window do the following:
- make sure the Maintain Aspect Ratio is on
- Set Frame Size to 428 W, you can pshycally write 428 in the field.
- check that codec is Sorenson Video 3 Pro
- check that method is Sorenson 2-pass VBR
- Data Rate set to 2500 kpbs
- Frame Rate 1:1
- Biderctional Frame Allow
- Min. quality unchecked
- Quick Compress unchecked
- Image Smooting checked
click OK and then Squeeze It

The compression will now take place, check the size of the compressed QT-file when finished, you have to check it with Windows Explorer. Normally a 3 min compressed file will be around 55-58 MB with the settings used.
If the file size exceed 60 MB, then lower the Data Rate by 500 or something like this and try again.

One note: I found that Liquid and Sorenson are not happy with each other! I always close Liquid before opening Sorenson. I don't know why but if I don't do this I got some issues when playing the compressed file in Sorenson! So keep this in mind!

Hope this will help you out.

[Bryce Comer]

Thanks very much Per,
So is that a definate yes i should buy it if i want better quality than what i get with Liquid? It's not that i'm having trouble with what i'm doing, more that i'm just after better quality.

Thanks,

Bryce

[Kevin Railsback]

Over at Digital Juice. http://www.digitaljuice.com/ They have Sorenson Squeeze 50% off for the first 250 people. So it's like $250 vs. $500

[Per Johan Naesje]

Bryce, If you have the amount of money I would definitive go for the Sorenson package.
I was struggeling a lot with the compression for good web quality and small files sizes with Liquid. After I got Sorensen it work like a charm, which my vidoes at my website fully confirm.

Of course there are tons of free or shareware package out there on the web, which maybe do a better job than Liquid does, I haven't tested any of those.
Others may chime in with suggestions here...?

[David Gemmell]

Hi Bryce,

From my experience, I have found the Sorenson Squeeze software to be very stable.

Just to add to Per's comments, I bought the training software when I purchased Sorenson Squeeze - which recommends MPEG 4 format, where your target platform is Quicktime. This is due to the Apple AVC being a better codec than Sorenson (in there opinion) - and Apple's codec is only supported in MPEG 4 (played through Q7).

Following the samples shown in the training DVD's, I find that I end up with a 20 - 25mb mpeg4 file where I use a data rate of around 1,000 bps. The quality doesn't seem to improve much visually when I use a higher data rate (in my experience).

I think Per's work speaks for itself in terms of the value of this software however, it is expensive. Kevin's comments about the special deal sounds promising?

Hope it all works out for you.

[Bryce Comer]

Thanks all for the feedback,
I will have a look at the DJ site & might have to go for this deal!

Bryce.

P.S. Just started editing my night time footage! Off to BrisVegas tomorrow, so i had better get moving!

[Bryce Comer]

Thanks Kevin for the tip,
i did actually recieve an email from DJ about this offer, but they are so often so hard to refuse, it can cost a fortune to recieve these email notifications about their great offers, that i often close the email shortly after opening it, in the hope that i will forget about it until it's gone! :) This was one of those offers that i ended up opening the email for again, and ofcourse that is exactly what a Visa card is for right?
Per, Thanks for your tips on how to compress my video for the web with Sorenson Squeeze, it worked well, & i can definately see the difference in the quality for such a small file.
David, i will give the MPEG-4 compression a go in the coming weeks, who knows, by the time the next challenge comes around, maybe i'll have a good handle on this great software, & will be able to consistantly produce a good looking file. Of course, first i will need to get some good footage onto my timeline!!:)

Thanks again to yo all for your help,

Bryce