Sorenson Squeeze 7: What You Need to Know

Sorenson Squeeze is already known as one of the best—many would say the best—desktop encoders around. Now it's getting even better with version 7, which adds important speed and compatibility features. Get it and you can encode video faster and to more devices.

To help you understand what you're getting for your money, we put together this executive summary-style guide to the new features.

• GPU Acceleration
  With this version, Squeeze becomes the first desktop encoder to offer GPU acceleration, making it much faster than the previous version. Squeeze automatically recognizes whether the user's CPU or GPU will be faster, and goes with the better option. Sorenson's own tests show it's up to three times faster than Squeeze 6.

• Adaptive Bitrate Encoding
  Creating the many files needed in adaptive bitrate encoding is a chore, but Squeeze 7 takes care of it for you. In fact, it's no more difficult than dragging a preset. It will segment your files and upload them to your specified CDN (content delivery network). The software makes sure you get the highest quality at every bitrate you encode to.

• New Formats
  Users can now input videos in the Flash, Apple ProRes, and MPEG Transport Streams formats. More importantly, output formats now include WebM, MPEG Transport Streams with H.264 and Dolby AC3 for broadcasters, MPEG-2 elementary streams for Blu-ray authoring with H.264 and VC-1, DVB for cable and satellite television, and digital signage-specific formats.

• Adobe Premiere Plug-in
  Squeeze has finally discovered this little video editor called Adobe Premiere. Actually, it's closer to say that Premiere got popular enough that Sorenson needed to add support. Now Squeeze comes with a plug-in for Premiere that's compatible with Creative Suite 4 and Creative Suite 5. With the plug-in, exporting to Squeeze and choosing presets are now options from within Premiere.

Sorenson Squeeze 7 is available for $799 or an upgrade price of $299. For a limited time, Squeeze 6 users can upgrade for $199. Check here for other pricing options.

Troy Dreier's article first appeared on OnlineVideo.net