Media Cleaner Pro 4.0 Windows

Rating:
Summary: Media Cleaner Pro tackles any project at any skill level
Review: When most people think of compression, they may think of programs like WinZip, which compress data files or MP3 technology, which compresses audio. However, there is much less talk about video compression which makes it possible for entire movies to fit on one CD or a user on a 28.8 modem to watch live video over the internet.

Many recent advances in video compression technology have made the field potentially quite confusing for the average user. Anyone trying to tackle the issue for the first time will have an endless supply of questions. What type of video compression should you use form home movies? What about distributing movies over the Internet? What video compression standard is best for a particular type of movie?

If you don't feel like spending weeks reading video compression primers and boning up on the latest codec developments, Media Cleaner Pro 4.0 provides a mind-numbingly easy way to compress any video file to make it instantly ready for any publishing medium. With Media Cleaner, it's as easy as drag-and-dropping a file into the program, selecting your compression options, and clicking on the "Start" button.

If you don't feel comfortable editing the compression options yourself, you have two paths to a completed video file. The first and quickest option is to pick from a list of several dozen pre-assembled settings that specify format and download speed such as "ASF Broadband" or "Quicktime 28.8 Modem."

The second option, which gives you more control but still doesn't require you to even know the meaning of the word "Codec," is the Settings Wizard. The options available inside the wizard are truly astounding. Using the same simple interface, you can create a video file that is suitable for being downloaded off of the internet by users on a standard 33.6 modem, Video-CDs, DVD videos, or even a video that can instantly be transferred to a high-tech digital video camcorder.

The Wizard asks you for details on the destination media, download speed, client computer speed, file format, video size, audio quality, fading options, and so much more. It's obvious that all of the wizard's options have been tailored so that an advanced user can easily identify a specific option by its name, but a novice user can acquire an instant understanding of that particular option's features and repercussions by reading the carefully crafted and concise descriptions of each and every setting.

Whatever method you choose to set the compression options, the fact still remains that you may not realize what the end-user will experience when they try and view the movie you're creating. That is precisely why Media Cleaner Pro has provide the Dynamic Preview option which provides you with a split-screen video window with your uncompressed video on one side and the compressed video using all of your chosen settings on the other side. The ability to immediately resize and swap the compressed and uncompressed sides alone make this software a must-have for anyone trying to balance file size and video quality.

One of the other great features of Media Cleaner Pro is its incredible scalability. It naturally performs batch operations, and doesn't tie the number of input files to the number of output files. It is a fairly trivial task to create ten different output files with varying compression settings from one input file, as well as to batch process up to 2000 separate files, each with its own compression setting.

One of the only downsides to this application is its tendency to report warnings after you finish compressing a particular video clip, rather than before. For instance, if you had compressed a file to ASF format that contained no audio track, you would receive an error stating that the ASF format requires an audio track after the program had finished rendering and compressing all the video data inside the file.

Even considering the minor error reporting flaws, the bottom line remains that Media Cleaner Pro 4.0 provides an almost unbeatable suite of features for any video publishing need. It transcends limitations by offering the user almost infinite control over quantity, quality, and precision. The beauty of the application is that it is designed for both the expert and the novice user at the same time, while never making the novice user feel overwhelmed nor making the advanced user feel babied.

No matter what your video publishing need, it is almost guaranteed that Media Cleaner Pro will be the application of choice for compression, resizing, and minor editing, irrelevant of your target audience or technical expertise. In this reviewer's humble opinion, Media Cleaner Pro should be the final step in any video-editing project, and a sound investment for anyone considering video publishing or editing as a hobby or career.

Rating:
Summary: Media Cleaner Pro tackles any project at any skill level
Review: When most people think of compression, they may think of programs like WinZip, which compress data files or MP3 technology, which compresses audio. However, there is much less talk about video compression which makes it possible for entire movies to fit on one CD or a user on a 28.8 modem to watch live video over the internet.

Many recent advances in video compression technology have made the field potentially quite confusing for the average user. Anyone trying to tackle the issue for the first time will have an endless supply of questions. What type of video compression should you use form home movies? What about distributing movies over the Internet? What video compression standard is best for a particular type of movie?

If you don't feel like spending weeks reading video compression primers and boning up on the latest codec developments, Media Cleaner Pro 4.0 provides a mind-numbingly easy way to compress any video file to make it instantly ready for any publishing medium. With Media Cleaner, it's as easy as drag-and-dropping a file into the program, selecting your compression options, and clicking on the "Start" button.

If you don't feel comfortable editing the compression options yourself, you have two paths to a completed video file. The first and quickest option is to pick from a list of several dozen pre-assembled settings that specify format and download speed such as "ASF Broadband" or "Quicktime 28.8 Modem."

The second option, which gives you more control but still doesn't require you to even know the meaning of the word "Codec," is the Settings Wizard. The options available inside the wizard are truly astounding. Using the same simple interface, you can create a video file that is suitable for being downloaded off of the internet by users on a standard 33.6 modem, Video-CDs, DVD videos, or even a video that can instantly be transferred to a high-tech digital video camcorder.

The Wizard asks you for details on the destination media, download speed, client computer speed, file format, video size, audio quality, fading options, and so much more. It's obvious that all of the wizard's options have been tailored so that an advanced user can easily identify a specific option by its name, but a novice user can acquire an instant understanding of that particular option's features and repercussions by reading the carefully crafted and concise descriptions of each and every setting.

Whatever method you choose to set the compression options, the fact still remains that you may not realize what the end-user will experience when they try and view the movie you're creating. That is precisely why Media Cleaner Pro has provide the Dynamic Preview option which provides you with a split-screen video window with your uncompressed video on one side and the compressed video using all of your chosen settings on the other side. The ability to immediately resize and swap the compressed and uncompressed sides alone make this software a must-have for anyone trying to balance file size and video quality.

One of the other great features of Media Cleaner Pro is its incredible scalability. It naturally performs batch operations, and doesn't tie the number of input files to the number of output files. It is a fairly trivial task to create ten different output files with varying compression settings from one input file, as well as to batch process up to 2000 separate files, each with its own compression setting.

One of the only downsides to this application is its tendency to report warnings after you finish compressing a particular video clip, rather than before. For instance, if you had compressed a file to ASF format that contained no audio track, you would receive an error stating that the ASF format requires an audio track after the program had finished rendering and compressing all the video data inside the file.

Even considering the minor error reporting flaws, the bottom line remains that Media Cleaner Pro 4.0 provides an almost unbeatable suite of features for any video publishing need. It transcends limitations by offering the user almost infinite control over quantity, quality, and precision. The beauty of the application is that it is designed for both the expert and the novice user at the same time, while never making the novice user feel overwhelmed nor making the advanced user feel babied.

No matter what your video publishing need, it is almost guaranteed that Media Cleaner Pro will be the application of choice for compression, resizing, and minor editing, irrelevant of your target audience or technical expertise. In this reviewer's humble opinion, Media Cleaner Pro should be the final step in any video-editing project, and a sound investment for anyone considering video publishing or editing as a hobby or career.