Telestream announced an important milestone for its Episode Series media encoding software products. Previously only offered on the Mac platform, version 5.1 extends Telestream's Episode and Episode Pro desktop encoding products to the Windows operating system. Version 5.1 also brings watch folders to Episode desktop products for both Mac and PC users. Episode provides universal transcoding between virtually any video and audio format, offering ultimate flexibility in a single software package."With the addition of Windows support and watch folders, Episode 5.1 is more accessible and useful than ever," observed digital video compression expert Nate Caplin. "Episode Pro's deep format support and comprehensive set of professional-grade filters make it an essential part of my video transcoding toolkit. Whether I need to convert files for post-production or produce files for the web and mobile devices, I've never met an encoding challenge I couldn't solve with Episode Pro."
Episode products provide a fast, flexible and future-proof solution for virtually any SD or HD compression need. Episode desktop products include extensive fine-tuning compression capabilities, batch encoding and many presets which enable users to quickly create extremely high-quality output files. Cross-platform support in Episode and Episode Pro 5.1 means that users and organizations no longer need to learn and support multiple encoding tools for different purposes. The addition of watch folders in version 5.1 saves time and effort by enabling users to simply drop finished projects into folders for automatic encoding.
"Episode Pro is the closest thing I've ever found to a universal anything-in, anything-out transcoder," adds Caplin. "But its power goes beyond simple conversion and compression. What really sets Episode apart is the ability it gives me to easily massage any video source into clean output by applying its extensive set of video and audio pre-processing filters. With Episode Pro, I feel like I'm in control of my video."
Episode Series provides scalability from standalone desktop media encoding applications for individual users to powerful, server-based encoding applications for larger organizations with higher volume needs. Known for speed, quality and ease of use, Episode products simplify content repurposing for distribution to the growing number of digital media channels such as Web, DVD, IPTV, mobile phones and portable devices.
Version 5.1 offers a number of powerful new features and enhancements. With extended MXF decode and encode support, Episode continues to expand support for broadcast workflows and playout servers such as Avid, Omneon and K2. Episode now offers more robust, intelligent monitoring of incoming media to further automate and fine tune file transfer into Episode Engine for encoding and delivery to specified destinations.
Telestream's Pipeline device allows for media ingest directly from SDI tape or live sources into Episode Engine. In version 5.1, users can simultaneously encode media into any format with Episode Engine while it is being ingested with Pipeline saving valuable time in critical workflows.
For Mac desktop users, version 5.1 adds enhanced functionality to the Apple Final Cut Compressor plug-in. In addition to encoding to any format, users can now adjust settings for Windows Media and Flash encoding including resize, deinterlace and frame rate.
Cross-platform Episode desktop encoders for Mac OS X and Windows are available in two versions. Episode imports virtually any file format, including broadcast and professional formats, and encodes media to all major Web, DVD authoring, mobile and portable device formats, including Flash 8/9, Windows Media, QuickTime, H.264, VC-1, 3GPP, MPEG-1/2/4 and more. Episode Pro includes all of the same features and formats plus encoding to high-end broadcast and professional formats such as GXF, MXF, H.264 High Profile, DVCPRO HD, mobile multi-bit rate and more.
Episode desktop products are now available for online purchase at http://www.telestream.net. Both the desktop and server products are also available from Telestream's worldwide network of resellers and distributors, as well as Apple online stores.
