Most people who watch
a television programme or a dvd production or a web
stream fail to appreciate the effort that goes into
the creation of a motion picture especially the
finishing touches of the project, we sit in our arm
chairs and leave it to the professionals to come up
with the standard that we are all accustomed too.
On the other hand what about those that enjoy
editing a video with their favourite video editing
application and at the end of the project just
click a button to export their work to their chosen
format or media, almost all users in this scenario
just hope that their project will complete
successfully with the desired results, and then
breath a sigh of relief when it has. However when
it comes to professionals, the step of conversions
and exporting is a far more detailed process that
requires time to analyse and tweak the file as
opposed to just clicking a button and accepting how
it is going to turn out.
In this article we are really looking at mac users who are professional video editors where producing the best video presentations is the only option. And to be quite honest when it comes to detailed customised encoding there are not many choice applications that can be used in the mac environment. Telestream Episode Pro is in our opinion the answer without doubt. Let us look at the reasons why TEP is so capable and beneficial.
In this article we will consider two main points
1/ It’s Ease Of Use
2/ It’s Features & Benefits
Introduction
Telestream Episode Pro is a product for the professional with a price to match, it is designed for users who work in the film and television sector or who work in other video productions and who are on a regular basis processing motion presentations for all types of businesses that use television, DVD, Mobile products, and the web. The capabilities of this application are immense and feature packed, you may think with this sort of description that this would look complicated, but Telestream have created an easy to use GUI for the pro user.
Let us now consider the following main points :
1/ EASE OF USE
The interface is easy to understand and it is split into two sections, the first section is for the desired format or media you would like to use and the second section is for processing as a singular or batch file, it also displays the individual settings for each type of format, which means that sometimes some formats may have more options available or some options not available to adjust. So whether you have video or audio you have complete control on how you want to display the finished conversion.
Along the format or media selection column you will notice that when you click on the desired folder you will see ready made templates that can be dragged into the batch processing area, this will automatically put the video clip that you have already selected into pending mode, by clicking the play icon at the bottom of the interface that pending job will begin its job of encoding.
One of the points I noticed is that the workspace is completely uncluttered, and the buttons and commands are clearly marked so that you can achieve high quality results in a reasonable time according to the format and customisations and length of the project. Also the help files are very clear as well as the fact that the online help is very good too. One of the provisions that assisted me in learning this application certainly to get reasonable results from the start was to watch a tutorial dvd that is presented by a notable expert “Nate Caplin” his teaching technique is very effective and beneficial to a new user, I certainly recommend obtaining a copy, from www.classondemand.com or http://www.flip4mac.com/episode_COD.htm this will set you off on the right foot.
To import your movie you will see at the top of the left hand side of the interface that there is a section called source bookmarks, the folder defaulted in this section is the movie folder on your mac hard-drive, this can be changed by clicking on the button and this will allow you to navigate round your hard-drive or any other destinations attached, once you have found the desired clip its a case of dragging this into the job batch area. Additionally you can also go to the finder and drag the file into the job batch area of the interface, it’s that simple.
2/ FEATURES & BENEFITS
Once a good working knowledge of this application has been achieved it’s a case of having a good eye and knowing what to look for in order to achieve the best quality possible.
Within this application all the important formats are there, pay a bit extra and you can have the flash formats added too, however one of the features and benefits that really standout in the interface, is once again on the left hand side just under “Source Bookmarks” this one is called “Compression Settings” selecting this will reveal a folder called “Templates” and then two sub folders appear “By Format” or “ By Workflow” and as you can see in the screenshots you can specify ready made templates for your conversion either by selecting the type of video or media file or by the device, media or system. These templates contain the settings preset for you if you do not want to spend time adjusting settings before encoding.
Another feature is the degree of control you can have over the file that is about to be encoded, you can bring up a preview window by clicking on the file that is pending, where you see the video tab there you will see a button at the bottom of the settings called preview, their you can see all your adjustments before proceeding further. You can position a line in the preview window and have the choice of seeing the edited version on one side and the source video original on the other, so as you make your adjustments you can see the effects as you adjust, whether it’s Black & White, Contrast, Hue And Saturation, Noise Reduction, plus many more customisations, all with a drag of a slider.
In this pro version the price of course is considerably different, because professionals need certain extras like surround sound 5.0, 5.1 & 7.1 audio as well as MXF, GXF, H264 high profile and MPEG 2 / 4 transport streams, and for an extra 100 dollar payment you get flash / flash video support too. So with this vast amount of choice for formats and quality control anyone can see the features and benefits of this amazing product.
The Final Word
Episode Pro is a powerful yet easy-to-use application with output to just about every major format on the market, with the exception of real media for the intel mac. The application is incredibly fast and stable to use.
Telestreams Episode Pro is something that every professional editor should have in his or her workflow.
In this article we are really looking at mac users who are professional video editors where producing the best video presentations is the only option. And to be quite honest when it comes to detailed customised encoding there are not many choice applications that can be used in the mac environment. Telestream Episode Pro is in our opinion the answer without doubt. Let us look at the reasons why TEP is so capable and beneficial.
In this article we will consider two main points
1/ It’s Ease Of Use
2/ It’s Features & Benefits
Introduction
Telestream Episode Pro is a product for the professional with a price to match, it is designed for users who work in the film and television sector or who work in other video productions and who are on a regular basis processing motion presentations for all types of businesses that use television, DVD, Mobile products, and the web. The capabilities of this application are immense and feature packed, you may think with this sort of description that this would look complicated, but Telestream have created an easy to use GUI for the pro user.
Let us now consider the following main points :
1/ EASE OF USE
The interface is easy to understand and it is split into two sections, the first section is for the desired format or media you would like to use and the second section is for processing as a singular or batch file, it also displays the individual settings for each type of format, which means that sometimes some formats may have more options available or some options not available to adjust. So whether you have video or audio you have complete control on how you want to display the finished conversion.
Along the format or media selection column you will notice that when you click on the desired folder you will see ready made templates that can be dragged into the batch processing area, this will automatically put the video clip that you have already selected into pending mode, by clicking the play icon at the bottom of the interface that pending job will begin its job of encoding.
One of the points I noticed is that the workspace is completely uncluttered, and the buttons and commands are clearly marked so that you can achieve high quality results in a reasonable time according to the format and customisations and length of the project. Also the help files are very clear as well as the fact that the online help is very good too. One of the provisions that assisted me in learning this application certainly to get reasonable results from the start was to watch a tutorial dvd that is presented by a notable expert “Nate Caplin” his teaching technique is very effective and beneficial to a new user, I certainly recommend obtaining a copy, from www.classondemand.com or http://www.flip4mac.com/episode_COD.htm this will set you off on the right foot.
To import your movie you will see at the top of the left hand side of the interface that there is a section called source bookmarks, the folder defaulted in this section is the movie folder on your mac hard-drive, this can be changed by clicking on the button and this will allow you to navigate round your hard-drive or any other destinations attached, once you have found the desired clip its a case of dragging this into the job batch area. Additionally you can also go to the finder and drag the file into the job batch area of the interface, it’s that simple.
2/ FEATURES & BENEFITS
Once a good working knowledge of this application has been achieved it’s a case of having a good eye and knowing what to look for in order to achieve the best quality possible.
Within this application all the important formats are there, pay a bit extra and you can have the flash formats added too, however one of the features and benefits that really standout in the interface, is once again on the left hand side just under “Source Bookmarks” this one is called “Compression Settings” selecting this will reveal a folder called “Templates” and then two sub folders appear “By Format” or “ By Workflow” and as you can see in the screenshots you can specify ready made templates for your conversion either by selecting the type of video or media file or by the device, media or system. These templates contain the settings preset for you if you do not want to spend time adjusting settings before encoding.
Another feature is the degree of control you can have over the file that is about to be encoded, you can bring up a preview window by clicking on the file that is pending, where you see the video tab there you will see a button at the bottom of the settings called preview, their you can see all your adjustments before proceeding further. You can position a line in the preview window and have the choice of seeing the edited version on one side and the source video original on the other, so as you make your adjustments you can see the effects as you adjust, whether it’s Black & White, Contrast, Hue And Saturation, Noise Reduction, plus many more customisations, all with a drag of a slider.
In this pro version the price of course is considerably different, because professionals need certain extras like surround sound 5.0, 5.1 & 7.1 audio as well as MXF, GXF, H264 high profile and MPEG 2 / 4 transport streams, and for an extra 100 dollar payment you get flash / flash video support too. So with this vast amount of choice for formats and quality control anyone can see the features and benefits of this amazing product.
The Final Word
Episode Pro is a powerful yet easy-to-use application with output to just about every major format on the market, with the exception of real media for the intel mac. The application is incredibly fast and stable to use.
Telestreams Episode Pro is something that every professional editor should have in his or her workflow.
