By Nate Caplin, April 4, 2005
On the heels of Popwire's Compression Master 3.0 (Reviews, Apr. '05 DV), the first Mac-based encoding app to output Windows Media 9 (WM9) files, Telestream (www.telestream.net) has introduced Flip4Mac WMV Export Component, a novel QuickTime plug-in that enables most QuickTime-based Mac programs, even stalwarts such as Cleaner 6, to export WM9 files.
Flip4Mac WMV Export Component comes in two versions: Standard ($99) and Pro/HD ($179). Standard supports one-pass WM9 video encoding (constant or variable bitrate) and stereo audio at up to 48 kHz. Pro/HD adds two-pass encoding, as well as HD video resolutions and WM9 Audio Professional, which handles up to 5.1 channels of 24-bit, 96 kHz resolution audio. Even for users who don't need HD or WM9 Audio Professional, the improved video quality from two-pass encoding justifies the upgrade to Pro/HD.
Neither version supports multibitrate (MBR). Telestream says this feature will be part of a future release.
 | | Flip4Mac WMV Export Component works with current Mac applications that export to QuickTime, including Cleaner 6. The Pro version adds two-pass encoding modes, HD output, and WM9 Audio Professional. |
Perhaps most appealing about Flip4Mac is that it simplifies the compression workflow for users of Cleaner 6, which works with Flip4Mac now, and Squeeze 4.1, which adds support for Flip4Mac and even bundles a trial version (due by the time you read this). With Flip4Mac installed, it's now possible to batch-encode videos into the newest QuickTime, Windows Media, Real, MPEG, and Flash formats, all on the same Mac without the hassle of copying unwieldy source files to a PC.
What's more, source files that can't be read on a Windows PC, such as DVCPRO HD QuickTime files from Final Cut Pro HD, no longer need conversion to move them to another platform just to produce WM9 versions.
With Flip4Mac installed, a second Windows Media entry appears under Cleaner's Output tab. The first Windows Media entry refers to Cleaner's built-in WM7 support, while the entry farther down the list is for Flip4Mac's Windows Media exporter. Fortunately, Flip4Mac's FAQ points this out.
Once the second Windows Media entry is selected, only Cleaner's Image, Adjust, and Audio tabs remain to tweak Cleaner-specific filter options.
All Windows Media settings are available through Flip4Mac's modal dialog box, which can be accessed from the Output tab by checking Options, then clicking the Set button.
Flip4Mac's dialog box is well organized with tabs for Video, Audio, Content (metadata), and License (for registering or upgrading Flip4Mac). Pull-down menus offer a selection of Windows Media audio and video codecs, and with the Pro version, there are choices presented for all of the different encoding methods, from one-pass CBR (constant bitrate) to two-pass VBR.
Once you're finished adjusting settings, the encoding process works as usual. Cleaner's statistics tab makes it easy to compare performance with a Windows PC doing the same job. Cleaner 6 with Flip4Mac on my 1.5 GHz PowerBook G4 took 40 percent longer to encode a 10-minute video than Cleaner 5 on my 1.7 GHz Pentium-M laptop.
The Mac took 19 minutes to encode each minute of source video, and the PC took 14 minutes. Both used identical filter and encoding parameters.
This was better than I expected, and the slower performance on the Mac is a small sacrifice for the convenience of encoding all output formats on my production platform of choice. A dual-processor G5 would easily outrun my PC, and it's much easier to justify a new Mac for its other uses than a faster PC only to encode occasional WM9 files.
Windows Media 9 files I produced with Flip4Mac were visually and audibly indistinguishable from those produced with the same settings on a Windows PC, which is good news. They played normally in Windows Media Player on both platforms.
About the only minor problem I ran into was that the WMV files Flip4Mac produced did not have the correct Mac OS file type, so I couldn't just double-click to open them in Windows Media Player. But once opened in Windows Media Player via File>Open, their file associations updated automatically. This wouldn't affect opening the files on a PC or streaming online.
Flip4Mac works from QuickTime Player Pro or almost any Mac program that can export to QuickTime, including Final Cut Pro HD and Avid's NLEs. However, Flip4Mac offers no video or audio preprocessing, which makes it a more powerful tool when used with a dedicated compression program such as Cleaner or Squeeze.
To access Flip4Mac from QuickTime Player Pro or other QuickTime-compatible software, you must take the somewhat counterintuitive step of exporting a QuickTime file and selecting Movie to Windows Media from the Export menu. Clicking the Options button brings up the Flip4Mac dialog box to specify encoding parameters. Make sure your filename extensions are .wmv or .wma, not .mov.
Flip4Mac's user guide is refreshingly short. It covers basic installation and Flip4Mac dialog box settings, but it doesn't explain how to access Flip4Mac from Cleaner or offer advice to novices about how to take advantage of the various CBR and VBR encoding modes.
Support is available only from a community forum on the Flip4Mac Web site, which is monitored by Telestream staff. Telephone support would be welcome, but the easy-to-navigate forum has been populated with up-to-date FAQs.
Rarely does a product so simple and so powerful come out and elegantly solve such a pressing need for Mac-based compressionists. Flip4Mac does just that, and it's all the more sweet that it plays so well with the existing version of Cleaner for Mac, the new version of Squeeze, and even video editing apps from Apple and Avid. Flip4Mac will save Mac users the considerable expense and hassle of using different systems to produce QuickTime and Windows Media output. For the price, it's a bargain and a must-have product. Thanks to Flip4Mac, the Mac is once again a viable platform to perform virtually all of your video compression tasks.
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