Sorenson Media releases Squeeze 6

Video compression software developer evolves for the Web 2.0 era with Squeeze 6

When producing professional video, one of the most important elements consumers seem to forget about, is the long process of compressing and uploading videos to the Web.  It's tedious, time-consuming, and at times very complicated (getting the best settings and file formats for a particular publisher, etc.)

Sorenson Media, has for a while sold a video compression application called Squeeze, but with the launch of today's Version Six, has addressed many of the issues in producing video for the Web.

When new compression applications are released, one of the big questions potential users ask is, "how much faster is this product?"  Although Sorenson says the new version of Squeeze is up to five times faster than older versions at compressing video, when looking at the product as a whole, it's about significantly speeding up the entire video post-production work-flow.

Video producers for the most part are constantly sending drafts to their clients for review and approval.  Sorenson has touched on this step in the work-flow by integrating an innovative email and text message notification system.  Video producers can set their video to compress and when that job is done, the video will automatically upload to where the user sets it.  With Sorenson 6, users get one-year access to a Sorenson 360 account where they can upload and share videos.  Clients will receive either a text message or email, when that video gets online and can check it on the go, even on their iPhones.  Sorenson didn't feel the need to build an iPhone app since it optimized the reviewer portal for Apple's mobile version of Safari.  Once the client reviews the video, they can press a button saying whether they approve or disapprove the video and type in notes on why.

Sorenson 6 is really about automation.  One of the problems with video post-production is compression software like Apple's Compressor give video producers only an estimate of just how long a process will take, never really an exact time.  Video editors usually have to sit around and wait for videos to get processed due to strict deadlines.  Sorenson is providing an alternative to the wait by its adding automated upload and email/text message notification features.  So, go out for a sandwich, come back when Sorenson tells you your video is ready.  

By being connected to the Web, Sorenson 6 also can connect with social media sites.  Some of these include automatic uploads to YouTube and Twitter.  You just sign into your account through Sorenson and if you want to integrate these features, add them to your preset.  For example, I can have Sorenson post a Tweet on my account once a new video is uploaded.  It even shortens the link to fit in Twitter's 140 character limitation.

One of the other social media oriented features is Sorenson has also built a community around presets.  Users can upload and request presets on here giving Sorenson a user-generated edge.  With all the different devices now able to playback online video, this is definitely a great resource to have.  For example, Sorenson does not have a built in Blackberry phone preset, but if I check on its site, I can find one on there built by another user, or request one.

There's also a ton of video sharing/publication sites across the Web that aren't integrated into Sorenson but the company has made sure to leave this sort of an open end.  For example, there isn't an automated uploading to Vimeo feature, but Sorenson does have an automated upload to FTP feature.  According to Sorenson, users can set up Vimeo to work on Sorenson through FTP.  Sorenson said it would be adding more sites in the future.

All in all, this is a great example of a traditional software developer adjusting to this Web 2.0 era.  It's built a piece of software that takes advantage of many of the online capabilities these days, as laid out above, and made a product well-rounded, and actually worth purchasing.  Sorenson Squeeze 6 is selling for $799 or has an upgrade version which starts at $199.  It also comes with a limited Sorenson 360 account which lasts an entire year.  After that, users need to subscribe for a service which starts at $99 per month.  Sorenson said it definitely plans to drop these high monthly prices in the future but still needs to detail it out.

Either way, Peter Csathy, CEO of Sorenson said today has been the biggest day in the company's history with record sales of its new product.