Thursday, May 4, 2006
Microsoft Releases Windows Media Encoder Studio Edition Beta
Posted by Jason Dunn in "NEWS" @ 08:37 AM
"Today at the National Association of Broadcasters convention, NAB2006, Microsoft Corp. announced availability this week of a new addition to the Windows Media® tools family, Windows Media Encoder Studio Edition. The beta encoder is a powerful tool for video professionals, optimized for the creation of high-quality offline encoding using Microsoft’s implementation of the VC-1 video standard (Windows Media Video). Windows Media Encoder Studio Edition beta provides the key features necessary to create next-generation video content and capitalize on the growing importance of optical media and video-on-demand scenarios. “With the final standardization of VC-1, Windows Media Encoder Studio Edition will prove to be an invaluable tool for the offline encoding community,” said Amir Majidimehr, corporate vice president of the Windows® Digital Media Division at Microsoft. “This is another example of how Microsoft is providing the end-to-end solutions for content creation and meeting the evolving demands of the professional video community.” Windows Media Encoder Studio Edition beta includes the following capabilities, each crucial to the creation of high-quality content..."
This news came out on the 24th of April, but I completely missed it until I fired up Outlook Express and was notified that there was a Microsoft newsgroup created for this new product. I have mixed feelings about this - on one hand, it's nice to see Microsoft continuing to invest in their codec platform. On the other hand, they've let the regular encoder languish in the dirt with bugs, missing features, and a UI that was designed back in 2000 or so. Microsoft seems to think that the only way people create WMV files is by using the export to WMV option included in most video editing applications. The problem is that most of those programs offer very little customization of settings. A perfect example is the Roxio Media Import tool - it's simple to use, and when combined with AnyDVD [affiliate] it's amazingly powerful. Yet the WMV export options are horrendously weak - no option to deinterlace the video, no custom bit rate or resolution settings, no option for a two-pass encode...the list goes on.
Using the Windows Media Encoder is the only way to get fine-tuned results, yet the encoder has languished for years without updates or much-needed features such as direct DVD or VOB file support, multiple file merge support, enhanced bundled codec support, or even stability (it crashes very often). It's typical Microsoft - they create something powerful and useful (and free!) then leave it to languish while they move on to something else. Internet Explorer anyone? Same pattern of behaviour.
This news came out on the 24th of April, but I completely missed it until I fired up Outlook Express and was notified that there was a Microsoft newsgroup created for this new product. I have mixed feelings about this - on one hand, it's nice to see Microsoft continuing to invest in their codec platform. On the other hand, they've let the regular encoder languish in the dirt with bugs, missing features, and a UI that was designed back in 2000 or so. Microsoft seems to think that the only way people create WMV files is by using the export to WMV option included in most video editing applications. The problem is that most of those programs offer very little customization of settings. A perfect example is the Roxio Media Import tool - it's simple to use, and when combined with AnyDVD [affiliate] it's amazingly powerful. Yet the WMV export options are horrendously weak - no option to deinterlace the video, no custom bit rate or resolution settings, no option for a two-pass encode...the list goes on.
Using the Windows Media Encoder is the only way to get fine-tuned results, yet the encoder has languished for years without updates or much-needed features such as direct DVD or VOB file support, multiple file merge support, enhanced bundled codec support, or even stability (it crashes very often). It's typical Microsoft - they create something powerful and useful (and free!) then leave it to languish while they move on to something else. Internet Explorer anyone? Same pattern of behaviour.
