Sorenson Media (http://www.sorensonmedia.com) has released Sorenson Squeeze 6.5, which adds greater encoding, publishing, pre-processing and filtering functionality to theonline video encoding product. The Squeeze 6.5 update is free to current Sorenson Squeeze 6 users.

Among the new capabilities in Sorenson Squeeze 6.5, is the ability to decode the AVCHD (Advanced Video Coding High Definition) format. AVCHD records high-definition video to DVD, hard drives, or flash memory cards as .m2ts, .mts, or .m2t files and is the most common recording format for high definition video cameras at the prosumer and high-end consumer market.

Other benefits of Sorenson Squeeze 6.5 include three new filters: enhanced de-interlacing, image rotation and optimized color conversion. The new deinterlacing filter works automatically as a default setting to increase encoding quality and speed and is faster than any previous version of Sorenson Squeeze, says Randon Morford, director of product management for Sorenson Media. Image rotation improves video capture capability in mobile devices by converting portrait orientation to landscape, while encoding speed is further increased through optimized color conversion in Sorenson Squeeze 6.5.

New publishing capabilities have also been added. The software now has the ability to publish encoded video content directly to users’ Amazon Web Services S3 accounts. This capability brings significant benefits to enterprise users and small-to-medium companies who use the AWS cloud to manage and distribute their videos across the Internet, and builds on the software’s ability to publish to a variety of locations, such as the Sorenson 360 online video platform, YouTube or an FTP server, Morford says.

Sorenson Squeeze 6.5 and Sorenson Squeeze 6.5 for Flash are available immediately for download from the Sorenson Media web site. Sorenson Squeeze 6.5 is US$799; Sorenson Squeeze 6.5 for Flash is $499. Upgrades from version Squeeze 6 are free, while upgrades from previous versions of Sorenson Squeeze begin at $199. Each copy of Sorenson Squeeze 6.5 includes a complimentary one-year Sorenson 360 Review & Approval account, which includes 5GB of storage, 100 streams per month and a maximum video length of 30 minutes.