Sorenson Media (http://www.sorensonmedia.com) has
released Sorenson Squeeze 6, an update to the
ideo encoding software application. It's Mac and
Windows compatible.

According to the folks at Sorenson, Squeeze 6
provides the first total workflow solution for
video professionals, enabling customers to employ
innovative tools -- such as email and text
notifications and a secure review and approval
process -- that simplify the overall workflow and
allow them to more easily encode and publish
their video files on the Internet. Optimized
video codecs and new filters have also been
added, improving video quality and encoding
speed, they add.

Working in tandem with the Sorenson 360 Video
Delivery Network (Sorenson Media's re-imagined
online video publishing platform), Sorenson
Squeeze 6 includes a variety of new features
designed to make encoding and publishing videos
online easier:

° E-mail and text notifications. Sorenson Squeeze
6 can now send automatic notifications to
clients, colleagues, supervisors, friends or the
users themselves via e-mail and text message
(SMS) when encoding jobs are completed.

° Review and approval workflow. Video
professionals can now add their clients' and
supervisors' contact information to Sorenson
Squeeze, which will automatically send them
secure, password protected videos for review and
approval after encoding jobs are completed. This
automated workflow is accessible from desktop
computer web browsers as well as the iPhone,
enabling busy professionals to review and approve
content on the go. After viewing a video,
reviewer feedback and comments are immediately
sent back to the Squeeze user.

° Direct publishing and syndication. In addition
to publishing to the Sorenson 360 Video Delivery
Network, Sorenson Squeeze 6 users can upload
encoded files directly to popular social media
sites, such as YouTube and Twitter, as well as to
content delivery networks, including Akamai and
Limelight.

° An enhanced user interface. The Sorenson
Squeeze 6 interface has been re-designed to
simplify the video compression workflow and
provide access to the software's features,
including: encoding presets; high-quality audio
and video filters; DVD burning tools; and the new
review, approval and notification functions.

° A complimentary Sorenson 360 review and
approval account. Every purchase of Squeeze 6
includes a complimentary one-year Review &
Approval account to the Sorenson 360 Video
Delivery Network.

The folks at Sorenson say that Squeeze 6
surpasses previous versions of the software in
both speed and quality by incorporating and
optimizing the latest On2 VP6 and MainConcept
H.264 codecs. Internal benchmark tests have shown
Sorenson Squeeze 6 is up to 250% faster than
Sorenson Squeeze 5 when encoding in the H.264 and
VP6 formats, both of which are standard formats
included with every copy of Squeeze 6. New video
filters, including blur, RGB, tint, white balance
and timecode, have also been added.

Plus, new input and output formats have been
added to Sorenson Squeeze 6, including: AVC-Intra
and WMV with VC-1 for use in Blu-ray and
Microsoft Silverlight - New Output Formats: AVI,
AIFF, DV Stream, Image Sequence, Wave, and WMV
with VC-1. To coincide with the release of
Squeeze 6, Sorenson Media has also launched a new
Preset Exchange, an online repository of
professional "video encoding recipes" or presets.
Because the Preset Exchange is integrated with
Squeeze 6, users can import new presets into
Squeeze by clicking "Install" on the Preset
Exchange web site.

Along with previous integration with Avid's suite
of editing applications, Sorenson Squeeze 6 also
now works with Apple's Final Cut Pro and iMovie.
This process eliminates the need for exporting
and importing between applications and enables
users to tap into the Squeeze feature set
directly from their favorite editing software.

Sorenson Squeeze 6 and Sorenson Squeeze 6 for
Flash are available for electronic download or
for shipping in CD form. Sorenson Squeeze 6 is
US$799 and Sorenson Squeeze 6 for Flash is $499.
Upgrades from previous versions of Sorenson
Squeeze begin at $199. The complimentary one-year
Sorenson 360 Review & Approval account includes
5GB of storage, 100 streams per month and a
maximum video length of 30 minutes.