Google threw a potentially huge monkey wrench into the world of online video when they announced recently that they would no longer support H.264 in their Google Chrome web browser.

Just when the world seemed to be coming together around H.264, THIS has to show up!

Anyway, I invited Philip Hodgetts onto my weekly podcast – Digital Production Buzz – to discuss this whole issue.

I found his comments so helpful in understanding this issue that I want to share them with you here.

Click here to listen to the interview. (TRT: 8:42, MP3 file)

Click here to listen to the entire show.

Click here to signup for the weekly FREE Buzz Newsletter.

Thanks!

Larry

Sigh…

In my webinar yesterday on Automating Compressor, I provided a link to an open-source X.264 codec which can be used with Compressor.

The problem is I was linking to an older version.

The current version of the codec is 1.2.16 and you can find the file here:

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/24173/x264encoder

PLEASE read the instructions on the MacUpdate website, installing this codec can be a bit tricky.

Sorry for the error, I’ll correct this in the posted version of the webinar, which will be available tomorrow.

larry

Janet Swift, in PR over at Telestream, sent me a note this morning reminding me that last week, after two years of work, Telestream released the Windows version of Episode.

Janet wrote: “Episode now supports cross-platform environments, PC and Mac. Also Episode desktop now includes watch folders for both Mac and PC users – in addition to all its other great attributes: virtually any format in & out, extensive filters and fine-tuning, plus it’s fast and easy to use.”

“Episode products provide a fast, flexible and future-proof solution for virtually any SD or HD compression need. Episode desktop products include extensive fine-tuning compression capabilities, batch encoding and many presets which enable users to quickly create extremely high-quality output files. Cross-platform support in Episode and Episode Pro 5.1 means that users and organizations no longer need to learn and support multiple encoding tools for different purposes. The addition of watch folders in version 5.1 saves time and effort by enabling users to simply drop finished projects into folders for automatic encoding.”

Episode is a high-quality, professional-grade compression product. If all you need is QuickTime movies, Apple’s Compressor may well meet your needs. But, if you need Window Media, Flash, or need to create multiple versions of the same media, Episode is definitely worth checking out.

Here’s the link: http://www.telestream.net/company/press/2008-12-11.htm

For the last few days, I’ve been corresponding with Andrew Findlay about his problems with Compressor 3.

While I use Compressor on a daily basis with no problems, Andrew has been having problems with Compressor unexpectedly quitting at the worst possible moments.

Today he sent me a note with a solution that I wanted to share with you.

Andrew writes:

SUCCESS!

I thought you would like to know I just fixed my Compressor “quitting unexpectedly” problem – thanks to you and the guys at Digital Rebellion. However, it was slightly more complicated than just downloading Compressor Repair. This didn’t fix the problem.

What DID work was downloading their other software called FCP Remover. (I had previously tried using Pacifist to no avail.)

All I had to do was uninstall Compressor and (the real culprit, apparently) Qmaster, then re-install from the FCS 2 discs, run the update software and, bingo! Even my old projects and media were untouched and continue to work fine. I hope this might work for other folks out there.

Below I copy the mail from the very helpful and all round nice guy Jon Chappell at Digital Rebellion:

Andrew,

Glad to hear you got everything sorted out.

Yes, by all means let Larry know what works because I know a lot of people have experienced that problem. I actually posted a tutorial on how to reinstall those components a few days ago:
http://www.digitalrebellion.com/blog/posts/how_to_reinstall_compressor_and_qmaster.html

This is not a problem with Compressor; it is a problem with Qmaster. I happen to think Compressor is perfectly fine in terms of stability but Qmaster has never ever worked, not even in previous versions. In my opinion, they need to either rewrite it or sever Compressor’s ties to it.

So thanks to you and Jon.

Best regards, Andrew

Andrew, thanks for writing and letting me know.