Multi-format Encoding: No Sweat for FlipFactory

Quirky QuickTime

FlipFactory lost major points when it came to QuickTime. QuickTime frames were sized too big for FlipFactory’s preview screen, but this proved to be a minor nuisance compared to the overall quirkiness of QuickTime settings. At times, QuickTime clips played back blurry when we hadn’t set the blur option, for example. This may have been due, in part, to the fact that FlipFactory installed only Sorenson Video 2 (SV2.0). FlipFactory will be bundled with SV3.1 in the next software release and will include multipass VBR and all the professional features for the encoder, out of the box, at that time, according to Telestream.

One interesting note before we move on: Telestream developed its own DV decoder for v1.2 instead of going with the QuickTime DV decoder used in previous versions. Telestream says that this is intended, in part, to address a growing problem with the different types of DV formats now being used for broadcasting.

In other respects, FlipFactory proved to be very versatile — perhaps too versatile. As we started to take advantage of FlipFactory’s many options, it became more difficult to remember which factory contained which codecs and filtering parameters, and at what bit rates. It helped that FlipFactory provides naming handles so you can name the factory and add a description of that factory in a description field (such as "make three bit-rate files for RealVideo"). But we wonder why some of the pre-processing can't be done at the end of the session instead of at the encoder creation point in the beginning. That way, nuances to media could be more closely matched to the type of job rather than to the type of encoder. As it is, nuances are customized for each encoder and it’s difficult, though possible, to keep track of all the various nuances that may or may not fit a particular job.

FlipFactory offers excellent profiles for formats, so it was relatively easy to define settings particular to each codec. Also, the encoding we did was more than adequately documented by FlipFactory, which proffered up log reports on account activity, flipping times and file destinations. And, when a factory or session failed, it gave a status report including cause of failure — a tremendously helpful feature the few times it was needed.

The Bottom Line

FlipFactory is easy to install, it works reliably, and the true Web client makes remote access ubiquitous and easy, though preview is limited to files actually on the server. We experienced some settings quirkiness with QuickTime encoding and were surprised to find that only Sorenson Video 2 is supported, though FlipFactory version 2.0 will support SV 3.1 if all goes as planned. Meanwhile, FlipFactory 1.2 does support RealVideo/Audio 8 and Windows Media Video/Audio 8.

The number of functionality points that Telestream is addressing in the unreleased 2.0 version may raise a flag for some. But FlipFactory 1.2 does work well, and at a base cost of $10,000, it is still much less expensive than its primary competitor, Anystream (see review). FlipFactory 1.2 is a strong contender for heavy transcoding work, and if the price doesn’t deter you, we recommend trying the demo at www.telestream.net to see if it’s a fit for your shop.