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MillimeterMedia 100 Cleaner 5
Apr 1, 2001 12:00 PM, BY FRANK McMAHON
There's no lack of streaming media encoder products that serve either the professional people or the beginner market. But what about all those in-between producers? Because of its design, Media 100's Cleaner 5 can expertly serve those who fall between the professional and beginner levels.
When it comes to pro features, Cleaner 5 is stacked with them. At the same time, beginners learn the ropes via an easy-to-use wizard. But you can go through the easy wizard and later tweak the advanced settings, so you have the best of both worlds.
If you are unfamiliar with Cleaner 5, a little history is in order. Media Cleaner vaulted onto the scene a few years back and became the must-have tool for audio and video encoding. It was then produced by a company called Terran Interactive. Media 100, with its software, systems, and services divisions, has since acquired Terran as part of the company's software division, and Media Cleaner. The latest incarnation of the software, now simply called Cleaner, is version 5.
The program started as a Mac-only tool, and jealous Windows users clamored until Media Cleaner Pro for Windows was unveiled in late 1998. Now the product is cross-platform, and all this switching around has had no adverse effect on the software. The developers continue to refine the program's functionality and interface while sprinkling it with many new features.
Cleaner 5 works one of two ways. After loading a clip or batch of clips, you can progress through the step-by-step wizard or go the advanced route. The wizard offers a series of options such as progressive download or streaming, audio or video, web formats or CD formats, and so on. All the major file formats — QuickTime, Real, and Windows Media — get full support. (In fact, Cleaner 5.0.2, the latest update to hit the Web as this goes to press, adds full support for version 8.0 of Real.)
After answering the wizard's questions, you simply hit the start button and Cleaner 5 goes to work encoding your files. Cleaner shows a preview of your content, and you can abort the encoding and restart at any time.
The other way to use the program is to start in the advanced mode. Here you are supplied with a dizzying array of options, many of which will require a quick flip through the manual to reveal their meaning. But it's a tweaker's dream, because you can fine-tune to perfection.
Once you go through the wizard, you can click over to the advanced mode and see the settings you just stepped though. Now, based on the easy wizard selections, tweak your parameters the way you want. But the step-by-step wizard produces excellent results on its own. Though you'd expect to lose a little by going the easy user-friendly route, the wizard actually produces dynamite video and great audio.
So what is new and improved in this latest version? Quite a bit. The program now features capturing, in a way. A separate included program called MotoDV dumps all saved captures directly into Cleaner's batch window. This is a nice bonus if you are in need of a capture program, but most desktop jockeys already have an option if they do any sort of nonlinear work.
Cleaner now provides plug-ins for certain iFinish, Media 100, Avid, and Premiere systems. That means that after you render or produce a clip in your edit system, you can use Cleaner as an export engine. The program now supports the Windows DirectShow architecture and even incorporates the Windows Media Player within the program for playing back certain video and audio files. Windows Media support now allows for five-stream intelligent streaming for Windows servers.
Improved QuickTime support allows creation of MP3-compressed audio tracks. Though not often thought of as an MP3 compressor, Cleaner's support is excellent for producing MP3 files. This new version brings in variable-bit-rate encoding for maximum efficiency, and the compression engine has been dramatically improved for faster MP3 creation. The software covers all the flavors of MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, which is very handy for producing content for CDs, either CD Video or DVD. The 2GB limit for source files has been lifted, so your encoding projects can be much longer than previously allowed.
EventStream now facilitates the creation of streaming video content that includes embedded navigational elements, synchronized HTML events, and interactive clickable hotspots for web surfers.
Internally, Cleaner's settings are now based on XML. While this may not matter much to most Cleaner users, it improves the software's cross-platform functionality and offers better ways to batch-process files through scripting. You can even pass pre-saved settings around to your encoder buddies.
Other improvements include faster processing for all file formats, Mac and Windows dual-processor support, faster decoding of source files such as MPEG and DV, and a faster noise-reduction filter.
Core functionality of Cleaner 5 has not changed much. The interface is more spiffy, but the program works very much like previous incarnations. So don't worry about a learning curve if you've used the program before. As for new users, if you can load a file and find the wizard button, you are on your way to producing some awesome streaming content.
When I last reviewed Media Cleaner as part of Terran's Compression Suite, I grumbled about the non-standard user interface and the sluggish performance of the program. Well, the interface has not changed, but apparently I have. Having used it for so long, I have grown accustomed to the interface — it's really not so bad once you learn where everything is. Aside from a few snazzy additions for version 5, the program's interface apparently is not going to change. The performance of the screens in the program seems to have improved and is very stable.
But the real test is the output, and in that respect Cleaner 5 rocks. This program produces excellent streaming content with amazing flexibility. Professionals can master the dozens of parameters, and beginners can get up to speed in about five minutes. And let's not forget those in-betweeners; those users will probably enjoy Cleaner 5 most of all. They'll learn as they grow, no matter where they start.
With Cleaner 5, Media 100 offers a top-notch product that could almost be described as the Photoshop of the streaming content world. If you do encoding, you use Cleaner. Simple as that.
Frank McMahon is a media artist specializing in directing, editing, animation, and graphic design. He has worked in broadcast for 15 years and his client list includes Fox Television, Microsoft, Yahoo, Time Warner, and MediaOne. He can be reached via his media company at www.fmstudio.com or through the Portland Media Artists at www.mediaartist.com.
QUICK FACTS
Company: Media 100
Marlboro, Mass.; 508-460-1600
Product: Cleaner 5
Features: Step-by-step wizard makes encoding easy; version 5 offers increased support for QuickTime, and XML-based settings improve cross-platform functionality
Price: $599; $179 for upgrade
Website: www.media100.com
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