Episode vs. Sorenson

[Craig Seeman]

This PDF has a fair amount of detail what both Episode and Episode Pro have.
https://www.flip4mac.com/pdfs/dat_Episode_Nov2006.pdf

[Charles Simonson]

Craig, especially since you moderate the F4M forums (which I imagine is where most of your consulting fee comes from), it would be nice if you included that nugget in your sig. I don’t think there is anything wrong with you responding on these forums, but I do believe it would be nice if you made it more clear that you cannot always be unbiased when it comes to discussions involving F4M products.

[Craig Seeman]

I’m here as a Compressionist not a Flip4Mac rep. I use Squeeze (and beta test that), Cleaner, Compressor and on PC Window Media Encoder. I started using Episode when it was Compression Master and owned by Popwire. As a compressionist I use all the above for 3rd Planet Video’s clients, one of which is Flip4Mac and MANY others are not.

[Charles Simonson]

Yes, but you are the moderator for F4M’s forums. Do you not see a conflict of bias here when writing about F4M products? If not, then fair enough.

I am not suggesting that you stop posting here or that your comments have been without value. But I still don’t understand why you would have a problem about letting others know about your F4M relationship in your sig, even if you only post that when writing about F4M.

[Joe Murray]

I’ve started reading through the Episode and Episode Pro user manuals, but if you can answer a couple of specific questions it would be a big help.

1. Do I have to buy Episode Pro to get watch folders?

2. If I’m using watch folders, can I apply different encoding settings to each folder? And can I apply more than one encoding setting to each folder?

For instance, I have one folder I want to dedicate to Client X. Whenever I drop a Quicktime into this folder, I want Episode to encode three different files that the client requires at the end of every project I do for them. Then I have another folder for DG|FastChannel delivery which is also a watch folder, but when I drop Quicktimes into this folder it will automatically encode mpeg-2 files for upload and distribution to stations.

Thanks for your help-

Joe Murray

[Charles Simonson]

Unfortunately, the Episode and Episode Pro products do not support watch folders. In order to get watch folders, you would need to step up to the Episode Workgroup solution, which includes Episode Engine and can monitor watch folders. The Engine is scalable and works in tandem with Pro, and thus offers a nice multi-node/scalable encoding solution. If you plan to do volume or enterprise level encoding, then this is a product you should seriously be looking at, which should fit well for your stated needs.

[Joe Murray]

>>>In order to get watch folders, you would need to step up to the Episode Workgroup solution,
>>>which includes Episode Engine and can monitor watch folders.

I see that now…I found the information about watch folders but didn’t realize I had jumped to the Workgroup product page. Too bad you have to jump to that level of product just to get watch folders, something that’s taken for granted with other software that has to render/encode a lot.

Any knowledge of pricing on the Workgroup and Engine products?

Joe Murray

[Craig Seeman]

Here’s ProMax prices for Engine and Engine Pro as examples. It’s a lot for watch folders.
https://www2.promax.com/Products/Telestream-Interactive

[Joe Murray]

Yes that’s a lot to pay for watch folders, but if I can automate several processes here it might be worth it. Would I have to buy Episode + the Episode Engine in order to make things work, or can the Engine run without Episode present? Also, is that pricing PER node or once you spend the $3K – $9K, can you add CPUs to the workflow as needed?

Thanks for all the info-

Joe Murray

[Charles Simonson]

I think you’ll start seeing the watch folder feature disappear in more compression apps in the sub $1K-range as we now have much faster machines that can process files much quicker. In order to maximize return on an app, companies like Telestream sort of have to exclude watch folders to the enterprise/volume encoding market. At least Episode doesn’t have total monthly encoding limits imposed on it like Squeeze does (Squeeze also charges a yearly subscription for their volume encoder which doesn’t offer scalable node encoding).