Telestream Episode Engine review in Streaming Media Magazine
Previous: Omneon MediaGrid Platform Extended | All | Next: Telestream’s Episode Simplifies TV Standards Conversion
Look no further than Streaming Media Magazine Vol 1, Issue 3 for the full review of Telestreams Episode Engine. However, for those of you who prefer their news in smaller chunks here's an overview:
- Engine excels at VP6 and H.264 encoding with equal or better quality than most other streaming encoders.
- MPEG-2 quality also quite good
- Anyone producing Windows Media should look elsewhere as speed is slow and quality is subpar.
- Input/Output format compatibility a strength of Episode, with vast format support including all the relevant streaming formats and presets for devices such as the iPod and the most relevant broadcast formats.
- Some of the language when creating settings is overly complex and obscure to most users and many settings are sub-optimal. However, experienced compressionists should not have a problem.
- Easy to setup encoding jobs, watch folders and input monitors in a simple application window. However, to create email notifications of send encoded files back via FTP require the creation of scripts within Episode Pro. Other products have simpler interfaces to do this. (Boxer would like to point out that we can create the required scripts so you wouldn't have to get your hands dirty).
Speed, Episode Engine vs Carbon Coder
- Start file 5.5 minute DV test file - Episode Engine faster in MPEG-2, H.264 and VP6, Carbon Coder faster in WMV.
- Start files 16 x 1 minute DV file - Episode Engine faster in H.264 and VP6, Carbon Coder faster in WMV, MPEG-2 not tested.
- Start file 100 secon HD test file - Episode Engine faster in H.264 and VP6, Carbon Coder faster in WMV, MPEG-2 not tested.
- Overall, Engine faster than Carbon Coder in H.264, VP6 and MPEG-2 in all tests but slower in WMV in all tests.
Overall
Episode Engine is one of the most industrial strength options and is a very strong choice on H.264 and VP6 as highlighted above.