ProxyMill: Automated Movie Compression for P2 & QT Files
Imagine Products announces the release and general availability of ProxyMill for Macintosh, a new automated video compression application for Panasonic P2 media. With ProxyMill, designate a “Watch” folder and let the software create low resolution QuickTime proxies with frame accurate timecode directly from P2 MXF files in one simple step.
ProxyMill’s ability to create preview quality movies in an unattended fashion is a big time saver for those needing to share clips with remote clients. The adjustable visual timecode burn lets producers note segments of interest. Larger productions may want to use the proxies for preliminary “offline” edits to save disk space, and later conform to the originals. Compressed movies may be saved inside the source P2 Volumes’ “PROXY” folder(s). Alternatively, copies of the proxies may also be placed into a combined folder on your hard disk.
ProxyMill works with all Panasonic's P2 formats ranging from DVCPRO HD to DV and the new 10-bit AVC-Intra codec. It may also be used to compress standard QuickTime movies (*.mov files) of any format. The application is supplied with a number of popular presets for fast, highly compressed MPEG-4 (H.264) encoding of half screen clips, iPod/iPhone use, and others. Users may also select from any QuickTime codecs on their system and adjust size, quality and audio to suit specific needs.
ProxyMill watches a designated folder for existing or new folders containing P2 card images. A list of movies and the status of their processing is displayed in the main application window. The parent folder (the one above P2 “CONTENTS”), actual MXF video file name, beginning size and proxy size, and status are shown.
”ProxyMill is a huge time and money saver,” says Shane Ross, broadcast television editor who works with HD. “Prior to this application, you or the assistant editor had to import P2 clips into an editor (creating large QuickTime files) on a timeline, apply a timecode filter, export the movie, then compress, etc. With ProxyMill, just point at a folder full of P2 volumes, adjust the settings and hit 'Begin'! With ProxyMill there’s no more wasted time and money making DVDs of all the footage for producers and transcription houses. Plus you now have the ability to send the client home with their footage at the end of the shoot day. You can also send the proxies to transcription houses, without codec worries, to have transcripts made,” he said.
Because compression of large files can take a considerable amount of time, ProxyMill may be stopped and restarted as needed without duplicate proxies being made. The application also creates printable log files of all activities.
ProxyMill is designed for Macintosh OSX 10.5 (Leopard) Intel Mac’s only equipped with QT 7.5 or higher. It is not compatible with PPC or OSX 10.4. The software is provided by download only. Users may activate on one Desktop and one Portable computer. ProxyMill may be purchased from Imagine Products webstore starting at $199.00 USD.
Source: Imagine Products
