The long wait is over. Mac users have had a new version of Discreet's Cleaner product for a few months, but now PC users can get the latest and greatest compression technologies in the new Cleaner XL release. For the uninitiated, Cleaner is a multimedia compression application that takes in raw media and outputs in any number of popular formats for the Web and DVD - 60 total codecs are available.
New in XL is support for Windows Media Series 9, QuickTime 6, MPEG-4, MPEG-2 (DVD) and Kinoma for the Palm. To improve performance and usability, Discreet has added support for Intel's HyperThreading processor technology and a Watch Folders option that can help automate encoding procedures. Cleaner XL is available in North America for $599 (or $179 for those upgrading.) International versions will be available this spring.
If you're heavy into video encoding, Cleaner is definitely worth the price. For those just getting started, try the free encoder tools from the individual vendors such as Microsoft's Windows Media Encoder and RealNetworks' Helix Producer Basic.
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