you’re able to love it or you’re able to hate it , but you ca n’t avoid it : Microsoft ’s Windows Media is among the most widely used formats for delivering video on the Web .

Microsoft offer a devoid Windows Media Player app for Mac OS X , but what if you ’re a Mac producer who want to provide your content in the latest Windows Media data format ? Enter Telestream ’s Flip4Mac WMV Studio Pro 1.0.6 . Flip4Mac Studio Pro is a set of extensions , orcomponents , that work with Apple ’s QuickTime engineering science and enable it to run back and encode video in Windows Media format .

It sounds promising , and indeed , Flip4Mac Studio Pro works well . But the interlingual rendition I tested also has some shortcomings that keep it from being an idealistic resolution to the format version problem .

Multiple flavors

Flip4Mac ’s WMV Studio is uncommitted in two versions . The WMV Studio version cost $ 99 and support Windows Media 9 . I test the $ 179 WMV Studio Pro version ; it add up the ability to encode in Windows Media 9 Advanced formatting , which supports eminent - definition ( HD ) video recording resolution ( specifically , 720 - line progressive scan ) . Flip4Mac Studio Pro also supports Windows Media Audio 9 Professional , which allows for sampling rate of up to 96KHz as well as 5.1 environs sound .

Even if you do n’t need living for HD video and 5.1 sound recording , there ’s a good reason to look at spending the supererogatory $ 80 on Flip4Mac Studio Pro : it sustain two - bye encoding , in which the encoder first analyzes the reservoir video and then optimizes encryption for the best potential quality .

Fits right in—mostly

After installing either Flip4Mac WMV Studio package , you may encode video into Windows Media formatting using the same encoding putz you ’d apply to encode QuickTime and other formats . For good example , to make a Windows Media file using QuickTime Player Pro , you ’d only choose Export from the File carte , and then choose Windows Media from the Format pop - up menu .

Both Flip4Mac Studio flavors also put to work with other QuickTime - savvy programme , including Apple ’s iMovie ( ) , Final Cut Pro ( ) , and Compressor 2 ; Autodesk ’s Cleaner 6 , and Sorenson Media ’s Squeeze 4.1 . Flip4Mac Studio Pro include presets for a variety of common compression scenarios — for example , 56 Kbps modem or 512 Kbps broadband . you may also customise compression setting as desired .

Oddly , though , Flip4Mac Studio Pro ’s compression presets are n’t uncommitted when you utilize Apple ’s Compressor — you must make your own from dent . That is n’t a significant drawback , but it is an annoyance that demand more workplace for Compressor users .

In my tests , Flip4Mac Studio Pro ’s output quality was fantabulous — as good as anything I ’ve compact using Windows - found concretion tools . And honest of all , I did n’t have to use a Windows microcomputer .

But I did fall upon another unfortunate drawback : Flip4Mac Studio Pro is unable to create multiple second rate ( MBR ) * Windows Media files . Telestream says it be after to tally MBR support to a future version .

  • MBR Encoding : With MBR encoding , the final file contain separate versions of the content , each optimized for a founder bandwidth — for example , one interlingual rendition for 56 Kbps modems and another for broadband connections . At playback time , the Windows Media player chooses the reading well suit to the connection speed .

Problematic playback

Flip4Mac Studio Pro also let in Flip4Mac Player , which enable you to play back Windows Media mental object without have to instal the Windows Media Player . ( Flip4Mac Player is also available as a standalone product for $ 10 . )

It fathom promising , but in my tryout , Windows Media clips from many mainstream Web land site did n’t play back properly . The television ikon flickered like a strobe light light and sometimes appeared in a random location on my screen background , or the video would play but the audio recording would n’t . Telestream says this is a result of some technical incompatibilities between the Flip4Mac Web hoopla - in and the Safari QuickTime hoopla - in , which have been fixed for the current version of Safari , and will be fixed for old versions in an upcoming release .

Playback problems were most rough-cut with sites that make their own media - playback windows — which indicates that the problem is n’t so much with the Player but with the complex scripting that underlies multimedia WWW sites . Still , if you ’re hop the Player will be your Francis Scott Key to Windows Media contentedness that you ’ve been ineffective to play on your Mac , download the free trial version and try out it with the sites you desire to claver before you buy .

Macworld’s buying advice

Flip4Mac WMV Studio Pro 1.0.6 does an excellent job of encode content into Windows Media formatting , and not having to transmit Brobdingnagian telecasting file to a Windows PC for encryption is a great comfort station . However , there ’s elbow room for improvement : I ’d wish to see support for MBR video files as well as compression presets for Apple ’s Compressor . But in the remnant , if you have to rescue message in Windows Media formatting , Flip4Mac Studio Pro is a solid choice .