Sorenson Media Launches Squish Web Application and SquishNet Website for User-Generated Video Content

WebKnowHow
Wednesday, January 10, 2007; 04:31 AM

Sorenson Media (www.sorensonmedia.com), the worldwide leader for video encoding and compression applications, today announced the launch of Sorenson Squish and the companion Web application Sorenson SquishNet, designed to enable seamless and cost-effective publishing and sharing of user-created video.

Sorenson Squish is a Java-based Web application that allows users to drag and drop video into a Web page, where it is automatically encoded within the browser, then uploaded to a Website – all utilizing Sorenson's award-winning Squeeze Compression Suite technology.

Sorenson Squish is a cross-platform solution that runs on both Windows and Mac OS X, and is compatible with all major browsers, including Internet Explorer, Safari and Firefox. It supports the GIF, JPEG and PNG image formats, and the ASF, DV, Flash, MOV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and WMV video formats.

Sorenson Squish provides client-side video compression technology that embeds seamlessly into any Web application, enabling users to publish high-quality video to Websites without requiring the user to leave the site or to install any additional software.

Video is input to Sorenson Squish in one of two ways: by dragging and dropping a video file in virtually any format onto the Sorenson Squish window; or by directly capturing a stream from a Webcam or digital video camcorder. The input video is compressed into numerous formats, including high-quality Flash video, and published to the Website hosting server.

Because it performs encoding using the local machine CPU, Sorenson Squish enhances the user experience by reducing upload time; only the compressed video file is uploaded, rather than the much larger source file. Also, as a client-side application, Sorenson Squish also provides significant cost savings for the integrating Website by reducing or eliminating server-side hardware and maintenance requirements.

“Sorenson Squish builds on the innovative encoding applications and video delivery solutions that made Sorenson Media the global leader in video compression technology, offering the best combination of high-quality compression and ease-of-use available in the industry today,” said Matt Cupal, president and COO of Sorenson Media. “With features like automatic installation, frame-by-frame video preview and a highly intuitive workflow, Sorenson Squish will further solidify Sorenson Media’s innovative market leadership.”

Sorenson SquishNet is a Web 2.0 companion application to Sorenson Squish, providing integration partners and other users with a “skinnable” snap-on photo and video sharing site. While Sorenson Squish enables efficient video publishing, Sorenson SquishNet provides the server-side backend to host, organize, view and share video content.

Sorenson SquishNet includes an embedded Flash video player. Users can browse the site to play video, or interactively search the site for videos by title, author or tag.

The visual design and layout of the Sorenson SquishNet Web component is controlled by a fully reconfigurable Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) template, making it easy to customize the page to resemble or complement a customer’s own Website or Web application.

The site’s account management user interface enables Sorenson SquishNet clients to establish and manage varying levels of user access. Sorenson SquishNet’s editorial interface enables partners to view, accept or reject, manage and organize all user-submitted media on the site. Sorenson SquishNet can be configured to automatically notify submitters when content is rejected.

Utilizing SquishNet, clients can monitor the site’s editorial activity, generate and view a variety of user-activity and content-usage reports, and designate “Editor’s Picks.” In addition, Sorenson SquishNet’s patent-pending keyframe extraction technology can generate storyboard summaries of videos – from compact visual summaries for general users to detailed frame summaries useful for editorial analysis.

“The combination of Sorenson Squish and Sorenson SquishNet delivers on the promise of the Internet for picture and video, enabling diverse users and partners to quickly and easily populate their sites with quality user-generated content,” said Cupal. “These will be the applications of choice for users in areas ranging from citizen journalism to real-estate to Weblogging and other forms of media enhancement.”

To see a demonstration of Sorenson Squish or Sorenson SquishNet at Macworld Expo 2007, visit Sorenson Media at booth #S843. To view an online demonstration of Sorenson Squish, visit http://squish.sorensonmedia.com.

Pricing and Availability

Both Sorenson Squish and Sorenson SquishNet will be available in February 2007.

Pricing for Squish will start at $1 per user annually with an annual minimum of $5,000. Pricing for SquishNet (including Squish) will start at $1.50 per user annually with an annual minimum of $7,500. For more information or to purchase these products, call 1.888.767.3676 or visit www.sorensonmedia.com.

About Sorenson Media

Sorenson Media (www.sorensonmedia.com), the global leader for encoding and compression applications, provides hardware and software solutions that enable users to easily and affordably compress, manage and deliver high quality video over the Internet and to CDs, DVDs, mobile devices and other formats. The company also creates innovative Web applications for publishing, editing and managing user-generated video content, and for the development of customizable media sharing sites. From its inception in 1995, Sorenson Media has been at the forefront of leading trends offering award-winning technology and products that dramatically improve the Internet experience for developers and users alike.