Computer Music Interacti…pecial Edition 2000 April/cd.iso/pc/PC/Compression/MediaCleaner/program1.z/ReadMe.txt

Text File | 1999-07-09 | 14.9 KB | 345 lines

Welcome to Media Cleaner 4.0 Demo

Thank you for using Media Cleaner® 4.0 Demo, a free trial version of the
industry standard for dynamic media compression.  This document contains
last-minute information on potential issues, installation, etc.  Please
review this information carefully before using Media Cleaner.

Media Cleaner Pro 4.0 is the first cross-platform version of Cleaner and is
a major upgrade with many powerful new features, including support for
streaming QuickTime 4, RealG2, Windows Media, MP3, and AVI file formats.
We've added professional audio processing and filters, as well as improving
Cleaner's QuickTime alternate movie support.

There are numerous other enhancements and features - for more details,
please see the "What's New in Cleaner 4" chapter in the Media Cleaner User
Manual as well as the "Media Cleaner Pro 4 User Manual Addendum" PDF file.

We hope you enjoy this demo version of Media Cleaner, and we sincerely
appreciate your support.  Happy compressing!

- The Terran Team



About this Demo

How to Register
To register and receive your unlock code, simply press the "Get Unlock
Code" button on the "Media Cleaner 4.0 Demo" screen after launching the
demo application.  You may also go to our web site to register at
http://www.terran.com/support.  If you don't have access to the Web, please
print and fill out the short form at the end of this document and fax it to
[phone], and well send you an unlock code.

Limitations
This demo version gives you full access to all of Media Cleaner Pro 4.0's
features, with the exception of GIF encoding, and URL links at the end of
movies.  Additionally, the MP3 and HEURIS MPEG encoders are also not
included, however, if you have the commercial releases of these encoders
installed on your system, Media Cleaner will take advantage of them.
This demo will work for 50 uses or 30 days (whichever comes
first), and produces clips up to 15 seconds long.  All video and images
will be watermarked, and most movies will have an end frame with a URL link to
Terran added.

Video Samples May Not Be Included
Media Cleaner's Settings Wizard uses sample movies to help illustrate your
processing options.  These movies are stored on the Media Cleaner CD-ROM,
and are not included with most versions of the Demo, especially those
distributed on the Web.  Depending on where you get this Demo, you may see
single-frame movies or black screens when using the Settings Wizard.


How to Order the Full Version
To order Media Cleaner Pro, please drop by our site at
http://www.terran.com/sales or call us at [phone] or [phone]
x1.  Media Cleaner Pro comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can
try it with no risk.



System Requirements

Macintosh System Requirements
* Power Macintosh or MacOS-compatible computer with PowerPC processor
* MacOS 8.0 or later
* QuickTime 3.0 or later (version 4.0 strongly recommended, and required
for streaming QuickTime).
* 16 Mb of available application RAM with 1-2Mb available for System
* Monitor capable of displaying 640x480 pixels in thousands of colors
(16-bit).  Monitor capable of displaying at least 800x600 pixels in
millions of colors (24-bit) recommended.
* CD-ROM drive (2x or faster recommended)
* 5 Mb of hard drive space for application.  Additional 35 Mb of hard drive
space required for all sample movies.

Windows System Requirements
* Pentium or equivalent processor (200 MHz or faster recommended)
* Windows 95/98/NT4
* QuickTime 3.0 or later (version 4.0 strongly recommended, and required
for streaming QuickTime).
* 32 Mb RAM for Windows 95/98, 64 Mb RAM for Windows NT
* Monitor capable of displaying 640x480 pixels in high color (16-bit).
Monitor capable of displaying at least 800x600 pixels in true color
(24-bit) recommended.
* CD-ROM drive (2x or faster recommended) and mouse
* 5 Mb of hard drive space for application.  Additional 35 Mb of hard drive
space required for all sample movies.



Known Issues

Windows Media (ASF) Support in Macintosh Version
The Mac ASF encoders are BETA in Media Cleaner Pro 4.0.  Additionally, as
of the date of this ReadMe, the Windows Media Player for Mac was beta, and
may exhibit periodic instability.  Because of these facts, you may
experience playback issues with files created on the Mac platform when
these files are played with the Windows Media Player on Mac.

NOTE:  Files created by the Mac version should play fine on Windows.
Additionally, these issues don't affect the Windows version of Cleaner, due
to the more advanced state of ASF on Windows.

We are working closely with Microsoft to address the Mac ASF beta status,
and should have a 4.0.1 release of Cleaner to fix this issue shortly -
please check our web site for the latest information.


ASF with Non-Standard Codecs
There are many ASF codecs available, some of which are beta or have serious
flaws.  Using non-standard ASF codecs within Cleaner may cause erratic
behavior or crashes.   Cleaner's "Easy Install" on Mac, or "Typical"
install on Windows automatically installs the verified ASF codecs you need
for normal authoring, so we recommend that you avoid adding additional
codecs to your system unless necessary.  If you experience erratic behavior
after adding a new ASF codec, please try uninstalling it to determine if it
is causing the issue.


Premiere Export Module for Windows
Due to development delays, the Premiere Export Module for Windows was not
ready for inclusion with Media Cleaner Pro 4.0.  We are working on this
feature, and should have an update soon - please check Terran's web site
for the latest information.   In the meantime, you can create a QuickTime
or AVI movie from Premiere using a high quality codec (such as Photo-JPEG,
or your capture hardware codec) and then open this movie with Media Cleaner
for compression.


Windows 2000 Pro not Qualified
Version 4.0 of Media Cleaner Pro has not been qualified with the Windows
2000 Pro beta.  We'll shortly address this new version of the Windows
operating system in an upcoming revision.


Extension Conflicts
On the Macintosh, Media Cleaner Pro has known compatibility problems with
the following extensions:

* Cameraman (a screen capture extension) - on the Mac, we recommend using
Snapz Pro 2 or later by Ambrosia Software (www.ambrosiaSW.com), which is
verified to work properly with Media Cleaner.

* Certain versions of the Whiteboard extension (installed by Netscape
Navigator & QuickTime Conferencing).

If you experience erratic behavior or crashes, we strongly suggest
deinstalling these extensions while using Media Cleaner.


Cross Platform Palette Issues
Due to QuickTime issues, Media Cleaner Pro 4.0 stores palettes in different
formats on Mac and Windows (Mac uses PICT files, Windows uses BMP files).
This means palettes made on one platform may not work on the other.
Additionally, the Windows version of Cleaner cannot read palettes from PICT
files.  We are working to address these issues in a future release.


Setting Names
Certain default setting names are somewhat different than the names
described in the manual, which is most noticeable in the tutorials.  The
new setting names are very similar, and should be clearer than the previous
names.


Alternate Movies with Poster Frames and/or Create HTML
When creating a QuickTime alternate movie group, Media Cleaner defaults to
using the last movie listed within the group as it appears in the Process
window to determine what settings to use for the poster frame and/or HTML
creation.

We'll address this issue in a future release - in the meantime, you can switch to
"List View" in the Process window, assign the movie alternate with the
Poster Frame or Create HTML setting a lower priority, then sort the list by
"Priority" so that this alternate is moved to the bottom of the alternate
group.


Out of Disc Space Error when Using Audio CDs as Sources
Media Cleaner Pro 4.0 for Mac can copy the audio tracks from an audio CD
for processing.  When Cleaner does this, it copies the CD tracks to the
"Media Cleaner Translated Files" folder within the Media Cleaner Pro 4
folder.  These files are fairly large (one full length CD holds about 650
Mb).  Media Cleaner does not automatically delete these files when done
processing, so these tracks may fill up your hard drive rapidly if you
don't periodically remove them.  We will automate this deletion in the near
future, but in the meantime recommend that you manually delete these tracks
when you are done processing a given CD.


Error:  "Can't find Quicktime Authoring components. "
The QuickTime 4 installer has the option of installing playback components
and/or authoring components.  To fully use Media Cleaner, you must install
the authoring components, or you may receive errors when attempting to
compress.  For your convenience, the QuickTime 4 installer is on the Media
Cleaner Pro 4.0 CD-ROM - if you don't already have the authoring version of
QuickTime installed, please run this installer.


Modem dialing
The Mac version of Media Cleaner Pro includes an optional feature to check
for News & Updates.  This makes a connection to the Internet, which can
cause a modem to dial your ISP if you are using PPP or SLIP.  This feature
may be disabled in the Preferences dialog if desired.


High Quality First/Last Frame Issues
QuickTime may alter the gamma of your video track on certain computers
containing video accelerators, such as many of the PowerMac G3 systems.
This gamma change may be more evident with JPEG tracks, so using the "JPEG
Track" option may be undesirable on these computers.   We suggest testing
your movies on a wide range of machines if you wish to use the "JPEG Track"
option.

The "Basic" option merely increases the data rate of the first/last frames,
so it is compatible with all versions of QuickTime, and does not exacerbate
the QuickTime 3 gamma issue.  CinepakÅ Pro isn't compatible with the High
Quality First Frame option.


MP3 as Source
Using MP3 files as sources may produce final files with skips and other
audio issues regardless of the selected output format.  We will address
this in a future release, but generally recommend using the original
uncompressed source whenever possible to maximize the output quality of the
file.


QDesign Files as Source
Using QDesign Music Codec compressed files as source material may cause
repeating or other audio artifacts in the final file, regardless of output
format.


Photoshop Files as Source
Media Cleaner can use Photoshop files (.psd) as source material, but only
if the files are "flattened" when saved.  Layered files will be displayed
as a text message which states that Photoshop 3.0 or later is required to
read the files.


"Save Disabled" QuickTime 4 Movies as Source
One of the new features of QuickTime 4 is the option to disable saving of a
file from within a WWW browser.  You may enable this option in Media
Cleaner's Output tab of the Advanced Settings dialog.

Movies created with the "Disable Saving from WWW" option enabled may not
work properly within Cleaner when used as source material.  These files may
not display the data rate graph in the Input window, and may exhibit other
issues during processing.


IMA Compressed Sources
If your source movie sound track or audio file has already been compressed
with IMA, recompressing to IMA may result in subtle, periodic "pops" or
"clicks" in the final file.  If at all possible, we strongly recommend that
you use the original, uncompressed audio source, since recompressing files
multiple times with lossy codecs like IMA degrades the quality of the final
file.


QDesign Music Codec
Version 1.0 of the QDesign Music Codec, Pro Edition may cause several
issues, including audio tracks which can't be flattened, instability in the
demo mode, and difficulties if no internal hard drive is installed.  We
strongly recommend upgrading to version 2.0 of the QDesign Music Codec -
call Terran for details.

Media Cleaner's Suspend & Resume feature does not work with QDesign Music.
If you resume a suspended movie/audio file compressed with the QDesign
Music Codec, the audio compression will start over from the beginning.
However, the video compression will be resumed from the last keyframe.



Cinepak Pro
You must be running the Cinepak Toolkit in order to use Media Cleaner with
the Cinepak Pro codec - the Toolkit registers the codec, and without it
running, you will not be able to access Cinepak Pro in any application.  We
recommend that you set the Toolkit's memory partition to the minimum size,
launch it, and then leave it in the background while you use Cleaner.

The High Quality First Frame feature may produce higher than specified data
rates when used with Cinepak Pro.

QuickTime may incorrectly report that a movie compressed with Cinepak Pro
was compressed with the basic version of Cinepak, or may show strange
characters in the codec field.  This is possible even when using the basic
version of Cinepak when Cinepak Pro is installed.  Cleaner is using Cinepak
Pro correctly - this is an issue with how QuickTime reports codecs; the
actual files Cleaner produces are fine.



DV  Issues
When using the Windows OS, Media Cleaner Pro 4.0 requires QuickTime 4 or
later to output DV files.

The Apple DV codec has both a high quality and a preview mode.  The preview
mode is used by default because it is faster, but movies look extremely
pixelated without the high quality option enabled.  These movies will play
fine once transferred back to DV tape - this is merely a display issue.
Please see the DV chapter in the Media Cleaner User Manual for more details.

The Apple DV codec in QuickTime 3 and 4 may not work properly on some
multiprocessing Macintosh computers.  If you experience erratic results,
crashes, or corrupted output when working with DV source files or when
outputting to the DV Stream format, we suggest that you temporarily remove
the "Multiprocessing Libraries" from your System Extensions folder, and
restart your computer.

NOTE:  The MP Library is required for MPEG export, so you may be required
to output to an intermediate format (such as M-JPEG) if you need to use DV
source for MPEG output on an MP machine.



----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Register via Fax - Media Cleaner 4.0 Demo

If you can't access our web site, please print out this form and fax it to
[phone].  We will fax or email  you back with an unlock code within
two business days.  Thanks!

Name:
Company Name:
Email Address:
Phone:
Fax:
Address:
City:
State/Province:
Postal Code:
Country:

Platform of Media Cleaner Demo:    [  ]  Macintosh           [  ]  Windows

Do you own a video capture card or video capture capable computer?     __Yes   __ No
Do you own a video editing program (such as Adobe Premiere)?     __ Yes   __ No
Do you own a multimedia authoring program (Such as Macromedia Director)?     __ Yes   __ No