In August of 2014, I published my first review about Switch called Telestream’s Switch aims to overtake & surpass QuickTime Pro. Since then, there have been several updates and now with version 1.6, new features including audio Loudness measurement, subtitles, and even a new US$49 middle tier. Ahead are the details.

In August of 2014, I published my first review about Switch called Telestream’s Switch aims to overtake & surpass QuickTime Pro. Since then, there have been several updates and now with version 1.6, new features including audio Loudness measurement, subtitles, and even a new US$49 middle tier. Ahead are the details.

Here is a link to my first Switch review, called Telestream’s Switch aims to overtake & surpass QuickTime Pro

Version 1.6 of Switch now includes new visual inspection tools to create QC workflows for audio/video post production. New features include external preview to AJA video hardware products (Blackmagic coming in the future) that turn any Windows or Mac computer into a professional QC workstation; new audio meters with loudness monitoring (see my recent Meet the Hindenburg family of audio production/editing tools for details, including the section called Everything you need to know about LU, LUFS, and LKFS); support for new export formats, and extended caption support.

Telestream also announced the mid-tier Switch Plus, an enhanced version of the free Switch media player that now allows playing, inspecting, and transcoding for just US$49.

“Switch is the industry’s only cross-platform player that includes extensive format support, full captioning playback, deep audio inspection (including loudness monitoring), as well as export, and distribution capabilities. It is a powerful and affordable visual QC tool that replaces the multitude of players, inspectors, analyzers and converters that broadcast and post-production professionals have been relying on to do their jobs,” said Barbara DeHart Telestream’s Vice President Desktop Business.

Switch is now available in 3 versions: Switch Player (free), includes basic player and inspection functionality; the new Switch Plus (US$49) includes playing, inspecting, and fixing audio/video files; and Switch Pro (US$295) does all of the prior features, plus delivering to the special iTunes package formats. All 3 versions can be downloaded at telestream.net/switch.

The new Switch Plus includes all the features of the free Switch Player and adds playback support for HEVC and MPEG–2 on Windows, AC3 audio, as well as extensive caption and subtitle playback support, so that users can easily playback secondary caption files to verify timing and accuracy. Caption support includes CEA–608 & CEA–708 captions, as well SCC, DVB, TTML (iTT and SMPTE-TT captions) and WebVTT, SRT and STL subtitle files. Switch Plus also includes Audio Meters to display true-peaks and momentary loudness values as well as the ability to make changes and export to a new file (MPEG–4, QuickTime MOV and MPEG–2 program streams and transport streams).

The latest version of Switch Pro includes all the features of Switch Plus and adds additional playback support for DNxHD, DNxHR and JPEG2000 files. Switch Pro also adds a loudness panel that calculates gated (BS1770–3) and ungated (BS1770–2) loudness; as well as external preview output enabling support for HDMI/SDI hardware output via AJA devices (Blackmagic to come later) to preview and quality check final files. This makes Switch Pro ideal for customers who are looking for an affordable option to visually QC their files on a professional calibrated broadcast monitor. AJA video hardware products supported include : KONA 4, KONA 3G, T-TAP™, Io 4K and Io XT.

Malignant PsF, half way there with Switch 1.6

In my first review of Switch, I pointed out that the program was incapable of properly identifying a malignant PsF file.

As indicated in the above screenshot, Switch version 1.6 is now fortunately capable of identifying it in the lower portion of the Inspector window, but not in the upper portion. In addition, so far, I find no way to have it re-wrap the file as one identified as progressive, as both ClipWrap and now EditReady from Divergent Media are both capable. It is clear that Telestream is working on adding this capability, but has not yet completed it.

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Si deseas suscribirte a mi lista en castellano, visita aquí. Si prefieres, puedes suscribirte a ambas listas (castellano e inglés).

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Books, consulting, articles, seminars & audio programs

Contact Allan Tépper for consulting, or find a full listing of his books, articles and upcoming seminars and webinars at AllanTepper.com. Listen to his CapicúaFM program at CapicúaFM.com in iTunes or Stitcher.

My latest book (paperback + ebook)

My most recent book is available in two languages, and in paperback as well as an ebook. The ebook format is Kindle, but even if you don’t have a Kindle device, you can read Kindle books on many other devices using a free Kindle app. That includes iPad, Android tablets, Mac computers, and Windows computers. Although generally speaking, Kindle books are readable on smartphones like Androids and iPhones, I don’t recommend it for this particular book since it contains both color photos and color comparison charts. The ebook is also DRM-free.

In English, it’s The Castilian Conspiracy. Click here and you will be automatically sent to the closest Amazon book page to you based upon your IP address. Or request ISBN–10: 1456310232 or ISBN–13: 978–1456310233 in your favorite local bookstore.

En castellano, se llama La conspiración del castellano. Haz clic aquí para llegar al instante a la página del libro correspondiente a tu zona y moneda en Amazon, según tu dirección IP. De lo contrario, solicítalo en tu librería preferida con los ISBN–10: 1492783390 ó el ISBN–13: 978–1492783398.

FTC disclosure

No manufacturer is specifically paying Allan Tépper or TecnoTur LLC to write this article or the mentioned books. Some of the other manufacturers listed above have contracted Tépper and/or TecnoTur LLC to carry out consulting and/or translations/localizations/transcreations. Many of the manufacturers listed above have sent Allan Tépper review units. So far, none of the manufacturers listed above is/are sponsors of the TecnoTur programs, although they are welcome to do so, and some are, may be (or may have been) sponsors of ProVideo Coalition magazine. Some links to third parties listed in this article and/or on this web page may indirectly benefit TecnoTur LLC via affiliate programs.

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