Back in December 2013, I published my “first look” article about the then just-announced Switch application for Mac OS from Telestream, which in many ways has already gone way beyond what the QuickTime Pro app ever did. Now that Switch is shipping, I was able to get a review license from the company and ahead you will see what I like, and what should be added to this promising audiovisual tool.

In this article

• Info from the “first look” article
• Pro Player from Digital Heaven
• SimpleMovie X from Aero Quartet
• Enter Switch from Telestream
• Switch’s extended inspection capabilities
• Switch’s current inspection weakness
• Switch’s conversion and transcoding capabilities
• Switch’s current conversion weaknesses
• Switch’s iTunes Store asset preparation capabilities
• Conclusions about Switch

Info from the “first look” article

On December 18, 2013, I published my first look article about Telestream’s Switch (which wasn’t yet available). There, I compared two other applications that had previously challenged the QuickTime players, both QuickTime X and QuickTime 7 Pro (quite old, but still available from Apple for US$29.99). Here is a quick review before we delve into Switch.

Pro Player from Digital Heaven

Pro Player is a US$29.99 app from Digital Heaven in England and Wales in the United Kingdom. From the creator:

With its beautifully designed monochromatic interface, Pro Player provides a fast, elegant and streamlined way to review or present your content. Motion graphics designers will appreciate the ability to quickly view alpha channel and transparency, and with playback controls outside the image, you get to see all of your video, all of the time.

Unlike the other two programs listed ahead, Pro Player (as indicated in its title) is only to play, not to edit or to transcode. More info on Pro Player is available here.

SimpleMovie X from Aero Quartet

SimpleMovie X is a US$39 app from Aero Quartet in Sant Cugat del Vallès, which is a town and municipality north of the city of Barcelona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, but within the province of Barcelona. The developer calls SimpleMovie X a “lightweight video editor for Mac users”. Its features include support for lossless MP4 AVI, chapters, tags for iTunes, search capability, and batch conversion/transcoding. Aero Quartet has created an extensive comparison chart with QuickTime Pro (7). More info on SimpleMovie X is available here.

Enter Switch from Telestream

The above video about Switch's player capabilities was supplied by Telestream.

Switch is the new contender from Telestream in Nevada City, California, with a team located in France, Germany, UK, and US. Switch is now available in two possible versions:

1. The basic Switch is free, and offers playback and some inspection, but is much more limited.
2. US$295 for Switch Pro, with “full” playback and inspection capabilities, plus conversion and transcoding.

The exact differences between these two versions are visible here.

Switch’s extended inspection capabilities

The above video about Switch's inspection capabilities was supplied by Telestream.

Both QuickTime X and QuickTime 7 Pro’s have always had an Inspector (where we have been able to determine things like the framerate, video códec, and audio sampling of a particular audio or video file)

Switch’s Inspector thankfully displays the 23.976 framerate to the third decimal, as shown above in this clip from a Sony A7s camera, courtesy of Jorge González of Acquest.TV

but Switch’s Inspector fortunately goes way beyond, since in addition to all of those things, Switch can show us valuable information like:

• video subsampling (i.e. 4:2:0, 4:2:2, or 4:4:4) of a video file
• the color space of a video file (i.e. ITU-R BT–709, 601, and many more)
• the locale, including the language
• I really love the fact that Switch’s Inspector shows the 23.976 framerate to the third decimal (This is a pet peeve with some other apps, which I’ve documented in many past articles.)
• together with the framerate, Switch can fortunately show us the field dominance or progressive status. However…

However, this last one is the first area where Switch’s inspection capabilities have room for improvement, as you’ll see ahead in this article.

Like both the free QuickTime X and the paid QuickTime 7 Pro (and many other Mac OS applications), the Inspector is accessed either from the menu or from the keyboard by simultaneously pressing CMD and the letter I. Switch’s Inspector is not only much more complete than the one in either of Apple’s two QuickTime players, it is also a bit easier to read, since Switch’s Inspector’s background is not translucent. Also, as you’ll see ahead in this article, Switch’s Inspector is also the place where you set the details when making conversions or transcoding if you have the paid version, which is —in my opinion— better than the way it’s done with Apple’s QuickTime player offering, via an Export dialog box.

On page 2 of this article

• Switch’s current inspection weakness
• Switch’s conversion and transcoding capabilities
• Switch’s current conversion weaknesses
• Switch’s iTunes Store asset preparation capabilities
• Conclusions about Switch

Click here for page 2 of this article…

Switch’s current inspection weakness

As stated earlier, Switch’s Inspector can fortunately indicate a video file’s field dominance, or whether it is progressive. That’s where it stops. At publication time of this article with version 1.0.1.4, Switch is incapable of properly indicating the status of a PsF file, as defined in my PsF missing workflow series, where I have also defined the differences between benign and malignant PsF files. First, I inspected a benign 1080/29.97PsF file from a professional Sony AVCHD camera, and Switch indicated that it was progressive 29.97p, which —although not completely specific— is actually fine. Then I inspected a malignant 1080/25PsF file which was produced by a Canon AVCHD camera,

and (as you’ll see above) Switch inappropriately indicated that the clip is interlaced. Then I inspected the exact same malignant 1080/25PsF file with version 2.6.9 of ClipWrap

(see my 2011 review here and followup here),

and (as shown above) ClipWrap properly indicated that the same file was 25PsF. I then proceeded to re-wrap the file with ClipWrap (without any transcoding), and only then Switch was capable of reporting that the re-wrapped file was 1080/25p. More about this in the upcoming two sections.

Switch’s conversion and transcoding capabilities

The above video about Switch's conversion and transcoding capabilities was supplied by Telestream.

As indicated earlier, unlike performing conversions, transcoding, and resampling via an Export dialog (as is the case with Apple’s QuickTime players), Switch handles them via its five-tabbed Inspector. At publication time of this article with version 1.0.1.4, Switch is currently capable of transcoding video to various ProRes formats, making changes to color space, cropping, and changing pixel aspect ratio. If the original file is either truly interlaced (or mistakenly identified as interlaced by Switch), you have the option to de-interlace it, to make it progressive. (More about that in the next section.) In the audio department, Switch is capable of changing audio channels, format, bit depth, and sampling rate. Telestream confirmed to me that when you request a change in audio sampling rate, Switch actually resamples the audio: it does not simply change the metadata.

Switch’s current conversion weaknesses

I am surprised there aren’t more video códec options available to transcode, and Telestream responded that they absolutely plan to add more transcoding capabilities in future versions. Currently, if you have an audio/video file, Switch offers no way to extract the video completely (creating an audio-only file), or to extract the audio file (creating a silent video file). Telestream responded that these requests have come from others and that they plan to do it.

Continuing with the PsF issues which I started in the inspection capabilities section:

• Beyond being able to detect certain common malignant PsF formats (i.e. Canon AVCHD) the way ClipWrap does, Switch should have the manual capability to assign them to be classified as progressive when transcoding. Unnecessary de-interlacing of progressive video can consume resources unnecessarily and be damaging for your video’s quality.
• From an already identified progressive video file (i.e. 1080/25p or 1080/29.97p), Switch should be capable of segmenting them into “interlaced” (actually 25PsF or 29.97PsF that actually appear to be 1080/50i or 1080/59.94i respectively). This is helpful to appease some agents at 1080i TV stations who don’t quite get it.

Switch’s iTunes Store asset preparation capabilities

The above video about Switch's iTunes Store asset preparation capabilities was supplied by Telestream.

Conclusions about Switch

The free version of Switch seems to be far superior to any free solution for playing and inspecting. For the US$295 paid version for conversions and transcoding, it is silly to attempt make a generalized conclusion about it, since some of its capabilities are unique to Switch; others are stronger than other tools, and others are currently weaker. Check the details throughout this article to help you decide based upon your needs. I am hopeful that Telestream will add the requested features listed throughout this article faster than they have with a pending one I made for Wirecast and Wirecast Pro.

More info about Switch is available here.

Upcoming articles, reviews, and books

Stand by for upcoming articles, reviews, and books. Sign up to my free mailing list by clicking here.

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

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:

In English, it is currently available in the following Amazon stores, depending upon your region:

• Amazon.com, for the US and other countries in the Americas that don’t currently have their own Amazon store, or anywhere if you simply prefer it
• Amazon.br for Brazil
• Amazon.ca for Canada
• Amazon.de for Germany
• Amazon.es for Spain pero a lo mejor lo preferirás en castellano, a continuación)
• Amazon.fr for France
• Amazon.in for India
• Amazon.it for Italy
• Amazon.co.jp for Japan
• Amazon.com.mx for México
• Amazon.co.uk for the United Kingdom

Or in your favorite bookstore by requesting ISBN–10: 1456310232 or ISBN–13: 978–1456310233.

En castellano:

En castellano, está disponible actualmente en las siguientes tiendas Amazon, según tu región:

• Amazon.com para EE.UU. y todas las Américas donde no existe ninguna tienda particular… o en cualquier parte si simplemente lo prefieres
• Amazon.com.br para Brasil
• Amazon.co.jp para Japón
• Amazon.de para Alemania
• Amazon.es para España
• Amazon.fr (Francia)
• Amazon.in para India
• Amazon.it para Italia
• Amazon.com.mx para México
• Amazon.co.uk para el Reino Unido

o en tu librería preferida al solicitar el ISBN–10: 1492783390 ó el ISBN–13: 978–1492783398.

Allan Tépper’s other 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 TecnoTur program, which is now available both in Castilian (aka “Spanish”) and in English, free of charge. Search for TecnoTur in iTunes or visit TecnoTur.us for more information.

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.

Copyright and use of this article

The articles contained in the TecnoTur channel in ProVideo Coalition magazine are copyright Allan Tépper/TecnoTur LLC, except where otherwise attributed. Unauthorized use is prohibited without prior approval, except for short quotes which link back to this page, which are encouraged!