Are you one of those people who play around with video files? Do you make video files? Are you frustrated with the enormous size of the completed files? If the answer was yes to any of the questions above, then have I got a program for you. The name of the program is Media Cleaner Pro 4.0 and it comes from Terran Interactive.

What is so special about Media Cleaner Pro 4.0? It takes your video files and compresses them so that the completed files are a fraction of the original size. You can add multiple files to a single output and even add still images to complete a video file. Then you can use the files on a CD-ROM, online or other output.

How many different formats does Media Cleaner Pro 4.0 support? It can read MPEG-1, QuickTime, DV and Video For Windows video formats. The audio formats that the program reads include AIFF/AIFC, AU, WAV, QuickTime and System 7 Sound. It can also read a variety of still image formats like GIF, JPEG, QuickDraw GX Picture and TIFF. The animation files that the program can read include FLI's and Animated GIF's.

There are several different formats that the program writes to. For video, the program can write to DV, RealG2, Video For Windows, Windows Media, QuickTime or MPEG. The audio output formats include DV, MP3, RealAudio/RealG2 and WAV. If you want still image output, those formats are BMP, PICT, GIF, QuickTime Image File and JPEG. The animation output formats are Image Sequence and FLC.

The program interacts with other Windows programs so that you can drag and drop media files into Media Cleaner. You can also use the New or Add to Batch pull-down menu functions.

How does Media Cleaner Pro 4.0 work? When you load the Media Cleaner Pro, the main program window appears. Within this window is a smaller window for the batch files. Add the files that you want to compress to this smaller window. This is accomplished by either the drag and drop or menu options mentioned above.

Once you have added all of the files that need to be compressed or modified, the processing can begin. The Batch window allows several things to happen. You can assign a priority level to each of the items in the batch list. To give the 5th item the 1st priority either drag it to the top of the list or change it from the pull-down menu that comes up if you click on the priority level. To the right of the priority level is the name of the item that is being modified by Media Cleaner Pro. Click on the item title and it will play in another window that pops up on the screen.

To the right of the title name is the Setting. This is the nuts and bolts part of Media Cleaner Pro. Click on the Setting and a Settings Wizard will appear. You can choose output media like DVD, CD-ROM and Web files. You can also output to a Still Picture format, Kiosk and Hard Drive or a format that can be exported to DV tape for enhanced viewing or broadcasting.

After you select the output, move on to the quality phase. You can choose from low-end, middle of the road or high-end computer formats. The low-end computer format that could viewed on older systems like a 486 will have a lesser quality video output. The high end that can be viewed on the newer Pentiums will have a crisp, clear appearance. These selections are for the CD-ROM, DVD-ROM and Kiosk/Hard Drive formats.

If you are outputting to any of the above formats, your next step is to decide a CD-Rom speed for your file to play at. The choices are 1x, 2x, 4x and 8x Or Better. This part is essential so that you can have the most accurate output for the target audience.

Now it is time to decide which final output format is best for your project. You can output to MPEG, AVI or QuickTime formats. There are pros and cons to each format. It's up to you to decide which format will suit your purposes.

After you have completed all of the Settings, simply click on the Start button in the Batch window and Media Cleaner Pro 4.0 will work all of it's magic to shrink your media file to a fraction of it's original size.

How much does Media Cleaner Pro 4. shrink down a media file? I had a test file that I had made from some still images. This file was created in Adobe Premiere and exported as an AVI file. The exported file size was 82.7 MB. After running the file through Media Cleaner Pro 4.0, it shrunk down to 11.8 MB. That's less that 15 percent of the original file size. Now that's impressive!

There are other types of files that can be made with Media Cleaner Pro. If you are really into MP3, the Terran Interactive has incorporated a MP3 encoder into the program. You can also produce Streaming audio and video with this program.

The program allows certain editing functions as well. You can crop or trim a movie. You can choose the frame rate for output or change the compression ratio if it's not what you'd intended. You can also use the embedding features to include the output as part of another Window's based item.

The system requirements for this program are not too intensive. You will only need a Pentium with a 2x CD-ROM drive. You will need 32 MB of RAM for Windows 95 or 98. 64 MB of RAM will be needed if you're using Windows NT. A 16-bit SVGA monitor is necessary, along with about 5 MB of free hard drive space.

Now to the only downside to the program. The price. Media Cleaner Pro 4.0 lists for $ 499. But if you have a need to produce quality video with a reduced output, this program can't beat.

Who uses Media Cleaner Pro 4.0? People like Mike Church of Universal Studios. Mike uses this product to prepare Universal's movie trailers for distribution on CD-ROM and the studio's web site. Doug Werner at Apple recently used Media Cleaner Pro to help the production team at Lucas Films prepare some Star Wars trailers.

You can check out the latest about Media Cleaner Pro 4.0 and other Terran Interactive products at their web site. The site can be found at www.terran.com. There is even a demo version of Media Cleaner Pro 4.0 that you can download from the web site.

What do I really think of Media Cleaner Pro 4.0? I feel that this is the best program on the market for compressing video and making a small footprint output. I was really impressed by the compression level that the program was able obtain for my test file. I even was able to compress a couple of WAV files to a fraction of their original size. To me, this is a program well worth spending the money on.