Hi. Looks like OS Catalina will be the final nail in the coffin for Squeeze, which I have been stubbornly hanging on to. Any recommendations for a replacement moving forward?

I like Shutter Encoder. It's easy to use and free.

If it's just to make H.264's...

Handbrake? (it's also free)

TotalCode is about the nearest serious equivalent at a similar price to Sorenson, when it was current:

https://www.mainconcept.com/eu/products/for-professionals/vod-transcoding/totalcode-studio.html

I think Avid dropped a ball when Neilson bought Sorenson IP for around $10 million - proper affordable encoders - not yet another gui for ffmpeg - are thin on the ground. Avid Media Encoder could have been a fantastic evolution from SS.

Shutter Encoder is one of the better gui fronts though.

Mercer:

TotalCode is about the nearest serious equivalent at a similar price to Sorenson, when it was current:

https://www.mainconcept.com/eu/products/for-professionals/vod-transcoding/totalcode-studio.html

I think Avid dropped a ball when Neilson bought Sorenson IP for around $10 million - proper affordable encoders - not yet another gui for ffmpeg - are thin on the ground. Avid Media Encoder could have been a fantastic evolution from SS.

Shutter Encoder is one of the better gui fronts though.

Squeeze, while might have been only $10 million to own, to develop it would have been much more. With Vantage types on the high-end, MediaEncoder / Compressor in the middle and ffmeg GUIs at the free level, Avid Squeeze would have a very narrow path to profitability.

Thanks. I'll try a couple of these...

Davinci Resolve is pretty awesome encoding h.264/h.265. On my latop it will enconde a 2h file in about 14 mins. You should try it but it requires a beefy machine.