Compressor 4?

Should I upgrade from Compressor 3.5 to Compressor 4, if I'm concerned only with quality and control, not speed?

1. Is Compressor 4 a freestanding application (with no need for FCP-X)?

2. Does Compressor 4 output higher quality results than Compressor 3.5?
I find 3.5's main weakness in its deinterlacing, rescaling, and other "frame controls". 3.5's "optical flow" algorithms are inefficient and weak compared with competitors' algorithms. Is 4 an all new Compressor based on better image processing algorithms?
Better, smarter coding algorithms would also be nice. Professional quality MPEG-2's would be great.

3. Does Compressor 4 provide as full user control as Compressor 3.5? 3.5's "Inspector" is a bit nutty but workable.

Thanks

Dennis Couzin
Berlin, Germany

Compressor 4 is almost exactly the same as 3.5. The only major changes are that Qmaster is integrated into the app now and some new presets have been added and others taken away.

My software:
Pro Maintenance Tools - Tools to keep Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro running smoothly and fix problems when they arise
Pro Media Tools - Edit QuickTime chapters and metadata, detect gamma shifts, edit markers, watch renders and more
More tools...

Jon: thanks much for the info.

Dennis Couzin
Berlin, Germany