ASSIMILATE (www.assimilateinc.com) today announced that SCRATCH and SCRATCH Lab version 6.1 have achieved never-before-seen performance levels in the playback of RED EPIC Stereo content. SCRATCH Lab now provides DITs, DPs and Directors with dailies playback and review of RAW Stereo EPIC streams, direct from the camera at a full 48 FPS. SCRATCH 6.1 finishing systems can achieve the same 48 FPS playback rate of EPIC Stereo content even after sophisticated color grades and VFX have been applied.

Luma Pictures used SCRATCH for VFX post on Underworld Awakening, a RED Epic stereo production

Now, Directors and DPs that are planning the next generation of stereo feature films can have the confidence of knowing that they can maintain the integrity of their shot from on-set QC and review, all the way through post-production. And best of all, they can eliminate the costly and time-consuming step of transcoding.

“48 FPS Stereo EPIC feature films are the next holy grail on the moviemaking horizon”, said Ted Schilowitz of RED. “Directors are constantly pushing the envelope to deliver the highest quality cinematic experience possible, and EPIC is the camera of choice for the majority of the top stereo productions in 2012. We’re delighted that these productions now have the benefit of 48 FPS playback, review and QC of stereo EPIC shots, on-set and in realtime, with an industry-leading tool like SCRATCH Lab. The ability to achieve 48 FPS Stereo EPIC support in a world-class dailies workflow system for less than $5,000 is astonishing”.

Jeff Edson, CEO of ASSIMILATE, said, “SCRATCH and SCRATCH Lab have been at the leading edge of digital moviemaking since the original RED One camera. Today’s announcement is just another example of how SCRATCH and Lab and RED continue to set the pace for the industry. ASSIMILATE is dedicated to delivering the highest quality, most consistent artist experience for file-based content – from image acquisition, all the way through DI and post. We’re committed to continue working in lock-step with RED as we consistently deliver the technology that changes the way the world watches movies”.

SCRATCH Digital Workflow Tools

ASSIMILATE’s SCRATCH and SCRATCH Lab deliver the industry’s most comprehensive toolset for data-centric digital cinema and broadcast productions for 2D and 3D stereo projects at up to 5K resolution and beyond. New 6.1 versions of the software, running on Mac OS X and Windows 7, feature SDI output via AJA Kona 3G graphics cards, wicked-fast dailies rendering, improved metadata and timecode handling, and enhanced RED workflow support.

ASSIMILATE is the premier provider of digital workflow and post-production tools, that have proven essential to the successful creation of thousands of studio and independent features, television shows, music videos and corporate video productions. The company’s SCRATCH products, running on Windows and Mac OSX, are the heartbeat of today’s most demanding digital post-production and dailies workflows for 2D and stereo 3D productions. They equip Directors, DPs and Artists with the state-of-the-art, intuitive, data-centric solutions they need to meet the continual challenges of increased creativity and productivity amid ever-shrinking budgets. ASSIMILATE’s SCRATCH data-centric DI system, is the most comprehensive, end-to-end cinema and broadcast imaging tool for playback, conform, editing, color grading, compositing and finishing of RED and other digital workflows. SCRATCH Lab delivers a comprehensive toolset for the review, versioning, color correction, conform and output of on-set or VFX dailies. ASSIMILATE a privately held company, with headquarters in Santa Clara, California, USA, offices in London, UK, Groningen, NL and Beijing City, CN and markets its products worldwide via a global reseller network. www.assimilateinc.com.

Productions achieve award-winning results with NewTek LightWave 3D®

NewTek congratulates the winners and nominees of the 10th Annual VES Awards for outstanding visual effects artistry in 23 categories of film, animation, television, commercials, special venues and video games.

NewTek LightWave 3D® software seamlessly integrates into the production pipelines of many VES Award winners and nominees, including 2012 VES Award winner “Terra Nova” for “Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series.”

“The ‘Terra Nova’ visual effects team is very deserving of its VES win—the visual effects work throughout the entire series was outstanding,” said Rob Powers, VP and head of 3D Development at NewTek. “The energy at the VES Awards was incredible. We are very excited to continue to support the VES in the coming years as they honor the best in the visual effects industry.”

Of the many winning and nominated entries of the 2012 VES Awards, LightWave was used in the creative pipelines of several productions, including:

- “Captain America: The First Avenger”
- “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”
- “The Adventures of Tintin”
- “Terra Nova”
- “Pan Am”
- “Renee the Movie”

The 10th Annual VES Awards are scheduled to air on REELZCHANNEL Sunday, February 19 at 10pm ET/7pm PT. For more information on the VES Awards and the Visual Effects Society please visit www.visualeffectssociety.com.

About LightWave™

LightWave is designed to support the creative process, providing the artist with the ability to interact in real time with 3D content, to work seamlessly with the full range of software applications in production pipelines and to render on unlimited render nodes. LightWave 11 incorporates groundbreaking technology, including the Virtual Preview Renderer (VPR) for onscreen real-time rendering and Anaglyph Stereoscopic Preview for real-time interocular, ‘red-blue’ anaglyphic separations and more.
For more information, please visit www.newtek.com.

About NewTek

Benefiting producers and artists with cost-effective and groundbreaking technologies, NewTek is a worldwide leader in portable live production, video editing, 3D animation and special effects tools, including the TriCaster™ product line, 3Play™ and LightWave 3D®. NewTek has won numerous industry accolades, including two Emmy® Awards.

Clients include: “The X Factor,” ESPN X Games, New York Giants, NBA Development League, Fox News, BBC, NHL, Nickelodeon, CBS Radio, ESPN Radio, Fox Sports, MTV, TWiT.TV , USA TODAY, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NewTek products have been used in feature films and television shows, including “Avatar,” “The Adventures of Tintin,” “Terra Nova,” “Fringe,” “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” and more.

NewTek is privately owned and based in San Antonio, Texas. For more information on NewTek please visit: www.newtek.com, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr or connect with us on Facebook.

Bergen, Norway, Vizrt Ltd. (Oslo Main List: VIZ)

Vizrt Ltd., a leading provider of content production tools for the digital media industry, has completed the implementation of Vizrt’s “Newsroom Connect” ActiveX plug-in for Viz Content Pilot at TVE — Spain’s largest public television network. Viz Content Pilot is Vizrt’s core content control system.

Vizrt’s graphics creation tools are now fully integrated within the Avid newsroom environment of TVE’s GALICIA TERRITORIAL CENTER, making TVE one of the first broadcasters in Spain to implement this technology. TVE has used the system since December for its Territorial Journal.

Vizrt’s ActiveX plug-in allows users of the Avid iNews newsroom computer system (NRCS)—as well as many other NRCS — to create graphics for their news stories from within the NRCS. Newsroom Connect now goes a step further and interfaces with Avid iNews Command, Avid’s automation system that manages the “playlist” and playout of news stories in the rundown.

“The newsroom computer system, which is at the heart of any modern news broadcast operation, gives journalists all the tools they need to develop, write, and edit news stories without leaving a self-contained production environment. Now that Viz Content Pilot is fully integrated with iNews and Command, journalists, news directors, and producers can create, preview, control, and playout their Pilot graphics without ever leaving that workflow,” said Petter Ole Jakobsen, Chief Technology Officer at Vizrt.

Viz Content Pilot graphics can then be linked to specific news stories, along with their start/end timecodes and durations and dropped into the Avid iNews rundown. Once that rundown and the associated graphics metadata are loaded into Avid Command, the automated playout system generates a playlist that triggers playout from a Viz Engine real time rendering system, with video clips as primary and graphics as secondary events. The integration allows Avid Command automatically to see, request, and playout specific Viz graphics at the appropriate time during newscasts.

“With this innovative newsroom integration, our journalists who are most familiar with particular news stories can create their own animated graphics by adding elements such as text, lower third supers, data, images, and video into ready-to-use Viz Content Pilot templates, all from within iNews,” said Alberto Lema (Chief of Production and Media) at TVE in Galicia.

“This accurate, seamless integration between the Viz Content Pilot graphics system and Avid newsroom workflow enables us quickly to create visually rich graphics for our live newscasts,” Lema added. “For broadcast newsrooms, these are vital, empowering tools, and now they work seamlessly together.”

About Vizrt:
Vizrt’s content management system, Escenic Content Engine, manages media assets for websites and cross-channel publishing, allowing customers to publish online content onto numerous platforms. Content and page layout is be optimized and formatted to support the full capabilities of each individual device. The Widget Framework, a component of the Escenic Content Engine, is used to build and flexibly manage websites.

Vizrt’s product suite is used by the world’s leading broadcasters, publishing houses and telecom operators, including: YLE (Finland), TV 2 (Norway), The Sun, The Independent, The Telegraph, London Evening Standard (all UK), n-tv.de, Welt Online, Axel Springer (all Germany), The Globe and Mail (USA), and Aftonbladet (Sweden).

Vizrt is a public company traded on the Oslo Main List: VIZ, ISIN: IL0010838154.

Press contacts:

Martin Burkhalter Ofra Brown HåvardMyklebust
President & CEO CFO EVP Marketing
+41 22 365 75 01 +47 5351 8040 +47 9184 5602
mbu@vizrt.com ofra@vizrt.com hmyklebust@vizrt.com

Orad’s lineup will include state of the art on-air graphics, studio, sports, MAM, and video server solutions for the broadcast industry
 
February 8, 2012 – Orad, world leader of award winning, real time, 3D graphics, video servers, and media asset management solutions will be presenting its newest product lineup at the upcoming 2012 NAB Show (booth SL4524). Orad’s professionals will be on-site to provide attendees with informative demonstrations and presentations of its on-air, studio, MAM, sports and video server solutions.
 
“The 2012 NAB Show is the perfect forum to demonstrate our wide variety of unique broadcasting solutions. Visitors to our booth will enjoy exciting interactive demos, giving them a feel for the endless possibilities Orad’s solutions can offer,” comments Avi Sharir, President and CEO of Orad. “This NAB Show, Orad will also be presenting some new solutions that will greatly facilitate the production workflow.”
 
NAB Show 2012 Lineup – What to See at the Orad Booth
 
Press and attendees are invited to stop by the Orad booth (SL4524) to see Orad’s award-winning solutions.
 
• TD Control: Orad’s TD Control allows Technical Directors (switcher operator) to select different video box compositions and assign different video sources to each of the video boxes, enabling tasks that could not have been achieved before, like switching on air from six video sources to completely different video sources with one click of a button.
 
• PowerPlay: PowerPlay is a turnkey solution that manages fast turnaround sports productions from ingest, through instant highlight editing, to dedicated sports media asset management in a post-production environment. PowerPlay is designed to provide a complete solution for large-scale sporting events, focusing on fast turnaround and advanced data management tools.
 
• PlayMaker: PlayMaker, Orad’s SD/HD, slow-motion video server, is designed to meet the growing challenges of live sports productions. PlayMaker provides up to 8 I/O channels of high quality ingest in multiple video formats, including DVCpro, DNxHD and JPEG200, with synchronized slow motion replay and powerful yet simple editing tools. With its “PlayNet” module, PlayMaker provides Gigabit network file sharing between servers for preview, copy, or instant playout of clips from remote servers. For an extremely fast turnaround workflow, PlayMaker introduces instant import and export capabilities to almost any storage or NLE environment. PlayMaker supports tapeless workflow with the export and import of video footage to and from NLE systems.
 
• iFind: iFind is a sophisticated media management solution, which provides the user with the ability to manage the essential elements of a complete broadcast server, graphics and archive system from a web browser. Powerful search, workflow and management functionality is available, which can be tailored to a station’s individual requirements to maintain a smooth day-to-day operation. Simple to use, the combination of the iFind user interface and rules engine produces a powerful workflow management system, the benefits of which can be quickly identified to bring a fast return on investment. The system’s iFind Asset Core is the powerful database that underpins the media asset management system, providing flexible, user configurable metadata schemas. In addition, advanced business rules based and process driven workflows enable essential functions such as archiving, restore from archive, clip movement and deletion.
 
• RadioTV: RadioTV enables the automatic broadcast of radio shows, including live videos, real-time 3D graphics and promos, over digital media without human intervention. RadioTV is completely automated and relies on unique audio detection software to identify the talent’s voice and determine which camera should be on air. Camera switching does not require human intervention and the existing workflow is maintained without any additional costs. RadioTV offers a complete set of 3D graphic templates including supers, titles, logos, promos and other elements, and supports the playback of full-frame videos, opening new revenue streams for advertising and sponsorships.
 
• Interact: Orad’s Interact enables television presenters to control and direct the content on their touch screens, video walls and other input devices, helping them engage more with their viewers. Orad now offers its dedicated OradTouch application, which enables presenters to interact with the graphics using their iPad and control the content and flow of production while moving around the production space freely. Interact supports single, dual and multi-touch displays from a variety of manufacturers, allowing broadcasters to choose the device that best suits their production’s style and budget.
 
• MVP: Emmy Award-winning MVP provides fast preparation of captivating sports highlight clips to better visualize critical plays, the flow of the game, and post-game analysis. MVP can be deployed for any sports event and can be used for live productions or highlight shows, from either the OB VAN or the studio, and supports up to 32 different cameras without camera or lens modifications. New enhancement features include: virtual camera flights between two real cameras; viewing a play as it is drawn on the coach’s drawing board comparing the position and technique of individual athletes; drawing a specific player in color on top of a black and white background, and breaking down a play into a sequence of frames to better analyze the player’s movements, and more.
 
• Maestro: Maestro addresses all broadcasters’ graphic needs for real time, pre- and post-production environments. The latest version of Maestro introduces many interesting features that improve usability in a studio environment, and the connection to external systems and data sources. The new OradControl iPad application enables television anchors to control Maestro graphics by using an iPad. Also new are integrations with Avid’s Command and an NLE plugin for Adobe’s Premiere, further expanding Maestro’s extensive list of supported NLE systems.
 
• 3DPlay: 3DPlay, Orad’s advanced channel branding solution, offers stunning 3D graphics for promo over credits, multiple tickers, video clips playback, etc. 3DPlay covers the entire workflow from integration with traffic, scheduling and automation, to frame accurate graphic playout. 3DPlay offers user management, customized metadata, and logic-based, scripting free graphics.
 
• Morpho: Morpho is a real time, 3D character generator that offers uncompromised creation and playout capabilities from a single user interface. Powerful 3D real time graphics rendering, smart graphic design tools and flexible playout capabilities are packed together, offering an efficient and easy workflow. Creation and playout are performed from a single interface, increasing reactivity in production. Morpho is the perfect solution for branding, OB VAN, news and other studio productions.
 
• ProSet: ProSet, Orad’s high-end virtual studio solution, provides a powerful dimension to any virtual studio production. ProSet can utilize any of Orad’s many tracking solutions, including its high-end Xync infrared tracking system with 360 degrees of free camera movement. By combining state of the art tracking with sophisticated graphics, ProSet enables the broadcaster to display a big studio look from a small location.
 
Book A Private Press Briefing
To set up a press briefing with a member of Orad’s management team or a private product viewing, please contact Janice Dolan at janice(at)zazilmediagroup(dot)com.
 
About Orad
Orad Hi-Tec Systems is a world-leading provider of real time 3D broadcast graphic and video server solutions including news, channel branding, sports production and enhancement, elections and special events, virtual studios, and virtual advertisement. Orad’s compelling solutions streamline production workflow, enhance viewer experience, and improve production value. Founded in 1993, Orad is a public company listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (OHT). More information is available at www.orad.tv
 
Press Contacts
Ofir Benovici
VP Marketing
Orad Hi Tec Systems
ofirb(at)orad(dot)tv
 
Anya Oskolkova
Zazil Media Group
anya(at)zazilmediagroup(dot)com
(p) 617.817.6559

The Grunge Collection, available now on FxFactory 3, features four new visual effects products to add a grungy feel through gritty textures and transitions, lighting, film burns, and more
 
Boston, MA – February 8, 2012 – Noise Industries, developer of visual effects tools for the post-production and broadcast markets, is pleased to welcome the latest collection of Luca Visual FX plug-ins to FxFactory 3. The Grunge Collection features four brand new visual effects tools: Grunge Effects, Film Leaders, Sprocket Slip, and Light Leaks – offering users the first complete plug-in solution for a wide range of grungy effects. The family of tools is available as individual downloads, and is compatible with Final Cut Pro®, Motion, and After Effects®. Watch a promo video of the Grunge Collection plug-in package here.
 
The Grunge Collection includes the following four products:
 
Grunge Effects
Grunge Effects consists of Grunge Overlays and Grunge Transitions. Grunge Overlays offers a variety of animated textures that add a dynamic and intriguing feel to a project. Grunge Transitions includes an array of never released animated and often complex, grungy textures designed to be used mainly, but not exclusively, as transitions.
 
Offered at 99 USD, users can learn more about Grunge Effects here
Watch the Grunge Effects demo
 
Film Leaders
Film Leaders lets users create leaders that complement and enhance their projects. Editors have extensive control over the look and feel of their leaders and can adjust font type, size, kerning, spacing, texture, animation and more. Film Leaders also offers over 50 presets to choose from.
 
Offered at 99 USD, users can learn more about Film Leaders here
Watch the Film Leaders demo
Watch the Film Leaders tutorial
 
Sprockets Slip
Sprockets Slip lets editors recreate the effect of a sudden slip of a rolling film, revealing the loose perforations. The plug-in comes with an assortment of presets to start with plus a number of controls and light leaks to play with, giving the project a rough, gritty look.
 
Offered at 49 USD, users can learn more about Sprockets Slip here
Watch the Sprockets Slip demo
 
Light Leaks
Light Leaks is the first plug-in that allows editors to add this unique look to their video without using stock footage. An effect that originated as a camera flaw now gives a vintage feel to any project when applied. Users can adjust the geometry and stylization of the effect or apply extra filters for customization to the finest degree.
 
Offered at 59 USD, users can learn more about Light Leaks here
Watch the Light Leaks tutorial
 
More Information on Luca Visual FX Grunge Collection
 
The Grunge Collection Promo Video
 
Luca Visual FX Press Kit
Members of the press can download the XEffects press kit here
 
About Luca Visual FX
Luca Visual FX ltd. is a visual effects company based in the UK. Luca is an award-winning video-maker and editor with broadcast credits who has worked on a great variety of productions and for major clients such as Channel 4, BBC, Davis Films (Samuel Adida), Mika, Imogen Heap, Megaphone ltd. and many others. Luca started creating plug-ins using FCP native FXscript code before moving to FxFactory. For more information about Luca Visual FX, click here.
 
About Noise Industries, LLC
Established in 2004, Boston, Massachusetts-based Noise Industries is an innovative developer of visual effects tools for the post-production and broadcast community. Their products are integrated with popular non-linear editing and compositing products from Apple and Adobe. For more information about Noise Industries, click here.
 
Press Contacts
 Janice Dolan
 Zazil Media Group
 Janice[at]zazilmediagroup[dot]com
 (p) 617.817.6595
 (skype) janicedolan
 
Megan Linebarger
 Zazil Media Group
 Megan[at]zazilmediagroup[dot]com
 (p) 617.817.6595
 (skype) megan.zazil
 
####

Top Hollywood Facility Relies on Nucoda for Versatile Workflow

(Los Angeles, CA/London, UK) Image Systems – the leading manufacturer of image enhancement and mastering systems for post production – has announced that MTI Film in Hollywood, California, has installed its third Nucoda Film Master into its state-of-the-art facility. Opened in 2010, MTI Film is a full service post production facility providing high quality dailies, editorial, visual effects, color correction and assembly for film, television and commercial projects. MTI is currently at work on a number of projects, including AMC’s Hell on Wheels, CW’s Ringer, Good Christian Belles on ABC, and for TNT The Closer, Dallas, and Rizzoli & Isles, as well as a number of feature and restoration projects.

MTI installed its first Nucoda Film Master in 2010, as the facility prepared to open their Hollywood facility. Barbara Marshall, Executive Producer at MTI, noted, “The Nucoda is central to the way we work with our customers, whether they come to us with a feature, or a network or cable program. Its interoperability with Avid and the versatility of the toolset is crucial to our work and underpins our entire pipeline. We have found it to be an incredibly powerful creative tool.”

Steve Porter, Senior Colorist, noted, “Nucoda’s color grading toolset enables us to be gutsy when necessary and subtle when needed. It is ergonomic and intuitive. The fact that we can do a show like Hell On Wheels, which is extremely vivid, and turn right to Ringer, an elegant, female-driven show, says a lot about its capabilities. Our focus is to support the story and the filmmaker, and Nucoda is an essential part of that.”

The built-in effects in Nucoda Film Master have been extremely useful. Jeremy Sawyer, Colorist at MTI, noted that, “In addition to the great color grading tools, all of the other plug-ins and effects that come straight out of the box are outstanding. They are great for beauty work, the grain tools are top of the list, and the visual effects tools are truly powerful. In television, we ‘re often up against a tight deadline, and the tools in the Nucoda are extremely beneficial to us in hitting our schedule.”

MTI is busy with television projects but has a history of quality restoration services. The Nucoda Film Masters have been involved in a number of recent remastering projects, including classics; In Like Flint, Our Man Flint, and The Flight of the Phoenix for Twentieth Century Fox, among others. All of these iconic titles were remastered at 4K in MTI’s DI theatre.

Larry Chernoff, President of MTI concluded, “A year ago, we started with Nucoda Film Master at the center of our color operations. Since then, we’ve found our decision was more than validated by the consistent development, support and innovative ideas coming out of Image Systems, and we are delighted to continue our work with them.

About Image Systems
Image Systems Media Unit, formerly Digital Vision, is a division of Image Systems AB, which specializes in high-resolution image processing, film scanning and motion analysis solutions. Headquartered in Linköping, Sweden, Image Systems has offices in Stockholm, London and Los Angeles. The company has three business units: Media, Defense and Motion, managed via a global network of qualified distributors. Its Nucoda and Phoenix image grading and restoration software solutions and Golden Eye range of scanners provide innovative tools to create and master media in HD, 2K/4K and stereoscopic 3D. The TEMA software platform provides a range of user friendly, high-speed motion analysis solutions for the automotive industry and other industrial test and design applications. The TrackEye system provides image analysis solutions for the military reconnaissance and testing markets. For additional information, visit www.imagesystems.tv.

All trademarks used herein, whether recognized or not, are the properties of their respective companies.

About MTI
MTI Film is a full service Post Production facility providing high quality dailies, editorial, visual effects, color correction and assembly for film, television and commercial projects. MTI Film’s talented staff of seasoned industry veterans have served a number of high-profile projects including Rizzoli & Isles, Ringer, The Defenders, Through the Wormhole, Hell on Wheels and Dallas. As a leader in post-production technology, MTI Film’s facility is state-of-the art. With MTI Film’s award-winning Control Dailies at the head of the workflow, MTI Film offers unparalleled flexibility in the production’s choice of cameras, preferred editorial platform and deliverables formatting. MTI also boasts a brand new DI theater that is fully calibrated and capable of 4k playback. For more information visit www.mtifilm.com.

# # #

Image Systems Marketing Contact:
Alexa Maza | alexa.maza@imagesystems.se | Tel: +1 (818) 769-8111
Ulrika Liiv | ulrika.liiv@imagesystems.se | 46 (0) 8 546 18232

Image Systems USA PR Contact:
Ignite | Christine Purse | chris@ignite.bz | Tel: +1 818 303 8088 | Mobile: +1 323 806 9696

Image Systems EMEA & Asia PR Contact:
Jump PR | Kate Ford | kate@jumppr.tv | Tel: +44 (0) 1932 240001 | Mobile: +44 (0) 7740 948 065

Company will announce plans for “breakthrough” technology to be introduced this year
 
Paris, France – February 7, 2012 – Dalet Digital Media Systems will showcase enhancements in Dalet Enterprise Edition, their advanced Media Asset Management (MAM) platform, along with their technology solutions packaged for different production workflows at NAB 2012 in Las Vegas, NV from April 16 – 19 (stand SL4615).
 
On the NAB floor, Dalet will demonstrate several enhancements in Dalet Enterprise Edition, the MAM platform which unifies disparate systems to improve workflow productivity and to facilitate content distribution to multiple platforms, including broadcast, web, VOD and mobile. Dalet Enterprise Edition will be shown in combination with Dalet’s tailored production suites for news (Dalet News Suite), sports (Dalet Sports Factory) and radio (Dalet Radio Suite). In particular Dalet will be demonstrating several new, integrated modules for Dalet MediaLife which is focused on workflows for Program Preparation, MAM for Production and Archives. These new modules are focused on the many steps involving media transformation and content enrichment in the production chain.
 
“Our MAM offering transforms multisystem linear workflows into a fully integrated, federated and centralized workflow. And our specially packaged toolsets simplify the workflow for different types of production,” says Kevin Savina, Director of Product Management, Dalet “We’ve integrated tools in Dalet Media Life that include ingest, QC, clip creation, storyboarding, subtitling and closed captions. Tailored work-facilitating tools are also available for our news and sports solutions. Everyone works more efficiently which is especially important at a time when we all need to produce more with less.”
 
Dalet will also reveal the development roadmap for the year-end release of the next version of Dalet Enterprise Edition that will include new, breakthrough technology and major enhancements to the product.
 
“The market has been incredibly receptive to the benefits of our technology and MAM-centric approach. Our customers have been able to leverage our systems and know-how to realize genuine productivity gains,” says Stephane Schlayen, COO of Dalet. “Now we’re prepared to make yet another technology leap. At NAB 2012 we will announce the next major version of our Enterprise platform that will include many new features and advanced technology to improve workflow performance and agility. The new version, which will be released later this year, will further accelerate the productivity curve and provide additional value to our customers.”
 
Several new features in the current Dalet product line will also be shown shown on the booth. These include: enhanced multimedia editing capabilities, highly configurable usage restriction rules and rights management, streamlined metadata forms, expanded glossary and genealogy support, more powerful search capabilities and the ability to expose Dalet applications in 3rd party portals. Visitors to the booth can also see integrations with EVS, Avid and Adobe products.
 
Full demonstrations of Dalet Enterprise Edition and the Dalet MAM-driven workflows for News, Sports, Program Preparation, Archives and Radio will be available on the booth.
 
Dalet Enterprise Edition
 
Business-driven, Cross-System Metadata, Media and Workflow Management
 
Dalet Enterprise Edition is a full-featured, end-to-end media, metadata and workflow management system with multiple integration paths that unify different systems to deliver maximum flexibility for managing content production and distribution with business systems. Built-in production modules manage ingest, logging, production, distribution and archiving across systems and workgroups. The multimedia content catalog, customizable metadata forms and enterprise search engine makes content readily available to everyone who needs it – whether for editorial review or repurposing for new media distribution. Built as an open platform, Dalet Enterprise Edition can integrate easily with a wide range of non-linear editors, including Avid, Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premier. Graphics, archive, automation and other systems can also be integrated using a variety of methods, including using SOA compliant tools such as Web Services APIs. The highly scalable architecture and modern, flexible design of Dalet Enterprise Edition delivers a strong ROI and the assurance that new technologies can be added in the future.
 
Dalet News Suite
 
Collaborative News Production and Playout
 
Dalet News Suite, the only integrated, end-to-end, MAM-based newsroom production system on the market, improves efficiency, productivity and collaboration with its advanced design and smart tools. With fully integrated desktop scripting, video, graphic and multimedia tools, journalists are engaged in a smooth and intuitive workflow that allows them to concentrate on producing high quality content for broadcast and new media outlets. Content and metadata are enriched at every step — from ingest through automated playout, archives and multiplatform delivery. Dalet News Suite facilitates story-centric production and fosters collaboration between different departments — from the news desk, planning and production, to the control room and new media units. The Dalet MAM platform tracks it all and the workflow engine automates many background tasks. With full media and metadata tracking, the MAM platform provides a robust framework for managing assets and leveraging content to take advantage of new business opportunities.
 
Dalet Sports Factory
 
Fast Logging, Highlights Creation and Replay
 
Dalet Sports Factory offers fast sports production tools, fully integrated within an enterprise MAM platform. Sports Factory’s highlights and replay components cover logging, play-by-play highlights and playback, and instant replay with multiple camera angles and slow motion. Media is logged once and immediately available for use in programs and packages. Unlike typical sports production products, Dalet Sports Factory integrates both production archives and media management, ensuring all enriched media assets are at your fingertips both during and after the game. Designed on the open Dalet MAM platform, Sports Factory integrates with industry standard NLEs and other broadcast and sports production systems to provide a cohesive, fluid workflow.
 
Dalet Sports Logger features one-button logging and “intelligent” team rosters for fast highlight creation. One click denotes the type of play (goals, penalties, etc.) and the start of the highlight. Add player info with a single click on the roster display. Plays and metadata are accurately entered into your pre-configured MAM fields, adding value and consistency to game logs. Highlight starts can be set a few seconds before mark-ins, so that you’ll never miss a key play; all clips are immediately available in Dalet Hilites Espresso for fast assembly of multiple playlists.
 
Dalet Media Life
 
MAM and workflow automation for program prep and promos
 
Dalet Media Life leverages IT standards and infrastructure to meet the complex production and asset management needs of multiplatform content providers such as networks, thematic channels and promo departments who deal with high volumes of video and audio programming — from movies, documentaries and TV series to cartoons, promos and jingles. It has a flexible, comprehensive data model, a workflow engine to manage human and automated tasks, and a complete set of functional tools that are all accessible from the same user interface. Media Life is designed to integrate with third-party systems such as NLEs, automation devices, archives and business systems. It is an open platform with a variety of data exchange and integration paths, including using SOA compliant tools such as Web Services APIs.
 
Dalet Radio Suite
 
Radio …and more
 
Dalet Radio Suite is the only radio production and automation software that incorporates music workflows, news workflows, media asset management and multimedia distribution within the same system. Designed for the era of media convergence, Radio Suite is built on the powerful Media Asset Management (MAM) platform of Dalet Enterprise Edition and streamlines every aspect of the digital production chain for news and music channels. Stations can optimize their programming efforts for traditional over-the-air broadcasts as well as streaming, VOD, Podcasts and other platforms.
 
Combined with modular, task-specific tools, Dalet Radio Suite meets the comprehensive demands of large-scale newsrooms as well as the needs of multichannel music networks. Journalists have all the desktop tools they need to ingest audio, create scripts, record and edit audio, and build and manage rundowns. DJs can exercise their creativity with easy-to-use playlists, multitrack editing, and Carts for jingles and liners. Remote voice tracking tools facilitate contributions by off-site talent. Dalet OnAir is a proven and highly reliable automated solution used in some of the world’s largest multi-channel operations. Dalet Radio Suite is designed for outstanding scalability with hundreds of simultaneous users.
 
About Dalet Digital Media Systems
 
Dalet solutions enable broadcasters and media professionals to create, manage and distribute content to both traditional and new media channels, including interactive TV, the Web and mobile networks. Dalet combines into a single system a robust and proven Asset Management platform with advanced metadata capabilities; a configurable workflow engine, and a comprehensive set of purpose-built creative and production tools. This integrated and open environment enables end-to-end management of the entire News and Sport and Program content chain, and allows users to significantly improve efficiency, and to maximize the use and value of their assets. Dalet’s solutions are delivered through a dedicated Professional and Integration Services Department to ensure the highest possible standards. Dalet systems are used around the world by many thousands of individual users at hundreds of TV and Radio content producers, including public broadcasters (ABS-CBN, BBC, CBC, DR, France TV, RTBF, RFI, Russia Today, RSR & TSR, RT Malaysia, VOA, WDR), commercial networks and operators (Antena 3, Canal+, FOX, eTV, Mediaset, Orange, Time Warner Cable, Warner Bros., Sirius XM Radio) and government organizations (Queensland JAG, Canadian House of Commons, The European Commission). Dalet is traded on the NYSE-EURONEXT stock exchange (Eurolist C): ISIN: FR0011026749, Bloomberg DLT:FP, Reuters: DALE.PA.
 
For more information on Dalet, visit www.dalet.com
 
Press contact:
Janice Dolan
Zazil Media Group
(p) +1 617-817-6595
(e) janice(at)zazilmediagroup(dot)com
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Emmy Award-winning Artist Scott Rader Joins Team
(SANTA MONICA, CA) SPY, a FotoKem company offering creative finishing services for commercials and feature films, has opened a new studio in Santa Monica, Calif. SPY: LA extends the capabilities of its main facility in San Francisco, and will specialize in VFX based commercial productions. SPY: LA began work in December on a number of visually compelling spots for such clients as UPS, Asics, THQ/UFC, Hillshire Farm and Canon. The new West Coast locale is within FotoKem’s award-winning sound studio Margarita Mix.

Visual effects artist Scott Rader also joins SPY: LA as creative director and lead Flame artist. He previously worked at top VFX studios such as Radium, Hydraulx and Digital Domain. Rader’s work on numerous television series, feature films, commercials and music videos as an Inferno artist/VFX supervisor has earned him nine Emmys, three Clio Awards, three PromaxBDA Awards and a VES Award.

“Anchored by Emmy Award-winning talent and industry leading technology, SPY: LA provides the same level of quality services that is offered in our San Francisco facility,” says Co-Founder Eric Hanson. “The two studios are securely connected by a high speed network offering real-time interface capabilities between San Francisco and Santa Monica, and this west side location greatly enhances our ability to interface effectively with our clients.”

FotoKem Senior VP Rand Gladden notes, “There is synergy and scalability for our clients in the aggregation of solutions provided by SPY and Margarita Mix. The flexibility of SPY’s interconnected locations and FotoKem’s Burbank headquarters offers a wide range of artistic and technical support from set to delivery. Our goal is to continue to support the creative community through investments in talent and technology.”
Hanson adds, “The connection and design of the facilities will empower collaboration; when there are tight turnarounds, creative changes, and advancing deliveries, this will be a great value-add for the creative process.”

About SPY
SPY was founded in San Francisco in 1998 by Darren Orr and Hanson, and acquired by FotoKem in 2009. A highly regarded creative studio, SPY has contributed to many projects for some of the industry’s leading advertising agencies, including Goodby Silverstein & Partners, TBWA\Chiat\Day, Leo Burnett, DDB, and more. Over the past several years, SPY: SF has also provided visual effects for a number of features including Fox’s Avatar and Sony Screen Gem’s Priest, as well as effects and color grading for director Francis Ford Coppola on his visually complex self-released feature, Twixt.

For more information, go to www.spypost.com, or follow SPY on Facebook (www.facebook.com/spypost).

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Media Contacts:
Chris Purse / Lisa Muldowney
ignite strategic communications
818.303.8088
chris@ignite.bz / lisa@ignite.bz

BALTIMORE, Maryland – To help the world’s leading broadcasters and advertising agencies fully realize their ideas and visions, Baltimore, Maryland-based Producers Video relies on Fairlight’s XCS Constellation with the Xynergi as a center panel for a professional A/V solution. As Maryland’s premier film, video, audio production and post-production house, Producers Video runs campaigns for nationally known brands such as Dick’s Sporting Goods, Under Armour and Toyota, among others.

The addition of Fairlight’s XCS Constellation to Producers Video’s facility has been a catalyst for its continued success and expansion. “We never want to turn away clients or work opportunities as the flexibility and options we receive with Fairlight products is our major strength,” says Bob Bragg, Senior Audio Engineer at Producers Video. “Since the installation, we’ve been able to evolve and learn to incorporate more features that help expand our business and capabilities.”

One of the benefits of Fairlight’s XCS Constellation and Xynergi is their flexibility to work with many file formats. Bragg notes, “Fairlight continues to add new levels of innovation by adding HD video to the timeline as well as the capability to import and export different file formats and VST plug-ins. The ability to work on audio and signal processing on every channel, without a separate program saves a great amount of time and helps to keep workflow constant. There is no need to launch another program or extension, and all the native EQ’s and dynamics are all instantly there.”

On a day-to-day basis, Bragg mentioned some of the challenges of production and how Fairlight consoles help to eliminate issues that can slow down workflow and productivity. The user-friendly footprint of the Constellation provides plenty of inputs and outputs, and the ability to instantly adjust feeds to send to other studios via ISDN with picture lock makes it easy to keep workflow constant.

“It’s great to work with other studios and be able to have both sessions running at the same time, helping to judge the performance and make creative decisions instantly even if you’re not on site. Many of the more compact systems don’t have the versatility and ease of use with parameter adjustments and routing that you get with Fairlight and the Constellation.”

The system comes with very good sounding native EQ and dynamics that are superior to most plug-ins Bragg has used. “The native processing really sounds rich and detailed plus you still have the five plug-ins available to drop in per channel if needed, giving multiple options,” stated Bragg.

“Other features we use often are the AAF import and EDL conform capability. We drag and drop multiple cuts onto a single timeline. When a version is finalized, it’s great to be able to access the original polyphonic broadcast wav files recorded during production. This gives us access to every microphone that was on set or location and can help us sort through the feeds to pick the best audio for the circumstance.”

Working under continuing deadlines makes maintaining constant workflow crucial. For one project, Bragg described that the timeline was extremely short and the project needed to be set up on Friday and mixed for completion by Monday. With no room for leeway, strict deadlines and a tight budget, the quality still needs to be at the highest level. “At Producers, we pride ourselves in being able to do everything in house; production, editing, motion graphics, audio, and color correction. With the Fairlight Constellation and Xynergi,” said Bragg. “We can do audio post for every kind of project. It is a very versatile tool and we use its networking strengths facility wide. We can have different engineers working on different aspects of the project and it’s extremely easy to bring it all together for the final version. We really rely on the gear to perform and push the project through workflow-wise.”

The intuitive layout and ease of use of the Fairlight consoles continue to make the learning process for engineers very easy. “The ongoing support we receive is impeccable. We are constantly reassured of our decision to go with Fairlight and continue to enjoy working with them and the systems,” Bragg continued. “It’s clear Fairlight truly cares about our professional needs.”

For more information on Producers Video, please visit: http://www.producers.tv

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About FairlightUS:
FairlightUS is headquartered in New Jersey USA and is the exclusive distributor for Fairlight products in the North American market. Fairlight has been at the forefront of digital audio development since its inception in 1975. Fairlight designs and manufactures media creation tools including digital audio recording, editing and mixing systems for standard and high definition audio post, broadcast and music production applications. www.fairlightus.com

About Fairlight:
Headquartered in Sydney, Australia Fairlight designs and manufactures media production systems powered by the company’s groundbreaking CC-1 FPGA digital processing engine. The Fairlight product range includes EVO, Xynergi and the new PyxisG2, all of which feature in the world’s leading broadcasters, commercial post facilities, music studios and film production studios. Fairlight has a rich tradition of innovation and development and is at the forefront of green computing technology.

Continues Commitment to Offering Innovative Power Solutions for Industry’s Hottest Cameras

SHELTON, CT, FEBRUARY 6, 2012—Anton/Bauer®, part of Vitec Videocom, a Vitec Group company and a premier global provider of batteries, chargers, lighting and other mobile power systems for the professional broadcast, video and film industries, is pleased to introduce its QRC-CA940 Gold Mount® solution for the new Canon EOS C300 camera. This latest introduction furthers the company’s commitment to developing power solutions for the industry’s top cameras. more