| |
BBFC Selects Digital Rapids
Ingest and Encoding Systems for Massive Digital Archive Initiative
Digital Rapids
March 11, 2009
Passfield,
UK -- Digital Rapids, the leading provider of tools and solutions
for bringing television, film and web content to wider audiences --
announced today that the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC)
has selected Digital Rapids' StreamZ media ingest and encoding
systems for the board's ongoing initiative to digitise and archive
their tape-based library of over 200,000 programmes. |
|
|
 |
|
|
Six dual-channel StreamZ systems
are in operation, digitising content from 12 industrial video tape
machines under the control of a Neptune automation system from
Pebble Beach Systems. The robust and versatile attributes of the
StreamZ systems made them an ideal choice for this enormous task.
Key considerations in the selection of StreamZ for the project were
the encoders' configurability to the exacting compression parameters
for the BBFC's requirements; the ability to generate MPEG-2 master
and Windows Media browse versions of each video tape simultaneously
in real time; optional logo overlay capability for the browse
material; and the availability of a comprehensive custom development
API to enable complete frame-accurate remote automation of the
encoding process.
"Seamless automation from ingest and encoding through archive is
essential for efficiently processing high volumes of media, and
we're pleased that the BBFC has chosen our systems for such a
critical project in support of their mandate," said Clive Vickery,
Managing Director of Digital Rapids Europe. "The tight integration
between our systems and Pebble Beach automation offers considerable
advantages over typical control protocols. Combining this advanced
automation with our renowned quality, robust functionality and
simultaneous multi-format output capabilities, Digital Rapids
solutions are clearly ideal for media initiatives of this
magnitude."
The BBFC, established in 1912, is the independent body responsible
for approval and certification of cinematic releases, DVDs, videos
and computer games in the United Kingdom. During its lifetime the
BBFC has amassed a huge archive of VHS tapes containing copies of
the material it has classified. With an obligation to maintain
copies of all versions of movies submitted for certification in
perpetuity, it is the BBFC's duty to ensure that the contents of
those video tapes can be accessed long after they are able to play
them back. The new initiative will bring BBFC's archived video
material into the digital domain, allowing the BBFC to meet their
contractual commitments and to improve productivity.
A custom interface developed by Pebble Beach using the Digital
Rapids API allows their Neptune automation to synchronise the serial
control of the S-VHS machines with network-based control of the
Digital Rapids encoders. The overall system has been integrated by
Sun Microsystems and incorporates ingest and archive management
capabilities that the BBFC have deliberately kept separate in order
to allow simple future integration of new video formats and ingest
methods. The scalable nature of the system ensures that additional
storage or ingest capacity can be added without significant
modification to the existing system.
The complete line of Digital Rapids solutions will be showcased in
booth number SL6213 at the 2009 NAB Show, April 20-23 in Las Vegas.
For more information about Digital Rapids, please visit
www.digital-rapids.com.
About Digital Rapids Corporation
Digital Rapids develops market-leading hardware and software
solutions for transforming and delivering media, enabling the
multi-platform experiences that are defining the future of digital
video. Scaling from individual applications to enterprise and global
operations, Digital Rapids systems span the critical points in
today's complex media workflows. Recipient of two prestigious Frost
& Sullivan awards in the World Video Encoders and
Transcoders
market, Digital Rapids combines innovative technology with proven
expertise to help our customers maximize their productivity,
quality, and the value of their content in the evolving digital
media market. Digital Rapids Corporation (www.digital-rapids.com) is
headquartered in Ontario, Canada with offices in the United States,
the UK, Australia, Argentina and Hong Kong. |
|
|
|
