Subtitles are a vital part of the television experience for a significant percentage of the viewing public and integrated playout technology must maintain that quality of experience. James Gilbert, Joint MD, Pixel Power, says, “Subtitling has always required real technological skill to achieve great onscreen results and by working with market-leading Screen Systems we will be able to provide a fully integrated channel-in-a-box solution that achieves this quality. As an industry we mustn’t let subtitles slide into a poor viewer experience while we search for greater economic efficiencies.” 

The two companies already have a strong relationship having worked together to enable Screen’s subtitling systems to be easily connected to Pixel Power’s combined master control switcher and branding technology BrandMaster. However, the ChannelMaster integration will take this further with Screen’s technology contained within the ChannelMaster hardware to provide a truly integrated solution – adhering to Pixel Power’s genuine channel-in-a-box strategy. It will remain a Screen-branded option within the technology. 

John Birch, Strategic Partnership Manager with Screen Systems, said, “Our intention is to support the full range of subtitling options – including DVB – with Pixel Power and we are now working towards this goal. As a company, we recognised a long time ago, that partnerships are vital to our industry to best serve the broadcaster but we echo what James has said: onscreen quality must be paramount. Channel-in-a box is a rationalisation of technologies that makes complete sense especially given market conditions and we are very pleased to be active as the market matures.” 

James Gilbert, Joint MD, Pixel Power, says, “We’re delighted to be working with Screen Systems again. Many of our customers already deploy technologies from either company and therefore for many this development means that they will again be working with known and trusted partners. Anyone deploying ChannelMaster will benefit from a truly integrated playout solution without compromising on quality from market-leading manufacturers.” 

ChannelMaster is a family of highly integrated, sophisticated and scalable channel playout systems that provide a cost-effective and highly reliable approach to deploying new channels, without compromise. The technology provides an out-of-the-box solution to bringing new channels to air quickly and cost-effectively.

 www.pixelpower.com

Partner Support Engineer  

CLOSING DATE 17 JUNE 2013

The Partner Support Engineer (PSE) is a customer (partner) facing support and research role with a primary purpose of providing support to partner companies that are working with Screen to develop, integrate or bring to market products that incorporate Screen technologies or that use Screen sales channels.

PHP/SQL Development/Support Technician

CLOSING DATE 17 JUNE 2013

We are looking for a new member of the team to monitor and maintain computer systems and networks ensuring their smooth running and that users are able to get the maximum benefits from them. Understanding how information systems are used and applying technical knowledge related to computer hardware, software and systems.

Systems Development Engineer C/C++/Windows

CLOSING DATE 17 JUNE 2013

We are looking to fill a new software development position in C/C++ for new products and the development of new product features. The role also includes involvement in the maintenance and enhancement of existing software products.

Technical Sales Support Engineer

CLOSING DATE 17 JUNE 2013

A new and exciting position has arisen within the Screen organisation for a Technical Support Engineer to provide technical sales support for the Sales department.

…The Centre for Translation and Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Nottingham has just acquired (with financial support from the Teaching and Learning Board) a fantastic new piece of [subtitling] software called WinCAPS….

…WinCAPS turns out to be dangerously addictive…

Read Dr. Pierre-Alexis Mével’s (French and Francophone Studies University of Nottingham) entire Blog entry here.

These documents unsurprisingly contain text and timing data and optionally styling information and metadata. Many different formats of timed text document exist, supported either by user communities, commercial organisations or by formal standards bodies (e.g. SRT, WebVTT, SAMI, SMIL and TTML/DFXP).

Unfortunately, the interpretation of timed-text documents, and hence the appearance of the text content, can differ between players and between devices, with positioning and font style particularly inconsistent…

Read the full article in Regional Film & Video online here on page 12

Most standard web-video players use a simple timed-text file for subtitling (e.g. SRT for YouTube, DFXP for Flash and QuickTime and SMIL for Windows Media Player), all of which are easily created in WinCAPS and/or MediaMate. However these solutions rely on this timed-text file being interpreted by the video player and the appearance of the subtitles can therefore differ between players and between devices – with positioning being particularly inconsistent. (Early implementations did not even overlay the subtitles within the video picture area, instead positioning text within a black box beneath the main video.) This means that the subtitle-author cannot be sure as to how the subtitles will appear in font, style or position. Therefore for accurate and consistent presentation these uncertainties need to be overcome.

There are many ‘Channel in a Box’ products on offer in the broadcast equipment marketplace and this is a highly contested market segment, aiming to offer cost effective playout of TV channels. But do the products currently on offer provide all the features necessary for an effective channel broadcast, or are there functions and features that are still the preserve of specialist manufacturers. Is it possible to be a ‘Master of All’?

Read the full article and others in TVBEurope online – Page 32

The advancement of the internet cast no doubt that traditional linear TV and the internet were going to converge and indeed merge anyway, eventually forming some kind of hybrid, the question that remained however was how it would finally look and function?

To read the full article, you can access RFV Online here - Page 20

Always ready for raising money for good causes and with a yearning to give his colleagues an appropriate reason for grinning at him, Screen’s Sales and Marketing Director Gary Glover entered the company’s head office in Suffolk today in full Santa regalia.

Laden down with an armful of mince pies, a jar of chocolates and the Garden House Hospice collection box, Glover made his rounds to be greeted by strange looks, a few guarded sniggers  and full support for the hospice’s work.

Established in June 1990 and serving the communities of Baldock, Hitchin, Letchworth, Royston, Stevenage and the surrounding villages of North Hertfordshire, the hospice cares for and supports patients with a terminal diagnosis.

Despite having a contract with the East & North Herts Primary Care Trust who contributes to the daily running costs, as a registered charity the hospice still depends on voluntary donations and a programme of fundraising activities to raise in excess of £1 million a year to maintain the current level of service.

On the hospice, Gary Glover remarked: “The difference the care that The Garden House offers to someone who is seriously ill is incalculable and I sincerely hope this event raises much needed funds.”

For more information on The Garden House Hospice, visit their website by clicking here.

Screen’s product manager for Connected TV, Gordon Maynard said: “Vroom’s application shows how niche content owners can connect with their audiences in a new way, delivering content to Internet-enabled living room TVs.”

Screen’s publishing platform, ScreenConnect, reads content from existing editing systems and allows the creation of services tailored for viewing on smart TVs, tablets and mobiles, smoothing out the problem of creating apps for platforms with different technologies, screen sizes and navigation techniques.

To create the app, ScreenConnect reads data directly from Vroom’s existing WordPress database, allowing the new service to be created without disrupting existing workflows.

Vroom’s CEO and Creative Director Gareth Bouch said: “Although there are some obvious uses for smart TV apps, video being a prime example, the Vroom app is proof that digital text services can be delivered in a rich and engaging way with good design, rich visuals and easy navigation.”

“Vroom is a deep and wide publication and Screen has done a great job on the visual aesthetics and on making it easy to use.

Maynard added: “Screen is looking forward to helping Vroom launch services on other platforms in the coming months.”

Read the full case study Read VROOM’s full press release

For more information on Vroom Media and the Vroom Magazine click on the following links

vroommedia.biz
vroom-magazine.com

Although most of these alternative devices can produce HD video and good quality audio to similar standards as a TV set, the same cannot be said of the subtitles.

In a conventional broadcast environment all video, audio and ancillary data services including subtitles or captions are delivered as part of a data stream using one of the major standards (DVB, ATSC or ISDB). The same systems are used for VOD and Catch-up TV where delivery is to an IP based Set Top Box and a conventional display device.

However in the new display devices the decoding and display is performed by a range of browsers or media players and there is far less standardisation.

For video and audio a wide range of codecs are available and can often be loaded or updated as required. For subtitles and captions there are a range of standards including SMIL, SRT, SAMI, TTML and DXFP but all of these are code based and the quality of implementation varies between media players and delivery formats, especially in a streaming, as opposed to file download, environment…….

For the entire document download the full 8 page whitepaper here.

Download the Web Subtitling Whitpaper (3.82 MB)
363 downloads

Visit the Subtitling Web Video page on our website here for more information and subtitled video samples.