State of the art closed captioning technology integrates with award-winning iCR software
BURBANK, Calif. – September 15, 2009 – AmberFin is pleased to announce a new partnership with Starfish Technologies, formally agreed at today's IBC. Under the terms of the partnership, Starfish's closed captioning technology will be integrated into AmberFin's iCR software from late 2009, when it launches with first customer Warner Brothers Technical Services.
To incorporate closed captioning AmberFin required a partner who could offer a best of breed service to work alongside iCR’s existing QC, audio and video capabilities. Starfish, recognized internationally for its quality of service and innovative technology, offered the ideal solution. The invisible integration of Starfish’s technology within AmberFin iCR will allow broadcasters to ingest, transcode and output their content in any format, with the closed captioning intact at every stage.
Peter Blatchford, Sales and Marketing Director for Starfish, said of the deal: "The move to a file-based workflow is opening up many questions for broadcasters. One of the foremost is how to address the legal requirements for closed captioning in both the US and UK markets. The combination of our closed captioning technology and AmberFin's iCR software means broadcasters can effectively and reliably ingest and transcode their content, confident that the original closed captioning will remain intact throughout the process."
Bruce Devlin, Chief Technology Officer for AmberFin, added: "The partnership will effectively address the challenge of closed captioning for broadcasters. The sophistication of the back end technology ensures that closed captioning remains intact throughout the transcoding process, while the straightforward and easy-to-use front end means that broadcasters don't have to train staff to handle lengthy and complicated new procedures. The process happens behind the scenes and the result is an easy-to-use software package that addresses what has, until now, been one of the broadcast industry's biggest hurdles."
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About AmberFin
AmberFin enables content owners to maximize the value of their TV, film and video content, from capture through to distribution, while increasing revenues, reducing costs, saving time and eliminating incompatibility issues. AmberFin iCR, with four-time Emmy-award winning technology, plays a key role in turning the content that owners have into the content their customers want. As an open standard, future proof platform that digitizes and transforms new and archived content, AmberFin iCR delivers the best quality pictures at smaller file sizes across multiple delivery platforms, including the Internet, VoD, TV, mobile and other small screen devices. AmberFin already has 100s of iCR systems in the field, and is trusted by some of the world’s most prestigious companies including Sony, NBA, Turner Broadcasting, BT, Channel 4, RTM and Warner Brothers, managing the digitization and repurposing of their content.
Privately held by Advent Venture Partners, AmberFin is, headquartered in Basingstoke, UK. More information is available at: www.amberfin.com.
About Starfish Technologies
Starfish offer a range of innovative and cost-effective technologies for Regional Insertion Systems, Audio Description, Closed Captioning and Subtitling, Scheduling, and Teletext.
Starfish has developed a complete task-management system for Audio Description and Subtitle workflow and has a successful track record of media management project design and implementation. Starfish Technologies is an ISO 9001 registered company.
Further product and press information can be obtained at www.starfish.tv.
Editorial contacts:
Matthew Lloyd (US)
Hotwire for AmberFin
617-834-3146