M+E Connections

LAS VEGAS — There was no shortage of new announcements from members of the Media & Entertainment Services Alliance during the NAB Show.

Here’s a look at what Prime Focus Technologies, Irdeto, Ooyala, Thinklogical, Vistex, ZOO Digital and 3rd I QC had to share.

Prime Focus Technologies

Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) announced a new deal with Discovery Communications India, which will see PFT managing long-form content operations using the company’s flagship product CLEAR Cloud MAM.

CLEAR will enable Discovery Communications India to use a single system for file-based content operations, covering content acquisition, technical checks, mastering and playout delivery.

“We are excited to collaborate with a revered broadcaster like Discovery, and the engagement is a major landmark in our incredible journey of growth in APAC.” said Ankur Jain, VP and head of sales for APAC, PFT.

PFT also announced new software enhancements to its CLEAR Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software suite, including OKTA Identity Cloud, pre-release content security, media exchange security and a desktop app for secured content downloads and playback.

“We understand the critical need for information protection in media asset management applications, and the enhancements we continue to implement for CLEAR provide a real solution,” said Caesar Sedek, chief security officer for PFT. “We are pleased to announce that we are the first and only company whose security efforts have been recognized by DPP for both broadcast and production MAM solutions. With these improvements, the risk mitigation of people, processes, and technology is unified and more robust from end-to-end, delivering safer and more secure operations.”

Irdeto

Irdeto used the NAB Show to debut technology that combines support for JPEG 2000 in Interoperable Master Format into the company’s scalable distributor watermarking solution.

The Interoperable Master Format (IMF) is helping OTT providers and pay TV providers reduce costs, and is a popular exchange format for 4K and HDR assets, Irdeto noted. That’s why Irdeto TraceMark forensic watermarking now provides content owners with support for JPEG 2000 (J2K) in IMF exchange formats, in order to help prevent piracy of premium 4K and HDR content.

Using the service, content owners can keep one master version of the content and send out individually watermarked versions of the content on-the-fly. Because of this, content owners no longer need to transcode individual copies, reducing the use of storage and preparation time.

“One thing is for certain, if pirates want to get their hands on premium content, they will alter their tactics in order to find a weak point in a content owner’s anti-piracy strategy,” said Pete Cossack, VP of cybersecurity services for Irdeto. “To combat pirates, we recognize the importance of continually innovating in order to enhance anti-piracy strategies. With our industry-first J2K in IMF watermarking solution, we are adding yet another layer of defense to help content owners and distributors protect premium 4K and HDR content. Supporting IMF exchange formats is the type of innovative functionality needed to help content owners stay one step ahead of pirates.”

Vistex

Tom McDonough, senior manager of media solution delivery for Vistex, shared the latest from the company, including moving forward with multiple new cloud products that are tailored to suit all aspects of the media supply chain, from large enterprise through to mid-level distributors and even to independent companies that need a straightforward, easy to use rights management system.

“For enterprise customers who use SAP for financials, we offer our Vistex SAP embedded solution which is rolling out functionality for media rights and royalties that had traditionally been served by our Counterpoint Maestro suite,” he said. “For those same enterprise customers who prefer to use a non-SAP solution, our additional cloud based offerings house the same functionality as our SAP embedded.”

Vistex is focusing on what McDonough called “cross segment avails,” where the company provides clearances for multiple dimensions, even across industries, all in one query. This takes the standard avails query to another level, where Vistex can interrogate several markets at the same time to offer fast, accurate and comprehensive results in to support more complex deals.

“All of our enterprise solutions are capable of handling not only standard media solutions, but also brand licensing and music – all within the same application, making it the only solution that is capable of managing multiple lines of industry in a single application,” McDonough said.

Ooyala

Along with its new partnership with Avid, Ooyala used the NAB Show to announce a new partnership with MPP Global, the provider of subscription platform eSuite, bringing a suite of services for broadcasters, operators and media companies to better monetize OTT and IPTV video services.

“By working together with Ooyala, we can offer a game-changing experience for our clients,” said Paul Johnson, CEO and co-founder of MPP Global. “Between the capabilities of MPP Global’s eSuite platform and Ooyala’s comprehensive suite of software, we believe we can combine to help our customers deliver media experiences that are more personal, more engaging and more profitable.”

“Adding MPP Global to Ooyala’s partner ecosystem was a natural fit,” said Jonathan Huberman, CEO, Ooyala. “We’re able to build on their content monetization and customer acquisition and retention capabilities by providing an exceptional solution to help media companies build out new subscription offerings, while improving existing ones. In today’s world, where consumers demand premium video content anywhere, anytime and on any screen, every media company is looking for ways to enhance their video offerings and better engage viewers.”

ZOO Digital

ZOO Digital used the NAB Show to announce the U.S. launch of its scripting service for TV and movie content, a cloud-powered offering that creates scripts that can be repurposed and integrated with ZOO’s dubbing and subtitling process. The scripting service works under ZOOscripts, the company’s cloud-based platform.

The service allows scripts to be created and repurposed into a wide range of formats, including Combined Dialog and Spotting Lists (CDSL).

Script changes are tracked automatically and pushed out with metadata, including time codes and annotations.

“ZOO Digital’s scripting service is another example of how we are building a suite of connected localization and digital distribution services to manage change and volume efficiently,” said Gordon Doran, president of ZOO Digital. “Whether you need a script creating or changing, followed by dubbing or subtitling into any language and for any platform, we make every part of the process as streamlined as possible thanks to our cloud-powered approach. This has significant benefits which we pass on to our clients in terms of turnaround and efficiencies.”

3rd i QC

Al Limón, founder and CEO of quality assurance firm 3rd I QC, said his company is building up its infrastructure to better handle the large-size files that media and entertainment companies are continuing to deal with, including 4K and VR content.

Additionally, 3rd I QC was at the NAB Show to eyeball HDR monitors, and see solutions for storage.

“It’s interesting working with some of these small production companies new to all the streaming formats,” Limón added.

Thinklogical

Thinklogical used the show to showcase a new all-in-one solution for extending virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) architectures in media and entertainment, along with unified solutions from the Belden, Gepco, Grass Valley and ex-Snell Advanced Media (SAM) portfolio.

The TLX Client Integration module — a full-featured virtual machine processor combined with a high-performance keyboard, video and mouse (KVM) extender — eliminates the need for a separate client device in VDI implementations, and the system can be installed in point-to-point applications or implemented in conjunction with a Thinklogical matrix switch.

“With our new Client Integration module, Thinklogical is disrupting the media and entertainment marketplace by delivering the quality and performance of no-added-latency KVM and 4K video extension and switching, combined with a cost-saving virtual machine client,” said Olivier Bojarski, president of Thinklogical. “Content creation professionals no longer need to compromise on productivity, performance and image resolution quality when working in a virtual desktop environment.”