HITS

By Jeff Berman and Chris Tribbey –

This is the second of two stories previewing some of the post-production solutions being showcased at this year’s NAB Show in Las Vegas. Members of the Media & Entertainment Services Alliance (MESA) representing the post-production solutions space at the 2019 NAB Show discussed here include FilmTrack, Gracenote, IYUNO Media Group, NAGRA, Prime Focus Technologies, SHIFT, Sohonet, Sony, Signiant, Vistex and ZOO Digital. To read the first story, click here.

FilmTrack

For more than two decades, FilmTrack has made its business collecting, handling, and analyzing media and entertainment, covering everything from content management to advanced financials. At NAB, the company will show off all-encompassing IP management SaaS solution, and share how its cloud-based platform offers tools to manage mission-critical data, allowing clients to get a clear handle on their contracts, rights, royalties, and asset management, all in one place. Encore Hospitality Suites

Gracenote

Nielsen-owned Gracenote has long been dedicated to helping people connect to the music, TV, movies and sports they want, across the world’s most popular entertainment platforms and devices, everyone from Apple to Amazon to Time Warner Cable. The company’s Studio System, a web-based service and mobile app that enables subscribers to track TV, film and digital content, will be on display at NAB, as well as Gracenote’s offerings in sports data, music for TV and more.

Additionally, on April 11, Simon Adams, chief product officer for Gracenote, will take part in the panel discussion “Voice Control and AI: Pushing the TV Experience Forward,” in the South Hall of the Convention Center. Wynn Hospitality Suits

IYUNO Media Group

IYUNO will be demonstrating MSX and MDX at NAB 2019.

MSX is a “new generation” of IYUNO’s proprietary cloud-based project management system for global localization projects, the company said. The new MSX system “replaces our existing project management system, iMTrax, and creates efficiencies for both IYUNO and our customers,” it said, adding MSX also “fully supports” application program interface (API) “integrations with our customers.”

Clients can take advantage of MSX’s: Automated ordering system; faster transfer of materials; full visibility into project status; and weekly reports of project status, according to the company.

The goals are “full visibility into assigned projects and a significant reduction in email communications,” according to the company, explaining: “When placing orders, clients can simply choose from the rate cards agreed with IYUNO that specifies the job scope — or easily create a new one. For an easier and faster way to transfer materials, clients can keep their materials inside of their MAM. Then API integration with MSX will allow them to choose materials to hand over. MSX will take it from there and provide full tracking of material delivery status. Once orders are placed, clients can take advantage of MSX’s unique workflow visualization for full tracking of orders at a glance. MSX allows our clients to stay on top of the project and reduce stress with real-time tracking of project status.”


MDX, meanwhile, is a content distribution platform for content owners and distributors that the company said “opens up new monetization opportunities.” MDX offers Platform In Platform (PIP) partnership, enabling any content buyer – even over-the-top (OTT) platforms — to “easily integrate the MDX video player to service the content available on MDX,” according to the company.

MDX also offers tool sets to help owners and distributors sell their content effectively and efficiently, while MDX’s Digital Screener offers a simpler way for potential buyers to preview content, while maintaining strict security, the company said. And MDX’s Content Marketing Wizard allows users to “create content proposals ready to be sent out to buyers — within just a few clicks,” the company said. SU10802

NAGRA

At NAB NAGRA will demonstrate its latest technologies in content protection, anti-piracy services, watermarking, and active content monetization.

“With traditional TV and OTT now synonymous and with numerous needs to address, such as protecting premium content, especially in sports, fighting new forms of piracy, integrating various sources of content and running cloud operations, players in the media and entertainment space must have the right strategy in place for success,” said Tom Wirth, SVP Americas for NAGRA. “We are now at a stage where operators, broadcasters and content owners must drive business transformation forward and adapt to current markets needs by leveraging solutions that are simple, smart, flexible and efficient – this will be the focus of our NAB showcase.”

NAGRA’s key themes and demonstrations at NAB Show will include: cloud-based content value protection, anti-piracy services and forensic watermarking, active content monetization, and smart business operations with data analytics and AI. SU3624

Prime Focus Technologies

Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) will showcase the latest innovations in CLEAR Media ERP Suite, including automation-led solutions and proven managed services, at the upcoming NAB Show 2019. PFT’s latest solutions also include Vision Cloud, a host of AI-led micro services that are ready-to-deploy, offering automation and data to accelerate the adoption of AI within specific M&E business use cases.

“With Media ERP, our focus has always been to help M&E enterprises solve specific operational challenges through automation, on the back of ONE software. The latest additions to our solutions & services will continue to enhance automation for our customers, assisting them in their collective effort to manage supply chains, while reducing Total Cost of Operations,” said Ramki Sankaranarayanan, founder and global CEO, Prime Focus Technologies. “We’re particularly thrilled with the progress we’ve made on the AI/ML front with Vision Cloud, and we are extremely excited to be taking our AI-led micro services to the market for solving real business use cases.”

PFT’s patent pending Machine Wisdom technology, Vision Cloud, is a native media recognition AI engine that synthesizes and focuses on the most diverse & relevant annotations to deliver actionable search results that are meaningful and contextual. The engine’s ready to use AI-led micro services deliver automation and data to accelerate the adoption of AI within M&E businesses.

PFT’s transformational cloud-based solutions help media and entertainment (M&E) enterprises leverage automation to solve the key challenges they face in today’s multi-platform universe – from creation and acquisition to delivery and distribution. These solutions, combined with PFT’s wide array of technical and creative Managed Services will help customers drive automation-led efficiencies to achieve lower Total Cost of Operations (TCOP) and unlock new monetization opportunities. SL9605

SHIFT

For 20 years, content creators used both Mediasilo and Wiredrive to tell their stories, safeguard content using SafeStream’s on-demand watermarking technology, and deliver and access pre-release content on Screeners.com. Those combined technologies, solving the industry’s most pressing workflow challenges, redefining the future of video post-production, now fall under the SHIFT brand, with the team from the company ready to show off new post needs and give demos of the new SHIFT platform at NAB.

SafeStream by SHIFT will also be the main sponsor for the April 7 Cybersecurity & Content Protection Summit, presented by the NAB Show and the Content Delivery & Security Association (CDSA). SL8705

Sohonet

Sohonet will be spotlighting ClearView Flex, which it noted “enables key creatives [and] production executives to review and approve live, encrypted video streams from any source, remotely” on their tablet or PC.

“Whether you’re looking to review dailies, remote color grade, or view live feeds direct from the camera, ClearView Flex gives you the security and flexibility to collaborate with your teams remotely and in real-time, from anywhere in the world. For more information ahead of NAB, visit https://www.sohonet.com/clearview-flex/. SL14205

Sony

Sony’s booth at NAB 2019 will feature a new area showcasing artificial intelligence-based video analytics, according to Alex Rossi, senior marketing manager for media products at Sony Electronics Professional Solutions of America.

Providing details on Sony’s booth during a pre-NAB press briefing March 13, he noted the company will also demonstrate its latest Alpha and Venice cameras, as well as tout 8K native and 8K upscaled video content on a 98-inch Sony Bravia display. That’s designed to state that, “while we are focusing on 4K HDR applications, we do have our sights firmly set on the future, which may not be too far in the distant future,” he said.

There will also be Sony’s latest pro audio products, he told reporters.

The new theme of the Sony Electronics Professional Solutions Americas (PSA) group, meanwhile, will be “Live Your Vision,” Katsunori Yamanouchi, the division’s outgoing president, disclosed.

Sony will focus on two “core values” areas at NAB this year: Content value and workflow efficiency, he said. On the content value side of the equation, Sony is focused on enriching content with resolution, High Dynamic Range (HDR), wide color gamut and high frame rate (HFR), he told reporters. To improve workflow efficiencies, Sony is using its intellectual property (IP), cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) and Intelligent Media Services, he said.

New Ci media cloud service features to be spotlighted at NAB include integrated AI, which Sony said eliminates costly manual logging and transcription processes, enhances discoverability and search ability, and instantly makes transcriptions available for curation.

On the new product front, Sony recently made Firmware Version 3.0 available for its Venice full-frame Ultra High-Definition (UHD) pro camera. New features made available with the update include two new imager modes: 6K (full-width) 2.39:1 and 5.7K 16:9. The company also introduced a Venice Extension System, Rialto CBK-3610XS, that it said enables cabled separation of the Venice camera body and image sensor block up to 5.5 meters, with no degradation in image quality, for enhanced mobility. It’s being used by filmmaker James Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment for the new “Avatar” films, Sony said.

Up next is Firmware Version 4.0 this summer adding support for high frame rates with an optional license and remote control functionalities, it said.

Sony will also be showing off the recently-shipped, cost-effective HDC-3500 4K System Camera at NAB, the company said, noting 4K signal processing will be added for it in May and a UHB side panel will follow this summer. C11001

Signiant

At NAB 2019, Signiant is introducing Jet, a new Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution that it said makes it simple to “automate and accelerate the transfer of large files between geographically dispersed locations.” Targeted at simple “lights-out” use cases, Signiant Jet meets the growing need to replace scripted File Transfer Protocol (FTP) with a faster, more reliable and more secure alternative, the company said.

Jet leverages Signiant’s SaaS platform, which also underpins the company’s widely-deployed Media Shuttle solution that is now used by more than 400,000 professionals to send and share large files around the world, according to the company. Jet’s tightly curated feature set and accessible price point allows small and mid-sized companies to easily automate system-to-system workflows, as well as recurring data exchange with partners.

“Jet fills a growing need in the industry,” Cory Bialowas, SVP of product management at Signiant, said in a news release announcing Jet March 12.

“With Media Shuttle, Signiant has demonstrated that SaaS innovation can bring the power of our technology to companies of all sizes,” Bialowas said, adding: “As customers face increasing pressure to eliminate FTP and unwieldy first-generation acceleration products, they have been clamoring for a Media Shuttle companion product to handle automated transfers. Jet extends our SaaS platform to address these use cases within the global media supply chain.”

Like all Signiant products, Jet uses a proprietary transport protocol that optimizes network performance for fast, reliable movement of large files under all network conditions, the company said, adding: “Coupled with enterprise-grade security and features tuned for media professionals, Signiant products are designed to enable the global flow of content, within and between companies, in a hybrid cloud world.” SL10216

Vistex

“Intellectual property rights are the lifeblood of content companies, and managing contracts, rights exploitation, revenue, and expenses in an increasingly complex consumer environment is creating challenges across the media and entertainment industry,” according to Amos Biegun, Vistex global head of rights & royalties.

“Vistex solutions provide a central hub for rights that enables aggregators to maximize the return on intellectual property, irrespective of format or business unit, as well as offering the ability to analyze results and collaborate internally enterprise-wide, and externally with partners and customers,” he said, adding:

“There is little doubt that content will remain ‘king.’ With more content being developed and consumed faster across so many more platforms, the industry is faced with ever-increasing volumes of data that needs to be aggregated and analyzed. By leveraging Vistex solutions, both licensees and licensors gain precise insights into content distribution, rights clearance, royalty audits, scheduling, payments and more.” Those solutions will be spotlighted at the company’s booth. N6214

ZOO Digital

ZOO Digital “will continue its mission to revolutionize entertainment localization services with the launch of its cloud-based ZOOstudio ecosystem at NAB Show 2019,” the company said. “The innovative service ecosystem aims to simplify localization for content owners, increase vendor collaboration and reduce supply chain wastage,” it said.

“Designed to address the challenges of OTT distribution, ZOOstudio provides content owners with a centralized system for ordering, tracking and managing all the services required to create localized content packages,” according to the company. Its “collaborative approach sees services such as dubbing, subtitling, metadata localization and media processing delivered either by ZOO as the end-to-end vendor or in combination with clients’ other preferred global vendors,” the company said.

The ZOOstudio ecosystem “brings together ZOO’s existing, battle-tested platforms,” and allows content owners to “have all their vendors working together in one cloud system, with assets and reference materials shared between vendor workflows to increase efficiency and reduce duplication,” the company pointed out.

With a single point of order and fulfillment, content owners no longer have to “track projects across multiple vendor-specific systems” because ZOOstudio “gives full visibility and live consolidated status reporting” across all vendor production workflows, the company said.

“The time has come for service vendors to work together to support content owners to achieve their goals,” according to Gordon Doran, ZOO president. “In ZOOstudio, we have created the single ecosystem that clients need to centralize and manage their end-to-end services across all vendors,” he said, adding: “Content owners will be able to share reference materials, assets and data across global workflows to simplify and speed up content distribution. This is how localization would have always been done if cloud technology had always been around. Services are centralized, streamlined, collaborative and secure.

Duplication of costs and processes is reduced, and content owners have the freedom to choose their preferred services and vendors while managing the entire process all in one place – ZOOstudio.” SL6024