Softel Expands Swift Range to Offer Management and Archive Systems in Complex Subtitling Workflows

August 17, 2010

Source: Softel

Softel announced the expansion of its Swift product range for subtitling and captioning. Softel has launched Dashboard, a solution designed to manage the configuration and monitoring of an entire subtitle transcoding and transmission operation.

Dashboard provides a central, unifying point from which to administer multi-channel, multi-language subtitling and captioning installations that broadcasters increasingly require.

Softel's Dashboard was designed to help broadcasters meet the challenge of delivering the highest level of quality through an ever more complex workflow while containing costs. The platform allows operators to administer multiple Swift TX units — Softel's subtitle and caption playout and management solution — and configure subtitle processors, monitor subtitle streams and oversee a subtitle archive system that allows broadcasters to manage their subtitle assets throughout their lifecycle.

Dashboard aggregates subtitle monitoring information from across the broadcast infrastructure and presents it clearly, diagnosing and highlighting any issues within the chain.

Dashboard's intelligence is built on a central communications server connected to all Swift TX units in the broadcast chain. Each unit communicates with this intelligent hub using a Softel-designed configuration and monitoring protocol. The operator can remotely assign configurations and see each unit's status, subtitle flow, and current configuration.

Additionally, Softel's Swift Archive solution offers fast and efficient retrieval of subtitle files with an advanced searchable archive store. A fault-tolerant architecture, using mirrored servers, protects against loss of data and safe-guarding investment in subtitle content creation and re-purposing.

"We understand the challenges that broadcasters are facing as the requirement for subtitles and captioning increases," says Softel CEO Sam Pemberton. "The proliferation of format and platforms is pushing the complexity of modern workflows, and could potentially decrease productivity and increase operational costs. With this in mind, Softel continues to deliver tools that not only simplify subtitle processing, but also improve overall efficiency while reducing costs."

Softel Swift TX integrates seamlessly with broadcast workflows, supporting an extensive range of input file formats, with transmission to DVB, Open, VBI and closed-captioning, as well as outputting other ancillary data such as XDS.

Configured as a multi-channel unit, Swift TX enables rack consolidation and savings on equipment, power and cooling costs. This provides outstanding reliability and flexibility for master/standby and "N+1" configurations with superior output quality delivered by a specially developed font rendering engine.

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