Softel Launches ScheduleSmart Workflow Technology for Captions, Subtitles and Other Ancillary Data

Softel, a UK-based company that claims to have over 25 years of experience in providing ancillary data solutions--including solutions for interactive TV, opt cuing/ad insertion, subtitling and captioning--to leading broadcasters and service providers across the world (note: the company recently revealed that it was powering Showtime Networks' new HD EBIF application--see the article published on itvt.com, March 24th), on Tuesday launched a workflow technology, dubbed ScheduleSmart, that it says uses proprietary heuristics and algorithms to determine the optimum point in the workflow at which to bind captions, subtitles and other ancillary data to content.

According to the company, ScheduleSmart provides flexibility in captioning and subtitling workflows by automatically assessing whether there is time to ingest data to media servers or onto the Digital Asset Management System (DAMS). If the system determines that early or late binding is not possible, live systems are directed to perform the bind at time-of-air. Although captions and subtitles can be bound to assets early in the workflow, close to airtime using faster-than-real-time encoding, or during live broadcast, Softel says, traditional tools restrict broadcasters, forcing them to choose one default binding method and deal with the many exceptions and special cases that arise in a typical mix of work. This, the company says, leaves facilities exposed to losses of reliability and workflow efficiency and forces a reliance on costly manual intervention. The company claims that these challenges are amplified in modern broadcast facilities, where delivery of ancillary data has to be coordinated and automated to ensure systems are able to handle a proliferation of platforms, including playout to the Web and mobile phones.

According to Softel, ScheduleSmart automates selection of the correct encoding method using either Softel Swift vTX to add captions and subtitles directly to file-based media assets, or Softel Swift TX to handle live binding. If there is sufficient time, the company says, ScheduleSmart will initiate the ingest of the caption and/or subtitle file via Swift vTX; if there is not sufficient time--for example, if the event is live or if the captioning/subtitling will take place in real time--then the Swift TX time-of-air system is directed to playout accordingly. The company claims that this all takes place in a totally automated manner with little or no user direction. "Softel has a long tradition of delivering innovative end-to-end captioning and subtitling solutions that seamlessly integrate in broadcasters' ecosystems to enhance efficiency and reduce operational costs," Softel CEO, Sam Pemberton, said in a prepared statement. "In launching Swift TX in the 1990's, Softel revolutionized the workflow by automating playout. Then, as tapeless systems were adopted, Softel introduced Swift vTX, binding ancillary data to file-based assets for easier VOD, multichannel and cross-regional distribution. Next-generation workflows will encompass multiformat delivery over multiple platforms in numerous languages. So with ScheduleSmart, combined with Swift TX and Swift vTX, Softel delivers the first automated control center for ancillary data that ensures the reliability, efficiency and cost-effectiveness needed in the highly complex workflows of the future."