July 29, 2008 -- Passfield, UK: Digital Rapids -- Passfield, UK: Digital Rapids -- a leading developer of scalable solutions for media ingest, encoding, transcoding, protection, streaming and delivery -- announced today that broadcast automation specialist Pebble Beach Systems has introduced a new automation module enabling advanced control of Digital Rapids' award-winning StreamZ ingest and encoding systems through Pebble Beach's automation solutions.
The new integration with StreamZ is supported in Pebble Beach's Neptune automation software and Anchor Media Manager for file-based workflows. Pebble Beach customers can now build cost-effective large-scale ingest systems that directly encode content, with the resulting encoded material moved intelligently through a facility based upon rules specifically tailored to the customer's workflow.
Pebble Beach developed the automation interface to StreamZ using Digital Rapids' Web Services development toolkit. The Web Services interface enables developers to directly integrate Digital Rapids solutions with their own custom applications and management systems through an easy-to-use XML-based toolset. This advanced level of integration allows Pebble Beach to go far beyond the capabilities of automation control protocols such as VDCP by enabling them to directly manage the encoders' complete feature set, including simultaneous encoding to multiple output formats; hardware-based video pre-processing; frame-accurate capture from decks; and post-encode processes such as automated FTP delivery of the resulting files.
The combined Pebble Beach and Digital Rapids solution is available immediately, and has recently been employed on a customer project controlling six dual-channel StreamZ encoders to ingest a large archive of tapes.
"Products such as the Digital Rapids StreamZ encoder, together with Pebble Beach's automation solutions, are likely to change the way broadcasters think about digitizing and managing their assets," said Peter Hajittofi, Managing Director of Pebble Beach. "Rather than having to use conventional broadcast devices, broadcasters can choose more IT focused solutions which will bring about greater flexibility and reduce costs. We are pleased to be working with Digital Rapids to make this possible for our customers."
"Our StreamZ ingest and encoding systems have set the standard for visual quality, robust functionality and format flexibility, and the pairing of our systems with leading media management and automation solutions allows customers to seamlessly integrate StreamZ into their automated environments," said Brian Stevenson, Director of Product Management at Digital Rapids. "The integration by Pebble Beach is a great example of the tight level of integration that developers can achieve through our Web Services APIs, and we're pleased to be working with Pebble Beach to bring the benefits of StreamZ to their customers."
For more information about Digital Rapids, please visit www.digital-rapids.com.
About Pebble Beach Systems -- Founded in April 2000, Pebble Beach Systems is a privately owned software company that specialises in broadcast automation. With a strong commitment to technical excellence and customer support, the company is one of the fastest growing automation and media management companies in the world. For the latest Pebble Beach Systems product information visit (www.pebble.tv).
About Digital Rapids Corporation – Digital Rapids develops market-leading hardware and software solutions for transforming and delivering media, enabling the multi-platform experiences that are defining the future of digital video. Scaling from individual applications to enterprise and global operations, Digital Rapids systems span the critical points in today's complex media workflows. Recipient of two prestigious Frost & Sullivan awards in the World Video Encoders and Transcoders market, Digital Rapids combines innovative technology with proven expertise to help our customers maximize their productivity, quality, and the value of their content in the evolving digital media market. Digital Rapids Corporation (www.digital-rapids.com) is headquartered in Ontario, Canada with offices in the United States, the UK, Australia, Argentina and Hong Kong.
