At IBC 2011, AmberFin, a provider of file-based media ingest and transcoding solutions showed a unified Quality Control solution for content ingest and transcoding operations called iCR Unified QC (UQC). The platform brings a variety of workflow tools for baseband checks during tape ingest, file-based QC after ingest, and overall operator-controlled QC, including annotation and mark-up.
The company said that the development of UQC represents one of the most significant developments to AmberFin's iCR file-based content ingest and transcoding system in recent years.
The addition of UQC to AmberFin's iCR allows users to create a high quality file-based HD/SD master, provide unique file conversion to multiple formats and implement appropriate levels of automated and manual quality control, all within a single unified software environment.
“The explosion in file-based workflows means traditional manual methods of quality control are no longer effective,” said Bruce Devlin, Chief Technology Officer at AmberFin. “That's why we have developed the world's first unified QC approach, combining automatic and operator controlled tools that deliver the most advanced QC workflow available today. UQC checks not only files, but also the processes that created them.”
AmberFin’s new Unified QC approach integrates two existing image-processing technologies — Snell’s Hyperion and Digimetric's Aurora — so that all aspects of QC are now integrated within a single unified timeline. This gives users an instant and highly accurate visual display of potential quality issues throughout the ingest and transcoding process. QC processes can be implemented at any point in the lifecycle of an asset, using the most appropriate technique. Easy to read reports and a range of graphic displays aid operators easily identify the source, nature and position of an error with a thumbnail of the frame where it occurred.
Snell's Hyperion provides real-time baseband QC on ingest and automatically checks for VTR playback issues and common audio and time code faults. This ensures that users do not spend valuable time capturing hours of material only to find out later that it was faulty. Digimetric's Aurora offers file-based QC after ingest and checks for common file wrapper anomalies to prevent expensive mistakes. Aurora tools also automatically check for a variety of compliance violations, including container metadata and delivery metrics.
