TV TECHNOLOGY:What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the 2018 NAB Show?
KEN FROMMERT: The recent usual suspects will remain at the forefront—IP, 4K and the cloud. Beyond these umbrella topics that cross the broadcast workflow and infrastructure, there are some more focused topics bubbling to the surface this year, one of which is automated captioning. As TV networks and independent stations grapple with compliance and the high costs of (and difficulty of securing) live stenographers, new software-defined solutions are coming to market that automate captioning workflow with much greater speed and accuracy then before. We believe this is an area to watch closely.
TVT:What will be your most important product news?
FROMMERT: Our latest automated captioning solution, enCaption4, will make its U.S. debut with new enhancements that will eliminate all concerns with accuracy and speed-to-air. Additionally, we will showcase our MOM solution for organizing, managing and automating critical production and channel playout tasks, with an emphasis on robust integration with NDI and newsroom workflows.
TVT:How is your new product different from what’s available on the market?
FROMMERT: enCaption4 just takes automated captioning to an entirely new level. For one, it’s deployable in the cloud or on-premises; second, it optimizes compliance with expanding regulatory requirements. But there is no question that nothing else comes close to enCaption4 when it comes to speed and accuracy. With our new patented technology, enCaption4’s new speech-to-text engine leverages breakthroughs in machine-learning technology to develop a deep neural network approach to voice recognition. Accuracy is further enhanced by a dictionary database for 28 languages—three times larger than previous enCaption solutions—while integration with popular newsroom computer systems (NRCS) takes advantage of news scripts and rundowns to learn and validate the spelling of local names and terminology.
As for MOM, there is no other solution of its kind that provides as much for such a reasonable cost. It is truly an all-in-one solution, which brings graphics, media ingest, playout automation, media asset management into one flexible solution. It is software-based and unlike the convoluted spreadsheet-like automation systems that permeate the industry, MOM is easy to navigate thanks to an intuitive, legible interface with clear and colorful on-screen arrays.
TVT:What is it about the NAB Show that brings you back every year?
FROMMERT: The NAB Show is all about relationships. It’s impossible to overstate the value of meeting with our customers and partners from around the world in one place. Hearing from our customers that they are happy, satisfied and interested to learn about our latest innovations to bring them into the future is an amazing opportunity. And their feedback on what we can do to further improve our products and solve their problems is invaluable.
