Softel ScheduleSmart Subtitle Makes Debut

Softel will present the ScheduleSmart automated subtitle control centre at IBC 2010.
ScheduleSmart uses information from the broadcast event schedule to determine how and when subtitle data will be bound to content for playout. This coordinated and highly automated approach dramatically reduces user involvement, lowers costs and ensures that the correct subtitle reaches the viewer, regardless of the viewing platform.
ScheduleSmart provides a powerful, automated subtitle process management platform to any broadcast facility faced with the challenge of when and how to bind multi-language subtitles and other ancillary data to "broadcast-ready" video content.
There are significant business benefits to be gained by binding subtitle content to video early in the broadcast operations workflow, but ScheduleSmart also accommodates late-edited and true live subtitles.
ScheduleSmart monitors upcoming channel playlists, identifying subtitled events, checking the mix of content flagged for hard-of-hearing and localised applications, and calculating, in each case, the optimum time to encode the subtitles to the video asset.
To achieve this, ScheduleSmart interfaces with a wide range of broadcast system components including Softel Swift vTX (for early binding of subtitles to video files), Swift Create (for post-encode subtitle QC checks and repurposing), Swift TX (for time-of-air transmission of subtitle files) and third-party products such as channel automation and digital asset management.
Early binding of subtitles to video brings workflow benefits in key areas such as content archiving, QC processes and time-of-air system supervision. The ability to archive video along with single of multiple subtitle streams is a valuable asset management benefit; allowing time within the workflow to conduct quality checks and fix issues on subtitled video content improves overall service quality, and simplified time-of-air subtitle transmission saves on operational cost.
Sam Pemberton, Softel CEO, said: "With ScheduleSmart, broadcasters ensure their requirements for subtitling are met today and in the future as they expand their workflow to deliver a multitude of content types to a variety of audiences over multiple playout platforms.
"ScheduleSmart allows broadcasters to enhance their quality of service, deliver increased viewer satisfaction and contribute to a reduction in operational costs while simplifying modern multi-format, multi-platform workflows."
(KMcA)