Vidcheck Granted Patent Protection

Vidcheck has announced it has been granted patent protection for the core process used to interrogate and auto-correct digital video and audio signals.

UK Patent GB 2475260, granted to Vidcheck founder and CEO Thomas Dove, covers major improvements in the techniques available for correcting out-of-specification video and audio signal levels.

"The patent defines the intellectual property implemented across our entire product range," said Howard Twine, COO, Vidcheck. "This is the process which propelled Vidcheck to the forefront of video and audio signal assessment and correction. The patent gives formal recognition to the company and its founder for pioneering a technology which is greatly superior to traditional video and audio legalisation."

Video and audio content supplied to broadcasters is expected to conform to industry standard parameters, and signals exceeding permitted levels are deemed 'illegal'. Traditional methods of limiting or correcting illegal signal levels can have a negative impact on video or audio quality. For example, linear scaling of all image values has the effect of reducing contrast and colour intensity across the whole picture. When applied to audio data, linear scaling causes a similar reduction in dynamic contrast.

The Vidcheck patent defines a multi-stage process based on the concept of the 'connected area'. Vidcheck products perform this algorithm quickly and transparently, with all correction activity logged, and specific levels can be set to issue an alert.

Supporting sub-SD, SD, HD, UHD, 4K, 8K and mixed workflows, Vidchecker is easy to install for use on PCs or servers running the Microsoft Windows operating system. It is designed for checking file-based video before and after distribution, and for use by broadcasters for checking files received from post production and content distributors to ensure that file, video and audio parameters and levels are correct and ready for general transmission.

Vidchecker tests and corrects four files at a time, providing an efficient alternative to checking conformance by eye and hand. It can also automatically and intelligently correct video and audio levels. The Vidchecker GUI is accessed through a web browser either on the local machine or remotely over a network.

Vidcheck's Vidfixer includes the QC and correction facilities of Vidchecker, as well as additional correction and transcoding. It can take mezzanine file formats (IMX, XDCAM, AVC-I, DVCPro, ProRes, DNxHD, JPEG2000), perform automatic QC and automatically correct video, audio and format errors. It can then output corrected files re-encoded to match the original format or transcoded to different user formats (MPEG-2, H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, ProRes, MP4, DV).

Image: Howard Twine, COO, Vidcheck.

www.vidcheck.com

(JP/LM)