The Mill's Adtext Subtitling Service Powered By Sysmedia Technology

Premier post production facility The Mill - with offices based in London's Soho, New York and Los Angeles - has installed WinCAPS subtitling technology from SysMedia to facilitate its innovative AdText service.
AdText is a commercial department within The Mill's delivery arm BEAM.TV and is specifically tasked with satisfying advertising agencies' needs for hard-of-hearing subtitles on TV adverts. As a web-based service it hosts and delivers file-based media anywhere in the world.
AdText uses seven WinCAPS systems from SysMedia as well as a quality control unit that doubles as a back-up inserter for linear video in an otherwise file-based environment.
Miles Stormer, Head of MCR at The Mill, London, explained the workflow: "An MPEG-2 @50i file is delivered to our AdText website by the client, which is then picked up and processed through Flip Factory where a low-res file is created to set the WinCAPS subtitles against.
"Once the subtitles are ready it's then run through the SysMedia QC station to check for position and timing before being encoded, checked again and then passed on for transmission. All of this happens in the file-based domain so there is no tape!"
Stormer continued: "The installation of the whole solution allowed us to launch AdText without the traditional cumbersome encoding from tape or facility line and offer a modern, fully digital, tracked and automated file-based domain. This gives our clients the potential for anytime receipt or delivery, allowing us to work smarter and improve turnaround times - all of which leads to better productivity. It's also worth noting that the old tape way of encoding did put considerable stress on both sides of the subtitling process, taking up expensive manpower and equipment. The solution we now have frees up considerable time and resources."
Stormer highlights the fact that WinCAPS is the authoring software of choice and was chosen by The Mill's experienced team. He said: "There are other options, but this was deemed best-in-class."
Andrew Lamborune, CEO of SysMedia, said: "The Mill is perhaps THE London facility house and we are delighted that its team selected WinCAPS for its AdText service. The chosen workflow provides many advantages and clearly reflects the benefits of a truly file-based solution."
Further information is available at: www.sysmedia.com.
(KMcA/BMcC)