Comprehensive Conversion System Enables Live International Broadcast of High-Profile Sports and Entertainment Events, Supports Post-Production on Award-Winning Films
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BURBANK, Calif. — June 17, 2008 — Snell & Wilcox today announced that New York City post house GRS is using the Alchemist Ph.C – HD motion compensated HD standards converter to meet the demands of international program exchange and high-end finishing, working on award-winning films such as “Fahrenheit 9/11,” “Taxi to the Dark Side,” “The Education of Shelby Knox,” and “Sicko.” For deliverables targeted to the international HD market, the powerful standards converter enables transparent conversion between 50-Hz and 60-Hz HD standards for both 1080i and 720p formats. The Alchemist Ph.C – HD from Snell & Wilcox also offers the added value of motion compensated up/down/crossconversion that allows GRS to incorporate valuable SD and HD content, both PAL and NTSC, smoothly into HD film and documentary work.
“I have worked with Snell & Wilcox equipment for the past 10 or 15 years, and my experience with both the company’s products and sales force has been very good,” said Ranko Gak, general manager at GRS. “By providing reliability, quality, and flexibility, the company’s technologies have allowed us to take on some of the industry’s most difficult projects. Leading networks recognize Alchemist Ph.C – HD’s quality and ask for it by name, and we have been able to leverage the system to build our reputation and business in HD program exchange. No other solution can compete with the quality delivered by Alchemist Ph.C converters.”
GRS first deployed its Alchemist Ph.C – HD standards converter to provide frame-rate standards conversion for international broadcast events. The Alchemist enabled GRS to capture high-profile events including concerts by tenor Andrea Bocelli and FOX Sports’ airing of the first regular-season Sunday NFL game played outside North America: the New York Giants vs. Miami Dolphins at London’s Wembley Stadium.
Among the benefits of the Alchemist Ph.C – HD’s flexibility for Gak and his staff has been the ability to maintain a tapeless workflow in converting and distributing client content in the appropriate format, and in both SD and HD simultaneously if needed. In addition to providing convenience and supporting greater productivity, this workflow helps to optimize the quality of converted content regardless of the target format.
“The Alchemist Ph.C – HD’s combination of noise reduction and motion compensated conversion enables a unique workflow that yields the exceptional picture quality necessary in both HD program exchange and production of high-profile documentary films,” added Gak. “The content and quality of clips featured in these projects has much to do with the films’ impact and immediacy. We work with an enormous variety of archival material and fresh SD and HD content captured in multiple standards, and the Alchemist Ph.C – HD is critical to our ability to make all of this content visually compelling.”
About Alchemist Ph.C – HD
The Snell & Wilcox Alchemist Ph.C – HD motion compensated frame-rate standards converter offers simultaneous SD and HD conversion in its compact 3-RU mainframe. This one-box approach delivers HD frame-rate conversion between 50-Hz and 60-Hz HD standards for both 1080i and 720p formats, as well as SD frame-rate conversion between 50-Hz and 60-Hz material. The Alchemist Ph.C – HD also provides motion compensated HDTV upconversion, downconversion, and crossconversion, making it the most comprehensive conversion solution available in the market.
Alchemist Ph.C – HD also provides co-timed simultaneous SD/HD outputs, each with independent aspect ratio and color space conversion — a huge benefit for broadcasters wanting to simulcast in both SD and HD. Also new to the system is a seamless timecode conversion option that drastically improves operational efficiency by eliminating the costly and time-consuming use of additional equipment and manual re-editing of timecode information on videotapes. Full support for Dolby® E audio eliminates the need for outboard Dolby decoders and encoders, reducing space, setup, and configuration requirements in replication and dubbing operations.
