Softel at the 2011 NAB Show

At the 2011 NAB Show, the Softel team will be showing the company's enhanced portfolio of captioning and subtitling solutions as well as its interactive TV and connected TV solutions.

Softel's captioning and subtitling solutions have been optimized for next-generation workflows, for anyone transitioning to tapeless, upgrading to HD, exploring multiplatform delivery, rolling out multilanguage feeds or focusing on 3-D. The range of solutions offers full support for all major formats in multilanguage, multiplatform operations across any number of channels.

Softel solutions are designed to let broadcasters and network operators deliver innovative services promptly, shortening time to market and generating revenue rapidly through reduced operational costs, increased productivity and streamlined workflows.

Softel Product Highlights at the 2011 NAB Show

Automated Subtitling Control Center: ScheduleSmart™
Softel's ScheduleSmart™ is a sophisticated workflow technology that uses proprietary heuristics and algorithms to determine the optimum point in the workflow at which to bind captions, subtitles and ancillary data to content. ScheduleSmart introduces unparalleled flexibility in subtitling workflows by automatically assessing whether there is time to ingest data to media servers or a Digital Asset Management System (DAMS). If the system determines that early or late binding is not possible, live systems are automatically directed to perform the bind at time-of-air.

Caption and Subtitle Encoding Software: Swift™ vTX
Softel Swift™ vTX enables broadcasters to repurpose content regardless of file format. It allows them to switch between SD and HD formats easily to facilitate multiplatform and worldwide distribution. Swift vTX supports a large array of files, wrappers and playout formats, facilitating the integration of captioned or subtitled content across a wide range of media servers and editing solutions.

Caption Playout and Management Platform: Swift™ TX
Softel's Swift™ TX is a flexible and cost-effective caption/subtitle management and transmission platform that reduces workflow complexity and increases reliability and productivity. The versatile solution features real-time transcoding and a class-leading range of automation interfaces, along with the widest support of file formats available.

Audio Description Software: Swift™ ADePT
The Softel Swift™ ADePT software is based on the market-leading Swift Create caption/subtitle preparation system, but is dedicated to the creation and playout of audio description (AD). It allows broadcasters to increase audience reach by providing access to content for visually impaired viewers. The ADePT suite offers an end-to-end approach, comprising an efficient yet feature-rich solution for all formats of AD.

Interactive TV Solutions for Test and Playout: MediaSphere™
Softel's MediaSphere™ is an interactive television playout platform enabling efficient testing and rapid deployment of innovative interactive applications, which allows broadcasters to increase revenue and loyalty quickly. MediaSphere supports the latest trends such as EBIF and HbbTV and provides efficient management of over-air delivery of DVB-SSU data. MediaSphere supports all DTT, DSAT and cable-interactive standards, including EBIF, MHEG, OpenTV, HbbTV and tru2way®. Its unique ability to support parallel multiformat playout from a single 1RU server provides a flexible and scalable solution, decreasing time to market and reliably playing out high volumes of interactive content.

Ancillary Data Processing Hardware: vFlex™ HD/SD
vFlex™ is the latest evolution in a long line of ancillary data processing hardware from Softel. vFlex offers a unique single-unit, multifunction solution that provides everything from ancillary data encoding, opt cue/ad insertion, encode/decode and wide screen signaling to graphic insertion for all HD and SD environments.

Teletext Editing, Management and Playout Solution: Cyclone™
The latest generation of Microsoft® Windows®-based Cyclone™ Teletext systems distils Softel's extensive expertise into a highly dynamic and scalable management and transmission solution. Cyclone leverages networking and Internet technologies to offer high availability, remote editing and automated updates from external data sources, cost-effectively supporting Teletext services. Data export in common formats also enables easy repurposing of content to the Internet and mobile devices.

Company Overview:

Softel is a global leader in key TV and video technologies including subtitling and captioning, interactive TV, MPEG stream processing and multiplexing, opt and ad insertion cuing, and Teletext, delivered through a full range of products, professional services and bespoke development. Based in Pangbourne, near Reading in Berkshire, England, Softel also owns Softel-USA LLC, which focuses entirely on the Americas from its metro New York location. The company also has an impressive network of partners worldwide. With almost three decades of broadcast experience, Softel has built a customer list that encompasses prestigious "blue chip" broadcasters and major post-production facilities, as well as freelancers and smaller facilities.

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