Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/44580
based delivery [of content] is the proper solu- tion going forward" the shortage of HDCAM SR tape stock following Japan's trio of disasters changed the dynamic. "It propelled the delivery of file elements for longform and shortform television into becoming a reality very quickly. Additionally, we have maintained a leading role in the creation of archive and delivery files from library content pushing out to platforms like Hulu and Netflix. "Although the post production business tries to drive technology as much as it can, the industry itself is slow to change," he observes. "It generally requires a significant technology advancement or a disaster to push it in a new direction. We've all been testing file-based delivery for some time. Now we have to make it work. And we have." Brian Drown, director of engineering at Keep Me Posted, a FotoKem company, reports that clients need an array of deliverables for broadcast, from Sony XDCAM i-frame-fla- vored MPEG-2 to MPEG-4, which takes lon- ger to encode but produces a higher quality image for proponents such as DirecTV, and ProRes 422 (HQ), which has proved to be "a pretty robust file for acquisition and delivery." With "no one common solution" for mul- tiple deliverables, FotoKem provides a com- plete package of services to help clients meet their needs. "We have developed tools to use both in pre-production as well as the man- agement of media from beginning to end, from acquisition to final distribution and archiving," says Gladden. Tools include FotoKem's NextLAB Mobile Repurposing material for multiple platforms, areas C ULVER CITY — Issues involved in multiple platform delivery extend far beyond those related to just formatting programming for the various delivery specs required. Distribution of content today is a global enterprise. Whether you're talking about a TV show being posted online within hours after its initial airing or media that bypasses traditional broadcast channels altogether, the rapidly growing expectation is that programming will go out to an international audience concurrent to, or almost immediately after, its domestic premiere. Gone are the months-long windows to local- ize content with the appropriate subtitling necessary for every territory in the world. SDI Media (www.sdimedia.com), headquartered here, has specialized in localizing content — dubbing, subtitling and otherwise repurposing theatrical and broadcast con- tent for territories worldwide — for over 25 years. In order to accommodate client demand to repurpose material for multiple territories and the growing number of plat- forms within days, or even hours, the company has recently unveiled a new service, SDI SubStream. SDI's new service is designed to significantly streamline the process of delivering subtitled versions of content localized for multiple territories and in any number of formats — to online platforms more quickly and efficiently than has previ- ously been possible. SDI SubStream leverages SDI's proprietary subtitling systems and workflows, in con- junction with plug-in technology, to link to the online video player and directly refor- mat and display multiple subtitle streams across a single video file. "Traditionally," SDI's CEO, Walter Schonfeld, explains, "when content was only being repurposed for television broadcast and there were significant windows to do the work, the program and the subtitling files would go to a post house which would have to generate separate versions of the show, complete with subtitle burn-ins, for each territory. Today, broadcasters want to post their material for catch-up TV, VOD, stream- ing and mobile devices, often within hours. It's not practical to "bake in" the subtitling information for every territory anymore, and even if it were, the costs of individual versioning make it impractical. "By separating the show from the subtitle files," Schonfeld sums up, "SDI is able to significantly increase efficiency, compress schedules, avoid issues of versioning complex- ity, and vastly reduce the amount of actual media and manipulation necessary to publish content quickly throughout the world." dailies and asset management system devel- oped by FotoKem's in-house software team. This system is deployed on location as a mobile solution for production as well as in the cutting room to ingest data, process and sync, archive to LTO-5 tape and push out to the required file formats. "Every time there's a new camera format we can easily integrate it into our software and establish a complete workflow for a full dailies and finishing process," adds Drown. Typically, once creative editing has been completed and content arrives at FotoKem, an Avid-centric workflow is followed for "effi- ciency in editing, color correction and titling," says Gladden. "There's not a lot of transcoding from one platform to another, which takes time and can introduce problems." FotoKem's Media Services Group employs an "all-flavors approach" to encoding soft- ware, adds Gladden, including Sorenson Squeeze, Digital Rapids' StreamZ, Harmonic Rhozet ProCoder, Final Cut Pro, Apple Com- pressor and many others. Turnaround time for some deliverables has become increasingly critical. To meet the con- tracted demands of day-of-air episodic deliv- ery for MPEG-based Netflix and QuickTime- based iTunes, FotoKem "conforms content to the end format needed, adds the required metadata and pushes it out via a private link to Netflix and Apple's proprietary delivery system literally within a two-hour window after receiving the order," reports Chauncy Cummings, director of technology in FotoKem's Media Services Group. File-based delivery has allowed for interna- tional trailer work to meet requirements for day-and-date release, notes Gladden — something that wasn't possible in the era of film negatives and printing. "We've cut out a lot of steps with file-based delivery solutions. We can get a full-resolution trailer out to dozens of countries in a few hours as a Digital Cinema or DPX file." FotoKem's proprietary Web-based globalDATA software moves files quickly anywhere in the world for production and final distribution. FotoKem still opts for a tiered storage system of production content, nearline continued on page 47 www.postmagazine.com Post • October 2011 27 Crawford works on the Great Museums series. They deliver to Hulu and iTunes.