Wildscreen
Expands Access to ARKive Digital
Library with Telestream FlipFactory
MPEG-4
3GPP and MPEG-2 formats enable wireless
Web access and high-quality off-line
access to nature films and sound
recordings
Nevada
City , Calif. , November 30, 2004
- Telestream, the leading provider
of universal media encoding solutions,
today announced deployment of its
FlipFactory MPEG component to provide
new video and audio format support
for the ARKive digital library,
an initiative of the UK-based educational
charity, Wildscreen. Following initial
FlipFactory implementation to provide
streaming formats for Web audiences,
the new MPEG component now adds
format support for new viewing audiences.
The addition of MPEG-4 3GPP and
MPEG-2 formats will enable Wildscreen
to broaden access and viewing of
the ARKive endangered species library
to mobile devices and video monitors
at off-line exhibits.
The
award-winning ARKive Digital Library
has been called the digital Noah's
Ark of the 21 st century . ARKive
uses the latest digital technology
to collect and preserve the world's
most important nature films, photographs
and sound recordings of the Earth's
endangered plants and animals. The
project's aim is to provide a permanent
safe haven for the records, while
providing global access to the collection
via a free, public website at www.arkive.org
.
Since
its launch in May 2003, the site
has attracted more than one million
visitors from 120 different countries
who have requested nearly six million
pages from the on-line library.
The site has received numerous awards,
including "Find of the Year 2003"
by Yahoo! Picks UK & Ireland
, and the prestigious British Environment
and Media Award (BEMA) for the best
environmental website.
Telestream's
FlipFactory transcoding automation
software has been used since project
inception to transcode the vast
video and audio library from uncompressed
10-bit 4:2:2 files into a variety
of streaming formats for online
access by Web audiences. When the
Wildscreen decided to proceed with
expansion for mobile telecom devices
and off-line exhibits, Telestream's
FlipFactory MPEG output module was
selected to provide the required
formats.
According
to John Leedham , ARKive Lead IT
Systems Architect at Wildscreen,
"When we needed the new MPEG formats,
Telestream's FlipFactory was the
obvious choice. Over the past year
and a half, FlipFactory has proven
itself to be a very robust and reliable
encoding engine. FlipFactory provides
two important benefits for us: smooth
workflow integration and speed."
The
first of the two expansion projects
to be implemented is the mobile
telecoms pilot slated for early
December 2004. Working in partnership
with a major international scientific
field research and education organization
, 20 new endangered species will
be added to the ARKive library for
access by wireless users. Eventually
all 1,500 species will be converted
for mobile access.
The
addition of the FlipFactory MPEG
module provides automatic conversion
of video/audio files to the required
MPEG-4 3GPP format for delivery
over wireless networks to devices
such as mobile phones and PDAs.
The ARKive system will automatically
detect that an incoming request
is from a mobile device and will
respond by providing the required
MPEG-4 format. The MPEG module will
also be used to automatically convert
video and audio to high-resolution,
DVD-grade MPEG-2 files for on-demand
public access via interactive kiosks
as well as display on video monitors
located at scientific discovery
centers and zoos.
Importantly,
the FlipFactory SDK provides the
flexibility Leedham needed to customize
and manage the ARKive workflow.
FlipFactory is configured to automatically
monitor output folders on Final
Cut Pro edit systems. Once new content
is detected, the files are automatically
pulled, transcoded to the required
formats, and delivered to destination
Web and video servers.
FlipFactory's
load-balanced processing across
multiple processors (four in the
case of the ARKive library) is another
major benefit according to Leedham.
"It cuts down transcode time by
a factor of four. Running 100% across
all four processors, FlipFactory
generates multiple streams in parallel
(Real, QuickTime, Windows Media,
and now MPEG-4 and MPEG-2) to dramatically
speed the workflow process - from
edit systems to destination servers."
Telestream
UK distributor, Boxer Systems Ltd.,
provides local support for FlipFactory.
####
About
Telestream (www.telestream.net)
Telestream
products have set the standard with
the world's leading media and entertainment
companies, corporations and government
institutions for the encoding, organizing
and delivery of digital media. Customers
rely on Telestream products for
convenient, cost-effective, and
robust digital media access and
exchange over IP networks. ClipMail
MPEG appliances enable peer-to-peer
worldwide media delivery. FlipFactory®
software applications provide universal
transcoding and metadata exchange
between professional video systems.
Telestream MAPT media organizers
enable workgroups to capture, find,
organize, repurpose, and share video/audio
files. Telestream's automation applications
and smart media organization solutions
streamline workflows for broadcasters
and media companies, as well as
content owners and creators in government,
higher education and corporate markets.
Telestream and its team of video
experts are located in Nevada City
, the "video valley" region of Northern
California . The company is privately
held.
About
ARKive ( www.arkive.org )
ARKive
is the 21st Century Noah's Ark.
It's harnessing the latest in digital
technology to create a centralised
record of the world's most important
nature films, photographs, sound
recordings, and memories. It uses
these to build fact-backed portraits
of Earth's endangered species, which
can be accessed via its free website.
ARKive is an initiative of Wildscreen,
a UK based educational charity,
which also manages the biennial
Wildscreen International Wildlife
Film Festival - the largest and
most prestigious festival of its
kind in the world: http://www.wildscreenfestival.org.
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