Telestream Streamlines Media Access and Distribution for BBC Motion Gallery
Telestream's FlipFactory and ClipMail Pro used to enhance the process of viewing and delivering archive media to clients over the Internet
Amsterdam, Netherlands - IBC Show - September 9, 2005 - Telestream, the world's leading provider of universal media access solutions, today announced that the BBC Motion Gallery has implemented its FlipFactory® and ClipMail Pro™ media encoding and delivery solutions to provide a fast, efficient digital workflow at their west London archive facility.
A division of BBC Worldwide Limited, BBC Motion Gallery was launched in June 2004 to provide, for the first time, direct access via the Internet to the vast and diverse collection of moving images and broadcast programming from the BBC and CBS News archives. BBC Worldwide wanted to extend its footage sales business to new clients outside the traditional broadcast market. BBC Motion Gallery offers cost-effective access and creative media solutions to media professionals around the world in industries such as advertising, commercials, film, interactive and corporate video production.
BBC Motion Gallery has developed a website at www.bbcmotiongallery.com which contains a core collection of over 20,000 archived video clips - with new materials being added every day. New digital technologies were deployed to streamline the online search and selection process and to speed high-quality media delivery to clients. To that end, BBC Motion Gallery selected Telestream's ClipMail Pro MPEG encoding and IP delivery appliance and FlipFactory transcoding and delivery automation application.
In London, ClipMail Pro is used to capture and encode the archive materials from tape. Systems were also placed in regional worldwide offices to provide fast, efficient encoding and submission of media files via the Internet to a ClipMail Pro at the London archive facility. In London, the media files are automatically transferred from ClipMail Pro to FlipFactory for transcoding to low-res QuickTime and Windows Media 7.1 file formats, and delivery to Web servers for online viewing. FlipFactory is also used to ingest media and metadata to the EMC Documentum Content Management Platform to make it searchable.
The combined use of ClipMail Pro and FlipFactory speeds the delivery process tremendously for BBC Motion Gallery. Instead of slow shipping services or expensive satellite time, customers are able to view low-res proxy files remotely and make their selections online. QuickTime is so efficient that it allows BBC Motion Gallery to deliver enormous, immaculate preview files at remarkably low data rates. Once clips are purchased online, the fulfillment is handled via ClipMail Pro delivery, instead of tape shipment, through one of BBC Motion Gallery's worldwide offices in New York, Los Angeles, Sydney, Toronto, Hong Kong or Tokyo.
"Customers are keen to see archive materials in the best resolution possible. BBC Motion Gallery has very high-resolution images, and these files are quick and simple to download," said Simon Gibbs, managing director, BBC Motion Gallery. "Telestream's innovative ClipMail Pro solution allows us to capture and encode masters as MPEG2 files, and the FlipFactory flips these into low-res QuickTime and Windows Media proxy files for customer review. This ensures fast turnaround services for our customers," Gibbs concludes.
"We're delighted to be able to enhance the workflow process at BBC Motion Gallery and to improve the delivery of archive materials to their clients," said David Heppe, Telestream's senior vice president of sales and marketing. "The customer chooses the transmission speed and video quality - from approval to digital master. And because ClipMail Pro uses store and forward rather than streaming technology, quality will never be affected by transmission speed."
ClipMail Pro is a media encoding and store-and-forward delivery appliance that puts users in full control of acquiring media from virtually any tape format, encoding it to MPEG formats, and delivery over the Internet. ClipMail is as easy to use as email or fax, provides automatic, unattended delivery to an FTP server or to any ClipMail system for playback and offloading to any tape format. ClipMail systems are now in use by thousands of video professionals worldwide.
FlipFactory is a powerful server-based workflow automation application that automatically converts media files between virtually any streaming or professional digital media format and enables automated file exchange between professional video systems, such as broadcast servers, editing systems, streaming servers, SANs and archives. FlipFactory automatically reformats media, enhances media, extracts important metadata, and moves media and metadata to destination systems.
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About Telestream (www.telestream.net)
Telestream's 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. The company's automation applications and smart media organization solutions streamline workflows for broadcasters and media companies, as well as content owners and content 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 BBC Motion Gallery
BBC Motion Gallery launched in June 2004, incorporating and extending BBC Worldwide's footage sales business. Developing new opportunities outside the traditional broadcast market, the business provides cost-effective, creative solutions to media professionals on a global basis. As part of its offering BBC Motion Gallery has a website - www.bbcmotiongallery.com - with a core collection of more than 20,000 moving images from which media professionals around the world can search and license clips for a wide variety of uses ranging from corporate videos, new media and advertising to TV and feature films.
About BBC Worldwide Limited
BBC Worldwide Limited is the main commercial arm and a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The company exists to maximise the value of the BBC's assets for the benefit of the licence payer and invest in public service programming in return for rights. In 2004/05 BBC Worldwide returned £145 million to the BBC from its six business operations: TV Channels, TV Sales, BBC Magazines, Home Entertainment, Children's and New Media.
