In Broadcast - Product Preview - New York 2017 - 4

4

www.inbroadcast.com | Preview - New York | 18-19 October 2017

Screen - Demonstrates
Development Success
Dean Wales, Screen's Head of Marketing and PR, weighs up the behind
the scenes work on subtitling strategies and their positive outcomes...

W

ith previous pre-Show articles
discussing the need for strategic
change, there's a deep sense of
gratification in announcing the actual
outcomes of our observations of new
market requirements and subsequent
strategies and developments.
It has been an undeniably unsettled
period in our industry but possibly not
entirely because of change itself, as
that appears to have been welcomed
and embraced but because it has been
extraordinarily challenging to grasp
exactly what it is folk out there really
want or indeed need.
We've deliberately avoided any
knee-jerk developments in response
to change with having, let's say,
fallen victim to this - as have many
other developers and manufacturers
- in the dim and distant past. Instead
considered consultation has been key
to the development, or perhaps more
accurately in some areas the delivery
of product.
There have been a lot of toes in less
than familiar water at Screen, testing
for best-fit solutions.
The first being in the realms of the
'subtitler'. There has been a colossal
shift in how the professional subtitler
works, charges, is paid etc. but also
in who actually needs or wants to
create and prepare subtitles today.
Carrying the hefty weight of creating
and maintaining what is considered an
industry standard piece of software,
that's to say Wincaps, presents a
degree of responsibility. We advocate
the need for quality subtitles and feel
obliged to offer software to achieve
that in the most accessible and
affordable way possible.
Broader remit in Store
Requirements for subtitle creation
and preparation software are far
broader now and have led to a new
array of products and delivery of
existing products. The Cloud-based,
semi-pro 'Creation' tool in the Screen,
OOONA, Cavena triparty online
toolkit launched at BVE this year has
undergone constant development
since in response to user feedback.

IBC will see
the launch of
Screen's Store

Following the reaction to the
online tool, Screen has taken its core
professional creation products i.e.
Wincaps (and associated products),
and Poliscript and has made versions
of them available on an affordable
subscription basis via our new online
store. The store is available via
the homepage of our website and
underwent a full launch at IBC.
With an already impressive takeup from the soft launch, we are now
in the process of developing brand
new products for the online store all
targeted at this identified audience.
An additional strategic angle to
the Screen Store is to offer space
on it to relevant third parties with
complementary products as a sales
conduit, which has a substantial and
already established global reach and
reputation. We are inviting companies
with appropriate apps to contact our
partnerships team to discuss inclusion
and terms.
Rapid Tool Development
Staying with online tools and
our success with SaaS via our joint

venture 'Create' online tool, it became
blatantly evident during our research
that there is a universal need in our
sector for quick access apps and tools.
Screen has created a web based
portal, 'ScreenTools' where customers
can have rapid access to the Cloud
versions of our most popular and most
widely used individual tools from our
professional solutions.
More Cloud based tools will be added
to the dashboard as we develop them
and we will also be working with
partner companies to increase the
offering.
We're pleased to announce the first
partnership for our 'ScreenTools'
portal is a new initiative with
our close partners the Institut
für Rundfunktechnik GmbH (IRT)
and OOONA to offer a subtitle file
validation service.
Building upon the close co-operation
of Screen and IRT within a number of
standards organizations, in activities
related to subtitle transmission, in
broadcast and online, a validation
service has been developed and was
demonstrated recently at IBC.

Screen supports Speechmatics'
automatic speech recognition

Initially targeted at the IMSC
(Internet Media Subtitles & Captions)
1 format of subtitle content as used by
major content providers, the service
performs a number of tests covering
both standards compliance and other
qualitative metrics.
The intention is to expand the online
system to cover additional popular
subtitle formats, and to establish an
authoritative service for validating
and certifying subtitle files, for both
content creators and distributors alike.
Turning Point
Partner
working
remains
an
important component to the Screen
strategy and has led to significant
product development.
Our latest collaboration has led
to another significant development
and a considerable turning point in
subtitling.
Screen are pleased to announce the
support of Speechmatics' automatic
speech recognition technology within
Screen subtitle transmission and
creation workflows.
The system represents a dramatic
step forward in live, 'speaker
independent'
automatic
speech
recognition, and allows the realisation
of a long held ambition; live automatic
subtitling and captioning.
When using the high-quality audio
typical of a live broadcast television
programme, the Speechmatics' system
returns extremely fast and accurate
transcripts that are immediately
converted
into
subtitles
and
transmitted with the TV service.
In addition, the integration will allow
the automated production of accurate
transcripts for live TV programmes,
enhancing search and archive
possibilities for live TV content.
A prototype system powered by
Speechmatics was demonstrated at IBC
by Screen.
Screen are also planning to incorporate the company's technology into
non-live applications, to support 'offline' subtitle file creation activities.
See Screen on Booth: #N277
www.subtitling.com
http://www.inbroadcast.com http://www.subtitling.com http://www.subtitling.com
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