Telestream, a leading provider of workflow automation, media processing, monitoring and test and measurement solutions for the production and distribution of video, announces enhancements to its CaptionMaker authoring software and the Vantage Media Processing Platform. They provide the production tools required by major broadcast networks and content distributors who have standardized on the IMF (Interoperable Master Format) file-based delivery format, especially with improved captioning and subtitling capability.
In particular, CaptionMaker and Vantage Timed Text Flip now support IMSC 1.1, the latest version of the SMPTE standard for subtitling and captioning. IMSC is of particular importance in the preparation of IMF packages, and IMSC 1.1 is required for those who are producing content for the Japanese market, as well as global companies, such as Netflix.
According to the announcement, “These enhancements clearly differentiate Telestream in the IMF production tool market. No other technology vendor offers workflow automation combined with the caption and subtitle processing capabilities offered in Vantage and CaptionMaker. Using CaptionMaker, users can author, edit, encode and repurpose video captions and subtitles. Then, using Vantage, they can simply include these media files in automated workflows for file transformation as needed when creating primary and supplemental IMF packages.”
With CaptionMaker, users create video captions and subtitles for television, web and mobile delivery. CaptionMaker is designed to simplify the process of complying with government regulations and enable greater access to broadcast content for television, online and mobile viewers. The latest release supports IMSC 1.1 and contains several other enhancements including improved caption and subtitle rendering to make them crisper and easier to read.
Also, Vantage Timed Text Flip provides full support for IMSC, including version 1.1. IMSC is required for IMF packages. Users that need to deliver video content to TV or Internet can use Vantage and Timed Text Flip to transcode captions and subtitles with their media within a single, automated workflow. This type of automation can help a variety of organizations meet government mandates in a file-based workflow.
In addition, Vantage IMF Producer automates the creation of IMF packages from Adobe Premiere Pro. Using a Vantage panel within Adobe Premiere Pro provides direct access and workflow efficiencies for editors. IMF Producer automates the creation of all files required in an IMF package from a single output render of an Adobe Premiere Pro timeline. As well as generating the primary package, editors can create additional sequences, which become supplemental IMF packages that contain different versions of audio, subtitles, edit points, Dolby Vision HDR metadata and more.
“As a file-based delivery format, IMF is gaining widespread support from the media industry, so the decision to focus our efforts on developing IMF production tools was straightforward,” explains Scott Matics, Senior Director of Product Management at Telestream. “However, these are not just any old IMF productions tools – they reflect Telestream’s outstanding expertise in this area and a great depth of customer feedback.”
