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Shooters Post & Transfer Targets Noise and Grain With New Snell & Wilcox Niagra HD System

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Snell & Wilcox Inc. today announced that Shooters Post & Transfer, a Philadelphia-based post-production firm, is using the Snell & Wilcox Niagra high definition noise and grain management system to provide a smooth, clean look for projects ranging from feature films to commercial spots and material for corporate, industrial, and political markets.

"The Niagra serves as a multifunctional noise reduction unit for HD and SD, making it easy for us to work with both formats without switching between two separate types of noise reducers," said Bob Pyle, director of engineering at Shooters Post & Transfer. "We really like the way it handles the picture. It gives us an infinite window of how much noise reduction we apply and gives us immediate results that allows for very fine adjustments. We can give our clients a cleaner, sharper product without losing the special look and feel of film."

Film grain and noise problems are much more significant in high definition productions than in standard definition work because the resolution of the format is more revealing and viewer expectations are much higher. Through seamless integration with da Vinci's 2K color corrector, the Snell & Wilcox Niagra allows Shooters Post & Transfer to produce material that looks pristine in HD and SD alike.

"The Niagra is a natural fit with the 2K's own SD and HD capabilities, making it easy for the user to handle a variety of post-production tasks without switching interfaces," said Bill Robertson , da Vinci's vice president of marketing and product management. "With da Vinci's support for Niagra, Shooters' colorists are able to complete scene-by-scene, frame-accurate grain reduction, exposure compensation, and color enhancement - all through the familiar tools of our industry-standard control panel."

An intuitive interface allows operators to change grain reduction as needed depending on the film stock in use. Enhancement controls allow the sharpness of output images to be improved, while a combination of linear and non-linear processes generate edge detection and peaking signals to ensure that overshoots and ringing are minimized.

"One of the things we had noticed with previous grain reduction systems is that at higher levels, they tend to smear," said Shooters Post & Transfer Colorist Bob Lovejoy. "We're finding the Niagra is much less intrusive and easier to control than other systems and does a very nice job of managing grain when we need it to. In all, Niagra gives us a very, very clean picture whether we're working in SD or HD - we just sit back and watch."

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Shooters Post & Transfer blends talent, technology, and customer service to provide a superior level of quality and creativity. Shooters' client base consists of ad agencies, production companies, film makers, television and cable networks, political consultants, PR firms, and corporations. The company is located in Historic Old City Philadelphia. Shooters supports all available high definition (HD) formats. Capabilities include film transfer with data and HD output, HD color correction with Defocus and Toolbox, five fire (HD) suites, CGI and graphic design, flame, four non-linear offline suites, two digital HD surround sound audio suites, audio recording studio, film HD, and video crews and studio.

Snell & Wilcox, the leader in its field, delivers technologies and products that enable television and satellite broadcasters, post-production facilities, filmmakers, and communications professionals to move content seamlessly between analog, digital, high definition and file-based systems and to bridge the world's multiplicity of line/field and color standards. The company provides switchers and keyers, standards conversion systems, networked infrastructure components, and products for noise reduction, image enhancement, and restoration. In business since 1973, Snell & Wilcox maintains its U.S. headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., and European headquarters in Hampshire, UK. Additional offices are located in New York, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, and Russia. Visit www.snellwilcox.com for more information.

Americas Press Contact: Laura Schoeggl, Wall Street Communications, Phone: +1 253 404 0020. Email: laura@wallstreetcom.tv.

EMEA Press Contact: Karen David, Wall Street Communications Europe, Phone: +44 (0) 1865 310422. Email: karen@wallstreetcom.tv.

Snell & Wilcox, Engineering with Vision, Alchemist, Ph.C, Kudos, Magic Dave, IQ Modular, RollCall, RollTrack, Mosalina, Niagra, and Kahuna are all trademarks of the Snell & Wilcox Group.