Press Releases: Latest News

Snell & Wilcox Wins NAB2006 Honors for Two New Systems: Helios and Hyperion

Helios Conversion Platform and Hyperion Content-Monitoring Systems Recognized for Innovation, Value to the Industry, and Contribution to Workflow Efficiencies

--

HAMPSHIRE, U.K - May 9, 2006 - Snell & Wilcox was honored at NAB2006 with three top awards, earning the Broadcast Engineering Pick Hit Award and TV Technology STAR (Superior Technology Award Recipient) Award for the Helios software conversion platform and the Television Broadcast NAB2006 Editor's Top Innovation Award for the Hyperion content-monitoring system.

The BE Pick Hit Awards are presented to the most technologically innovative products and those most likely to make a meaningful impact on the broadcast and film industries. The STAR Award from TV Technology, which is based on editors' review of a variety of products, their technical applications, and their overall contribution to the industry, honors and showcases the finest technological innovations available to the broadcast industry. Winners of the Television Broadcast Top Innovation Award are nominated by industry professionals and selected unanimously by the editorial team of Television Broadcast magazine in recognition of Technology Insight for the Bottom Line - their success in combining innovative technical achievement with workflow and cost efficiencies.

"Both Helios and Hyperion contribute to broadcasters' ability to distribute signals cost-effectively, reliably, and in the format and quality appropriate for any given application or platform," said Joe Zaller, vice president of marketing at Snell & Wilcox. "The significant interest that both these systems attracted during their NAB debuts speaks to the importance of sophisticated yet easy-to-use signal processing, conversion, and monitoring systems within the rapidly evolving broadcast environment and also underscores our ability to bring valuable leading-edge broadcast solutions to market."

Helios brings Snell & Wilcox's conversion, compression, and signal processing expertise to the file-based domain. Combining the company's Ph.C motion estimation and FormatFusion technologies, Helios makes possible the long-held dream of content owners and broadcasters to "master once, distribute anywhere." The system transcends simple transcoding by encompassing a complete automated solution that can convert - under user control - video, audio, and metadata to the required format in a single "anytime" pass. Helios' intelligent job manager dynamically scales processing throughput simply by applying the appropriate amount of CPU power required for an individual task.

The Helios platform family incorporates functionality for every aspect of the IT file-based workflow. An interoperability module enables users to move files seamlessly between otherwise incompatible IT hardware such as servers and editing systems. A distribution module enables users to repurpose content seamlessly and automatically to the appropriate format for distribution to platforms such as broadcast television, VOD, IPTV, mobile video, and iPods.

The Snell & Wilcox Hyperion is a groundbreaking new content-monitoring system that uses intuitive algorithms that mimic human intelligence to provide dedicated audio, video, and metadata monitoring for all content throughout the broadcast infrastructure, from ingest to transmission. The system also evaluates the quality and makeup of the video, audio, and metadata content within the signal. Rather than simply alerting operators of complete technical failure (a rare occurrence), Hyperion automatically provides an "educated opinion" as to whether each element of the program meets satisfactory viewing quality standards, as well as the legal and contractual requirements necessary to generate revenue.

Hyperion functionality is now being integrated into all new products throughout Snell & Wilcox's broadcast infrastructure line. This means that customers get the benefit of a tightly integrated, distributed QC infrastructure without having to purchase additional monitoring "probes," which are not only costly, but also use up valuable rack space in the broadcast plant. The result is greater value to customers in the form of increased in-house efficiency and more trouble-free operations.

More information about Snell & Wilcox products is available at www.snellwilcox.com.

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 Burbank, Calif., and European headquarters in Hampshire, U.K. 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.

Snell & Wilcox, Helios, Hyperion, Ph.C, and FormatFusion are all trademarks of the Snell & Wilcox Group.

Americas Press Contact: Susan Warren, Wall Street Communications. Phone: +1 631 261-1013, E-mail: susan@wallstreetcom.tv.

EMEA Press Contact: Becky Smith on behalf of Wall Street Communications. Phone: +44 1622 684 592, E-mail: becky@ella-beck.co.uk.