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Film und Video Untertitelung Delivers HD Subtitling in Any Format and Standard With Snell & Wilcox Kahuna System

Worldwide Leader in Subtitling Achieves Top-Quality SD/HD Postproduction and Conversion With Snell & Wilcox Technologies

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HAMPSHIRE, U.K. -- Jan. 31, 2007 -- Snell & Wilcox today announced that Germany's Film und Video Untertitelung Gerhard Lehmann AG, a leading provider of subtitling services, has added a new Kahuna SD/HD multiformat production switcher to its facilities in the Potsdam-Babelsberg district. The Kahuna system enables both SD and HD postproduction in one of the company's digital edit suites, while Snell & Wilcox format conversion technologies secure the company's ability to work with and deliver content in all 16 HD standards and both SD standards.

"We rely heavily on the quality and efficiency of our format and standards conversion to provide the highest-possible product quality to our clients," said Gerhard Lehmann, founder of Film und Video Untertitelung. "We work with virtually every conceivable standard and format, striving to achieve perfect broadcast-quality results in subtitling HD content. The Kahuna provides us with very sophisticated technology for processing a variety of HD and SD signals within a single video mixer, which brings a great deal of flexibility to our HD operations."

Film und Video Untertitelung offers video transfer, standards and format conversion, online editing, and subtitling services for a broad range of clients, working with television programming including dramas, feature films, documentaries, children's programming, and concerts. The company's unique subtitling processing ensures that subtitle in and out points are inserted into HD content with half-frame accuracy. Proprietary software enables operators to accomplish this task in real time, so a 120-minute program, for example, only requires 120 minutes in the edit suite to become a new broadcast-quality tape with subtitled programming.

In fact, Film und Video Untertitelung is the first company in the world to offer real-time subtitle superimposition services for HD content, and the company's investment in leading-edge HD technologies such as the Snell & Wilcox Kahuna SD/HD production switcher allow for delivery of that content in any format or standard required by the client.

Snell & Wilcox's Kahuna is the industry's most advanced production switcher and the first ever to offer simultaneous HD and SD operations in the same mainframe with the same control panel. Future-proof and flexible, it allows operators to work initially in SD-only or HD-only mode and then upgrade to multiformat SD/HD operation whenever they choose. In multiformat SD/HD mode, Kahuna users can mix existing SD camera feeds, graphics, handheld shots, and archive footage directly into an HD production with no need to purchase expensive HD upgrades or extra HD upconversion equipment.

Film und Video Untertitelung is also using Snell & Wilcox upconversion, downconversion, and crossconversion technology to handle different frame rates, image sizes, and aspect ratios, complemented with functionality such as tilt, pan and zoom, time code conversion with precise frame mapping, comprehensive audio handling, and 3:2 cadence detection and repair -- all performed in a single pass.

"We are very satisfied with the results from our new Kahuna switcher," added Lehmann. "The smooth performance and superior image quality delivered by the Kahuna play a significant role in our delivery of top-quality subtitled HD content."

Film und Video Untertitelung Gerhard Lehmann AG is a worldwide leader in subtitling services, providing the highest-quality subtitling in all types of media for a variety of international clients. In the past 20 years, the company has developed technologies and set standards in computer-assisted subtitling techniques with frame-by-frame precision for television programs, films, and DVDs that have become industry-standard practices. All of the company's proprietary software, developed in-house, is Unicode-based and universally applicable across PAL and NTSC platforms in both SD and HD. Alongside state-of-the-art technology, a large, experienced and knowledgeable staff guarantees the consistent high quality of subtitles. Employees at Film und Video Untertitelung have the benefit of more than 30,000 subtitling projects in more than 40 languages to back them up. More information about the company and its services is available at www.untertitel-ag.de.

Snell & Wilcox designs and builds the world's most advanced systems for video playout, mastering, repurposing, infrastructure, and live production switching. Providing solutions that deliver immediate value while enabling a controlled and cost-effective transition to HD and file-based systems, the company serves a worldwide base of customers in the broadcast, postproduction, cable, satellite, mobile TV, and IPTV markets. 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. Further information is available at www.snellwilcox.com.

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

Snell & Wilcox, Putting Pictures to Work, and Kahuna are all trademarks of the Snell & Wilcox Group. All other trademarks mentioned herein are acknowledged as the property of their respective owners.