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GearBox Offers Rental Clients Unparalleled HD Standards Conversion With Snell & Wilcox Alchemist Ph.C - HD

Industry-Leading HD Standards Converter Extends GearBox Offering, Enables Delivery of HD Content to Virtually Any Broadcast Market

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HAMPSHIRE, U.K. -- June 28, 2007 -- Snell & Wilcox today announced that GearBox (Sound and Vision) Limited, a leading U.K. supplier of professional audio and video solutions to the broadcast, film, postproduction, and music recording industries, has purchased two Alchemist Ph.C - HD motion compensated HD standards converters. GearBox is among the first rental companies in Europe to offer its clients the unparalleled performance of the Alchemist Ph.C - HD, which complements the company's extensive stock of HD VTRs and nonlinear editing systems to enable delivery of high-quality HD content to just about any broadcast market.

"Snell & Wilcox offers some of the best-engineered and flexible video solutions on the market," said Richard Eastwood, managing director of GearBox. "The company's products have proven to be as invaluable as the proverbial Swiss Army Knife -- fixing standards issues as quickly as they appear. The Alchemist Ph.C - HD takes HD conversion to a completely new level, and in our view, it is truly the Rolls Royce of standards converters. It will provide GearBox clients with unsurpassed power and flexibility in delivering their HD productions to broadcasters and viewers around the world without compromising quality."

The Alchemist Ph.C - HD yields converted images of unparalleled quality and clarity so that even the most dynamic inputs are delivered with stunning detail, free from artifacts and virtually indistinguishable from the original HD content. The unique system owes its superior performance to Snell & Wilcox's Emmy® Award-winning Ph.C motion estimation technology, the most powerful and accurate type of motion estimation available today. In addition to HD frame-rate conversion for 1080i and 720p standards, the Alchemist Ph.C - HD unit also performs SD standards conversion between 50-Hz and 60-Hz material and HDTV upconversion, downconversion, and crossconversion.

"The Alchemist Ph.C - HD reflects our expertise both in developing advanced motion estimation technology and in creating of standards conversion algorithms, which combine to deliver pristine HD images that are low in noise and high in detail and fidelity, regardless of the content type or display," said Roger Bowley, head of sales, northern Europe at Snell & Wilcox. "When quality is of the essence, particularly in high-value HD content such as sports, live events, or breaking news, GearBox rental clients now can use the Alchemist Ph.C - HD to achieve the peerless picture quality they require."

More information about the Alchemist Ph.C - HD and other products from Snell & Wilcox is available online at www.snellwilcox.com.

Editorial Resource: An associated high resolution image of Richard Eastwood and Roger Bowley at Broadcast LIVE 2007 can be previewed and downloaded from:

http://homepage.mac.com/gearboxsupport/PhotoAlbum8.html

GearBox (Sound and Vision) Limited is a privately owned, United Kingdom-based company that first began trading in January 1997. Richard and Louise Eastwood, a husband and wife partnership, are sole owners of the company. GearBox operates out of four offices: company headquarters in West London, a central London base in Soho, and satellite offices in Leeds and Cardiff. The company is active in the supply of professional audio/video equipment to the broadcast, film, postproduction, and professional music recording industries. Further information is available at www.gearbox.com.

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@wallstcom.com.

Snell & Wilcox, Putting Pictures to Work, Alchemist Ph.C - HD, and Ph.C are trademarks of the Snell & Wilcox Group. All other trademarks mentioned herein are acknowledged as property of their respective owners.