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Snell & Wilcox Alchemist Ph.C - HD Helps Drive New Business for Brighton TV, Including Exclusive Contract With Opus Arte U.K.

State-of-the-Art HD Standards Converter Gives Post-Production Facility Powerful Competitive Advantage

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HAMPSHIRE, U.K. -- March 13, 2008 -- Snell & Wilcox's Alchemist Ph. C - HD motion compensated standards converter was one of the catalyst's for an exclusive contract recently awarded to Brighton TV, one of the U.K.'s top 10 regional post-production houses, by Opus Arte U.K. Ltd., an internationally renowned, high-definition (HD) DVD production and distribution company. Purchased earlier this year by the U.K.'s Royal Opera House, Opus Arte is known for its high-quality DVDs of opera, ballet, and theater performances produced in HD. Opus Arte chose Brighton TV as its post facility partly because of Brighton's recent acquisition of the Alchemist Ph.C - HD, which gives the distributor local access to the state-of-the-art in HD conversion technology. 

"The Alchemist Ph.C - HD has been long awaited in the world of HD post-production. It's enabled Brighton TV to offer the gold standard of service for video conversion and has set us apart from our peers in the south of England," said Jon Lee, Brighton TV's technical director. "Previously, Opus Arte had to look to London for this level of service, but the Alchemist lets us deliver results that rival those of any London facilities house. The Alchemist is now a central point in Opus Arte's production workflow." 

The product of extensive research into the exacting demands of HD frame-rate standards conversion, Alchemist Ph.C - HD is designed to produce converted HD outputs of unparalleled quality and clarity that are virtually indistinguishable from the original input. The system's high conversion quality is a direct result of Snell & Wilcox's Emmy® award-winning Ph.C motion measurement technology, optimized to prevent the motion-related artifacts that are commonly associated with standards conversion in HD video.

"The nature of our business and the high expectations of our customers require us to be meticulous in our standards conversion. We watch every frame that goes through and we place top priority on quality control and quality assessment," added Lee. "The Snell & Wilcox Ph.C technology has long been regarded as the best motion estimation system available, far superior to any competing product. Not only does the Alchemist Ph.C - HD enable us to meet our high-quality standards, but it has opened doors to some exciting new business opportunities."

"In the SD world, the Alchemist is the industry standard for providing transparent frame-rate conversions for post-production and live events such as the World Cup and the Olympic Games," said Joe Zaller, vice president, corporate development at Snell & Wilcox. "Now that the entertainment and broadcasting industries are embracing HD and producing more live events in high definition, they are demanding the same levels of quality and reliability. Nothing else on the market comes close to the Alchemist Ph.C - HD for native HD conversion quality."

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

Brighton TV is a video post-production facilities house based in Brighton, Sussex, U.K., that offers the full range of aspect ratio conversion and standards conversion, online HD and SD, audio, encoding and Internet upload, and offline services. Brighton TV has been voted by producers as one of the top 10 facilities houses in the U.K., according to a survey conducted by industry magazine, Televisual. Ranked ninth, Brighton TV is the only company from the South East to feature in the "Producers" Top Facilities' poll that is dominated by larger London post production houses. For more information, visit www.brighton.tv.

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.

Photo Link: www.wallstcom.com/SnellWilcox/Tristan-Isolde.zip
Photo Caption: "Tristan und Isolde" © Mike Hoban/Opus Arte

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