Softel Launcia MultiText

for Streamlined Multilanguage Subtitle/Caption Processing

PANGBOURNE, England — Aug. 31, 2010 — Softel today announced MultiText, a new option for the industry-leading Swift™ vTX and Swift TX subtitling encoding and transmission systems. MultiText greatly simplifies the playout of complex multilanguage broadcast subtitles, reducing operational costs and increasing productivity while enhancing quality through built-in automated quality control procedures.

Swift vTX with MultiText is a solution for binding multilingual rich-text formatted subtitle streams to video files and then transcoding them using Swift TX at transmission time from SDI into any of the common transmission formats (typically DVB bitmap or Open burnt-in). For every language stream, each subtitle is encoded frame by frame, with associated metadata, into the original video file.

MultiText enables early binding of multilingual subtitles to video assets, allowing broadcasters to be confident that automated or manual quality control processes can be completed well in advance of transmission. Early binding of subtitles to video content also makes it possible for broadcast-ready video files to be archived with single- or multilanguage subtitles attached to the file. At transmission time, the transcoding process does not require supervision, automation triggers or timecode inputs, simplifying infrastructure and saving operational costs.

"In an increasingly globalized world, broadcasters are extending the reach of their services to multilingual audiences both within national boundaries and beyond them," says Sam Pemberton, Softel CEO. "At the same time, they are expanding to support delivery to multiple platforms. This creates a hugely complex workflow and dramatically increases workload, but with MultiText, broadcasters have an end-to-end solution that streamlines workflow and makes complex multiple-language subtitle processing very cost-effective."

Softel Swift vTX delivers flexible multichannel, multiformat file-based subtitle processing that enhances workflow efficiency and reduces operational cost. Eliminating risk in subtitle transmission, Swift vTX supports easy multichannel delivery and regional distribution through file-based workflows and integrates readily into a broad range of video servers, DAM and automation/workflow systems with multiformat environments.

More information on Softel products is available at MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from www.softelgroup.com or www.softel-usa.com and via e-mail at MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "www.dundeehillsholdings.com" claiming to be info @ softelg roup.com or by telephone at +44 118 984 2151.

# # #

About Softel
Softel is a global leader in key TV and video technologies including subtitling and captioning, interactive TV, MPEG stream processing and multiplexing, opt and ad insertion cuing, and Teletext, delivered through a full range of products, professional services and bespoke development. Based in Pangbourne, near Reading in Berkshire, England, Softel also owns Softel-USA LLC, which focuses entirely on the Americas from its metro New York location. The company also has an impressive network of partners worldwide. With almost three decades of broadcast experience, Softel has built a customer list that encompasses prestigious 'blue chip' broadcasters and major post production facilities, as well as freelancers and smaller facilities.