Wohler unveils compliance recorder for monitoring and fault tracking

Wohler Technologies unveiled the Wohler ContentProbe, a full-featured compliance recorder that employs dedicated, purpose-built hardware and software to provide cost-effective monitoring and fault tracking for audio, video, and subtitles/captions. In addition, the company announced the availability of options for loudness compliance monitoring as well as MPEG/ASI content monitoring, both slated for availability within Q1 2013.

ContentProbe is designed to perform with RealSync accurate playback of audio and video, automated alarming, and extensive search, as well as review and reporting capabilities. An intuitive, feature-rich Silverlight Web interface supports frame-accurate cueing and easy export of marked clips for external users. Up to four video channels and 16 audio channels, combined with up to 90 days per channel of RAID 5 hot-swappable storage and dual power supplies, are contained in a single 1-RU enclosure.

“Wohler’s move into compliance recording and monitoring is a natural extension of our leadership position in delivering solutions that enable content providers and broadcasters to ensure delivery of their content at the highest quality and, as a result, optimize the user experience,” said Don Bird, chief marketing officer at Wohler. “In addition to providing reliable compliance recording supported by advanced monitoring technologies, ContentProbe offers a user interface that we believe will be industry-leading, both in terms of its functionality and its intuitive operation.”

Wohler’s ContentProbe features a user-friendly GUI that enables rapid and instant access to all monitored channels from a browser-based interface, with FaultTracker signal fault monitoring and the ability to playback recorded programming at full resolution over a standard Internet connection.

RadiantGrid announced several barrier-breaking enhancements to its enterprise-class suite of media transformation tools. Since the company’s recent acquisition by Wohler Technologies, RadiantGrid’s New Media Automation platform has been extended to offer even higher performance, delivering both speed and quality that exceed current industry norms.

“We have been diligently engaged in engineering innovations that reinforce the RadiantGrid platform as the world’s fastest and most versatile solution for media transformation,” said Kirk Marple, chief software architect for Wohler RadiantGrid. “We’ve not only implemented support of both CUDA GPU and Intel’s QSV GPU capabilities for accelerating TrueGrid processing of H.264 essences, but also partnered closely with Cinnafilm^® to enhance fully gridded support for the RadiantGrid/Cinnafilm product lines.”

“The RadiantGrid platform already supports rapid production workflows at leading broadcast and sports content creation facilities. With these latest enhancements, we can now offer the industry’s fastest and most efficient solution for transcoding combined with standards conversion, cadence analysis and correction, content quality, and texture management,” said Don Bird, chief marketing officer at Wohler.

The RadiantGrid platform is a fast transcoding/transformation solution due to the unique power of the RadiantGrid TrueGrid architecture. Now boasting support for H.264 CUDA-based and QSV encoding within the RadiantGrid TrueGrid environment, the platform gives users unmatched flexibility in managing processing tasks to achieve the maximum blend of speed and quality when processing high volumes of content to meet the demands of today’s compressed timeframes for multiplatform delivery.

“We already knew that gridding with CPU outpaces GPU capabilities for all other codecs when transcoding, but we saw distinct advantages with H.264 and GPU combinations,” added Marple. “While some users will still have a quality-focused preference for CPU encoding, others will be more focused on speed. Our solution essentially lets users make the choice for themselves.”

Other file-based products only allow users to handle the high computational processing associated with performing standards conversions, frame-rate conversions, cadence corrections, and texture management just one file or one asset at a time per server, and their dependencies on a 100-percent CPU-driven architecture limits them to speeds four to five times slower than real time. By combining TrueGrid technology with Cinnafilm algorithms and using internal frame pumps to load-balance between CPU and GPU, the RadiantGrid platform can handle as many as six simultaneous files or assets per server at speeds that are two or three times faster than real time.

Lastly, Wohler Technologies has launched WohlerCoder and WohlerConverter, two new application-specific tools that leverage proprietary technologies gained through Wohler’s recent acquisition of RadiantGrid Technologies. Designed to enable faster than real time file-based transcoding and standards conversion, they represent the first releases in a new lineup of appliance solutions that leverage RadiantGrid technology for file-based workflows and accelerated media transformation.

“The WohlerCoder and WohlerConverter bring tremendous value to the market, each offering premium RadiantGrid technologies in a cost-effective, application-specific format,” said Don Bird, chief marketing officer at Wohler. “These outstanding new appliance products, coupled with our RadiantGrid enterprise-class software offerings, position Wohler as a leading provider of innovative file-based workflow solutions. They’re a key addition to our expanding lineup of industry-leading products and services that support the industry’s transition to multi-platform content delivery.”

WohlerCoder is an intelligent file-based solution that performs grid-enabled transcoding with faster than real time results. It delivers an optimal balance of performance and speed to support multiplatform transcoding and transwrapping for high-volume workflows, while maintaining the highest quality standards. Users can process media in batch mode, transwrapping mode, or employ RadiantGrid’s exclusive TrueGrid mode to create VirtualSlices and optimize the number of available workers for transcode operations. The WohlerCoder is offered as a stand-alone, turnkey transcoding tool capable of highly efficient parallel processing, thus serving as an attractive file-based alternative to inefficient and costly transcoder/baseband hybrid workflows.

WohlerConverter is a robust transformation engine for file-based standards conversion and frame-rate conversion while transcoding. Built on advanced technology from RadiantGrid and partner Cinnafilm, it enables quality management and advanced algorithmic processing within video and audio streams during content preparation or transcoding. The system is offered as a turnkey file-based solution for accelerated media transformation that can run multiple concurrent frame-rate conversions and/or transcodes to transform high volumes of content with excellent efficiency and quality results.

WohlerConverter manages even the most difficult standards conversions with ease and excels at difficult tasks such as automatic cadence correction, mixed and/or broken pulldown repair, and conversion of sub-HD content to 2K and 4K resolutions. The solution offers compatibility with AS-11 (DPP), ancillary data handling, and basic content management including process on-demand.