You've just finished mastering your new HD masterpiece. Now, how do you
make it look good to viewers who are watching on iPods, mobile phones,
video game consoles, and computer laptops?
Snell & Wilcox, with its reputation for high-end video format
conversion technology, has announced a new workstation called iCR. It
takes your HD master and automatically converts it to run optimally on
any of several digital media distribution
platforms.

The idea is to "master once, repurpose many." The iCR system performs
concurrent processing to all platforms in a single workflow,
eliminating the need for the separate encoding and transcoding
processing steps required today. That means users can complete all
their mastering and repurposing tasks in about the same time it would
take to perform a single encode/transcode operation in a conventional
workflow.

Not only is it faster-allowing a faster exit to the local pub-but Snell
& Wilcox claims the images are better than anything you can do by
hand. For example, widescreen HD images of sporting events can be
automatically reframed by the computer to make close-up viewing more
friendly on the tiny screens of mobile phones.

The iCR also offers automated quality control monitoring of each step.
This means production assistants don't have view every second of each
conversion to make sure everything is working
properly.

Going far beyond simply monitoring the technical characteristics of the
video, iCR evaluates the quality and makeup of the video, audio, and
metadata content within the signal. It provides an "educated opinion"
as to whether each element of the program meets satisfactory viewing
quality standards.

For more information, visit www.snellwilcox.com