Archive notice: This article was originally published on September 8, 2006. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
As part of the IBC, Sonic Solutions announced its collaboration with Sequoyan Media Technology (SMT) on the introduction of a new line of quality-control applications. These applications offer, among other things, standard DVD-Video emulation and high-resolution video compression in real time as well as a quality check. The new Scenarist QC and CineVision QC applications, which Sonic is demonstrating at the IBC, are expected to be available in September as companion products to Scenarist Workgroup.
“Quality control is a crucial step in the professional workflow when producing film titles,” states Thomas Purnell-Fisher, president and founder of SMT: “Scenarist QC and CineVision QC are ideal solutions that ensure DVD projects and high-definition video streams meet the developers’ vision for maximum quality and compatibility.”
Scenarist QC offers standard-definition DVD emulation, thereby enabling authoring companies to check disc navigation, the quality of video and audio compression, and additional information – for example, whether titles and subtitles are complete – to ensure that discs are produced to the highest standards in the shortest possible time. In addition to the SD emulation capabilities from the collaboration with SMT, Scenarist QC also offers HD-DVD emulation and also includes reference HD-SDI video output, support for playback of the new Dolby and DTS audio formats, and expanded debugging functions.
As an essential element of quality control for compressed videos, CineVision QC offers reference-quality decoding in real time as well as playback of all the latest-generation codecs (AVC, VC-1 and HD-MPEG-2) on a single workstation. According to Sonic, CineVision QC enables extremely clear and accurate output because graphics accelerators and graphics cards are bypassed. Employees of professional production companies are intended to be able to analyse their HD encodings in the greatest detail, identify potential problems and produce titles in higher quality.
“We are delighted about the collaboration with SMT in developing a new, even more comprehensive solution that now covers all three core segments in the professional production of DVDs: encoding, authoring and quality assurance,” exults Rolf Hartley, Senior Vice President and General Manager Professional Products Group at Sonic. By adding additional quality-assurance tools to the Scenarist solutions, customers would benefit from greater efficiency and reduced costs in producing DVDs and high-resolution formats.
