LONDON, July 23, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ ----- Software Solves the Challenges of Converting Pinnacle Files to new Omneon Playout Servers

AmberFin is pleased to announce the first results from its extensive work with Turner Entertainment Networks, a division of leading U.S. broadcaster Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (TBS, Inc.). By implementing AmberFin iCR Turner has resolved the incompatibility issues between its existing Pinnacle and incoming Omneon playout servers, saving over 46,000 hours of reingesting time and making over 200,000 video files accessible on its new servers.

AmberFin iCR helps to solve the challenges of playing Pinnacle files on Omneon devices. Although Pinnacle video content is similar to Omneon video content, the metadata and audio components of the files do not translate between formats. This issue has been at the forefront of the content industry's mind since February 2008, when Avid announced its intention to stop production of the Pinnacle servers.

In total, Turner's archives on the Pinnacle servers included as many as 30,000 programs - or over 22,000 hours of programming. By installing the AmberFin iCR software platform Turner was able to address the compatibility issues between the two servers and translate this content between formats.

AmberFin iCR created a Material eXchange Format (MXF) wrapper for Turner's content, enabling Pinnacle files to play out on Omneon and also to be read by other servers which prioritize other formats. Without this process the Turner team would have had to reingest all of their content from scratch, a process that would have taken over 46,000 hours in total. Instead, AmberFin iCR now reviews content automatically and as a result saves Turner both time and money.

John Morgan, Senior Manager of Broadcast IT Equipment at Turner, said: "We couldn't have achieved this switchover so easily without using a rewrapping process. Instead of needing to replace all of our Pinnacle servers we have extended their useful lifetime and successfully built them into our new digital workflow. We are very pleased with the implementation of iCR."

Bruce Devlin, Vice President, Technology at AmberFin, comments: "The challenge of converting Pinnacle files to other servers is being faced by a large number of major content owners. By employing the MXF format to 'wrap' the content, AmberFin iCR is taking the industry one step closer to being able to playout any content in any format on any server."

AmberFin Profile

AmberFin enables content owners to maximize the value of their TV, film and video content, from capture through to distribution, while increasing revenues, reducing costs, saving time and eliminating incompatibility issues. AmberFin iCR, with four-time Emmy-award winning technology, plays a key role in turning the content that owners have into the content their customers want. As an open standard, future proof platform that digitizes and transforms new and archived content, AmberFin iCR delivers the best quality pictures at smaller file sizes across multiple delivery platforms, including the Internet, VoD, TV, mobile and other small screen devices. AmberFin already has 100s of iCR systems in the field, and is trusted by some of the world's most prestigious companies including Sony, NBA, Turner Broadcasting, BT, Channel 4, RTM and Warner Brothers, managing the digitization and repurposing of their content.

Privately held by Advent Venture Partners, AmberFin is part of the Snell & Wilcox Group, headquartered in Basingstoke, UK. More information is available at: http://www.amberfin.com

   Editorial contacts: Bettina Winters, Hotwire for AmberFin, amberfin@hotwirepr.com , +44(0)207-608-2500; Scott Allen, Vice
   President, Marketing, AmberFin, scott.allen@amberfin.com , +44(0)1256-317-537. 

SOURCE AmberFin

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