TK-Digital Dailies Solution Enables Faster, Automated Transfer of Episodic Television and Theatrical Dailies

AVD, a leading developer of digital video software solutions, and Zaxel Systems, a leading developer of digital video compression systems and products, today announced at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show in Las Vegas that the companies have collaborated with FotoKem, a premier independently-owned film & video postproduction facility, on a new, automated system for delivering digital dailies for film and television productions.
The AVD Escort Digital Dailies solution, sold exclusively by Zaxel Systems, has enabled FotoKem to save substantial time producing digital dailies for primetime series such as “Trial by Jury,” “Criminal Intent,” “Over There,” and many other productions for both the television and theatrical market. The Escort Digital Dailies system has enhanced the company’s overall digital content workflow, providing for both increased telecine revenues and more color grading time per client.
FotoKem has used the Escort Digital Dailies system since February, 2005. The Escort Digital Dailies system involves the use of multiple DDRchitect workstations to handle the audio ingest, logging, audio-to-video syncing, tape laydown and Avid digitizing outside a telecine room.
The DDRchitect is used by FotoKem for dailies in the mornings, and can be easily re-purposed as a non-linear replacement for videotape recorders (VTRs) in the afternoon.
“The traditional VTR-based router system has evolved into a multi -functional, format-independent system, with workstations that are lower-cost and designed for parallel access via a SAN infrastructure,” said Charlie Taylor, Vice President of Sales at Zaxel Systems Inc.
Integrated with the FotoKem SAN, the Escort Digital Dailies system enables multiple workstations to work simultaneously, sharing the same storage volume so that, for example, the Escort Dailies operator will load and log audio while a colorist loads video to the same storage volume.
“Our work with AVD in the development of the Escort system has proven to be a giant step forward in the automation of the dailies process,” said Rand Gladden, senior VP of digital and data development for FotoKem. “Whether working with film elements or the new digital cameras, we have seen significant improvement in efficiencies. Integrated with FotoKem’s SAN, the Escort system allows for simultaneous sharing among workstations for specific tasks, resulting in more time for color correction and improved accuracy in audio syncing and the collection of metadata. All of this equals higher quality and faster turnaround for our clients.”
The Escort Digital Dailies workflow provides automated down conversion from high-definition (HD) source material to standard-definition (SD) video.
“The FotoKem collaboration has aided us in the development of a flexible, reliable, and very fast system for delivering digital assets in an on-demand universe,” said Richard Lyons, president of AVD Burbank and the co-developer of the Escort Digital Dailies system. “The Escort software enables parallel operation for digital dailies by decoupling the tasks in telecine and automating them in a simple fashion. We have developed a networked, automated system for what had been a very time-intensive process.”
Using the Escort system, all tasks except film transfer can be done by the operator away from the telecine room. The system is designed to export ALE and FLEX files for Avid editing, as well as picture and sound reports. The system enables DPX 2K files, or dual link 1080p RGB video source material to be converted at real-time, from storage to down conversion, with burn-ins used as an option. Users can directly import WAV files from DVD media, and conduct simultaneous lay-off of daily takes to multiple formats.
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