Telestream, a provider of digital video tools and workflow solutions, will unveil the latest version of its multiformat video encoding software Episode 6.5 at NAB 2015 in booth SL3305. Scheduled for release later in Q2 2015, version 6.5 will feature support for closed captions, new formats, multi-bitrate encoding, and multi-track audio.
Preserving the integrity of original content while transferring it between incompatible systems is a constant challenge for postproduction professionals. Designed for the entire production workflow, Episode has the quality, filters, formats, and power to handle the entire process from camera to edit and all the way to final delivery. Episode produces “true to the original” results for simple transcoding jobs as well as for more complex encoding jobs such as standards conversion.
“With Episode 6.5, we concentrated on closed captioning support as well as adding the newer formats such as HEVC, VP9, and AS-11,” said Barbara DeHart, VP of Desktop Business at Telestream. “Our continued goal is to give customers remarkable output quality in the most flexible and streamlined way possible. With versions starting just under $600, Episode is accessible anyone who is serious about video production”
New features in Episode 6.5 include:
Closed caption support
Episode 6.5 enables caption insertion with encoding and pass-through options, and supports CEA-608 and CEA-708 captioning standards as well as MCC and SCC caption formats. With federal regulations mandating captioning, this will enable postproduction workflows to handle embedded captions easily.
Support for virtually any video and audio file format
Episode supports the widest range of formats in its class, allowing users to repurpose media for websites, mobile devices, television, archive, disk authoring and more. With version 6.5, Episode adds support for formats including HEVC, XAVC, VP9, and MXF AS-11.
Multi-bitrate streaming support
Multi-bitrate streaming improves a viewer’s experience by letting users deliver videos in the resolution and bit rate that best matches viewers’ connection speeds. With version 6.5, users will be able to easily encode and create packages for Apple HLS (HTTP Live Streaming), Microsoft Smooth Streaming, and MPEG-DASH with a click of a button.
Support for multi-track audio
Featuring improved performance and stability, Episode 6.5 adds presets and filters to easily map multi-track audio channels — rearrange audio tracks, change speaker assignments, and change audio formats and sample rates.
Image sequence support
Image sequences are now available directly from the Episode UI, which provides an easy way to manage thousands of frames for 3D animation and compositing for visual effects. Users can step through the sequence frame by frame with the highest possible quality. It’s also possible to add multiple files from different sequences for multiple encode tasks.
Available in three versions with incrementally increasing encoding speeds and format flexibility, Episode, Episode Pro, and Episode Engine are all supported on Mac and PC platforms. Because Episode’s transcode engine is completely multi-threaded, multiple jobs can be processed in parallel, utilizing all available power from modern multi-core workstations. Episode Pro enables two concurrent jobs, while Episode Engine supports an unlimited number of parallel jobs, across multiple machines.
When encoding speed is critical, Split-and-Stitch technology, available in Episode Engine, enables distributed and segmented encoding for any supported format, across multiple clustered Mac or PC workstations. Episode’s built-in file sharing system automatically offloads work from one machine to another without any user assistance. Whether sharing encodes between processing cores on a single workstation or across a cluster of cross-platform machines, Split-and-Stitch enables the fast encoding speeds possible.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More