Memphis Grizzlies adopt AmberFin iCR for file based sports
AmberFin iCR delivers productivity and quality in a multi format sports environment
London, 10th December 2010
Like many North American sports broadcasters, the Memphis Grizzlies are increasingly working in a multi-format multi-resolution world. This new world has new commercial opportunities but also new technical challenges. So, the Grizzlies teamed up with AmberFin and systems integration specialists Bridge Digital and the result, as Brett Smith, Director Broadcast Operations explains, has been major productivity and quality gains:
“Our Broadcast Service department is responsible for producing content for in-arena shows, packaging presentations for our sales & marketing group, creating TV broadcast advertising, producing features & special coverage for the Grizzlies’ regional sports telecasts and supplying all video content for our organizational websites. We were originally just looking for something to Transcode to our Avid systems but once we had the AmberFin iCR in the facility and started to learn the full capabilities of the product, it became the center of our workflow.
We now use AmberFin iCR for ingest, Transcode, review, SD to HD upconvert and layoff to archive. When we need to create deliverables, iCR allows us to take a finished piece and Transcode or cross convert for each of our delivery specifications. That can be anything from playing out to tape to exporting XDCam, AVI or H.264. We are particularly impressed with the iCR SD to HD up conversion quality, which is critical in sports applications”
As in many similar sports organizations, the Memphis Grizzlies’ staff are hardworking and they need to multi task. Brett Smith goes on to explain how iCR has improved productivity:
“The iCR is like having another 2-3 employees. It reduces our production time, frees our producer/editors to do just that - produce and edit. It works seamlessly within our existing Avid editing, storage and sports production workflow, and reduces the content to web lag time we experienced in the past. It’s a big piece of the workflow puzzle”.
Continued
AmberFin CTO Bruce Devlin comments:
“The Memphis Grizzlies are a very forward thinking organization that have positioned themselves well to take advantage of a fast changing sports market. We have learnt a lot working with them and they are a signal example of a new and successful technical approach to sports broadcasting”.
This system was sold and implemented by Bridge Digital Inc based out of Nashville, TN. Bridge also installed an Isilon Clustered NAS Solution for all of the storage of these files. “Bridge recommends AmberFin and Isilon to their customers because both of these vendors are “Best of Breed” products in their respective fields. We knew the combination of iCR along with Isilon would fulfil the needs of the Grizzlies based on our experience of working with these products over the past few years at several various locations”, says Richie Murray, President of Bridge Digital Inc.
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About AmberFin
AmberFin enables content owners to maximise 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 digitises 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, RTM, National Geographic and Warner Brothers, managing the digitization and repurposing of their content.
Privately held by Advent Venture Partners, AmberFin is headquartered in Basingstoke, UK. More information is available at: www.amberfin.com
AmberFin editorial contacts
Annette Leach (UK)
Hotwire for AmberFin
amberfin@hotwirepr.com
+44 (0) 207 608 2500
About Bridge Digital:
Bridge Digital is dedicated to providing networked data storage solutions for digital content. Bridge Digital is an established value added systems integrator and manufacturer of high-speed storage and networking systems, providing streamlined, cost effective workflow solutions for media, entertainment and enterprise clients. The company designs, builds, installs and supports storage, high speed networks and WAN networking solutions ranging from high-end custom servers for moving high resolution content to Petabytes of shared SAN solutions and clustered NAS storage. For further information, please visit www.BridgeDigitalInc.com