Tag Archive for: ASR

How the Council of Europe is embracing the future using new agile AI-enabled digital management toolbox

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The Council of Europe recently invested in what they claim is no ordinary run-of-the-mill digital asset management system. The powerful platform is called Profuz LAPIS, developed by specialist systems integrator Profuz Digital.

The Council chose Profuz LAPIS for every part of the workflow, from content ingest and storage to advanced media searches. It’s used for extensive archiving and interactive database support and can streamline workflows in the Cloud with LAPIS, allowing numerous speaker session recordings in several languages, at various resolutions in real-time. Public access of information at the Council is allowed through LAPIS, which includes parliamentary sessions where MP’s speeches are recorded for example. Video file content is regularly required to be shared promptly across social media networks, allowing journalists and the media to gain immediate access to download, edit, cut down and report on the material.

The Council’s head of innovation, Alain Mielle, along with technology partner Audry Sales from French Value-Added Reseller SAV were recently at Europe’s largest broadcast trade event IBC in Amsterdam to discuss this agile technology at the Profuz Digital stand.

Overview of how challenges were solved

From the outset, Alain Mielle was looking for a digital asset management system that would be “future-ready” and be able to support their European customers including being able to accommodate the media and professional journalists and reporters.

The Council has thousands of hours’ worth of data and footage of recorded meetings, sessions, events that date all the way back from 1949. The idea was to find an easy-to-use solution that allowed the team at the Council to be able to add features as they went along, day to day or month to month as they worked on various projects.

Alain said he did a call to tender, and that’s when he was introduced to the Profuz LAPIS system through Profuz Digital’s technology partner SAV – a French Value-Added Reseller. He went on to describe LAPIS as not just an ordinary asset management solution, but as a useful toolbox in effect. Alain said the response he received from SAV won him over because he knew this system could truly deliver what he wanted, and it was future-proof. Alain felt that particularly with respect to AI, the LAPIS technology was the most powerful choice as it would be able deliver features such as Speech to Text, AI Translation, Face Recognition and many other upcoming AI features that would help reduce costs thereby cutting down on unnecessary time-consuming processes as well.

Alain said the system was really good and he’s has been using LAPIS now for 2 years. After receiving user feedback, modifications in certain areas have been made and refined, step by step to further enhance the system to suit the Council’s specific requirements.

What was so unique about this system?

Alain confirmed that the key advantage of having LAPIS at the Council of Europe is that it is really straightforward to manage. The interface is easy to navigate making searching effortless. In addition, the editing process has been simplified, making it efficient and painless – for example when a journalists interviews a member of parliament, Profuz LAPIS allows them to access that footage which can then be edited using LAPIS, then cut and promptly downloaded, ready to be instantly shared across social media networks without delay.

Another point to note he said is that all the intelligence behind the workflow such as calendars, voice recognition features and so forth are really the beginning of their AI services and it’s a good starting point from which to expand on to further in this area within LAPIS.

How they all got together in the first place

Alain worked closely together with tech partner SAV to implement LAPIS. From the point of implementation to delivery, it took a year, and it was a great success.

Value Added Reseller and technology partner of Profuz Digital Audry Sales at SAV explained what happened from the very first call he received from Alain. Audry said it was an advantage that Profuz LAPIS is actually an innovative toolbox effectively with many useful tools. Furthermore, it allows room for many new tools to be added later on and modified as and when required.

So when Audry went to see Alain and understood Alain’s requirements, he knew that the LAPIS system was perfect for him. Notably regarding AI, LAPIS would provide him with the flexibility and added benefit of being able to put different tools together to fit his requirements. Alain was very impressed by the sheer power of LAPIS and the fact it could move things around and offer versatility on a vast scale.

Audry said that when he won the tender, he made sure from the start that the LAPIS engineering team and Alain were in constant communication with one another throughout the process which established a solid communication link between us all. Profuz Digital developed and customised the LAPIS solution along with SAV’s vital input to make sure that integration took place successfully. “Everything went so smoothly, the solution is on air being used at the Council right now, and everyone is happy, and we’ve done training.” Audry noted.

Audry said it is important for the system to grasped fairly quickly by both AV and non-AV professionals alike. The trick is that in LAPIS, the complexity is hidden, and that the visible user interface is designed to be “user-friendly” and easy to navigate. A bit like a car, Audry remarked, that if you’re driving a sports car, you don’t want to see how the engine works, you literally just want to be able to drive it with ease and make it perform at its best.

“Our relationship with Alain at the Council and with Profuz Digital is strong and we will continue working together going forward for the long-term, the link between the Value-Added Reseller and the editor using LAPIS is very important and it is essential to maintain high levels of communication between ourselves so that nothing is missed and to make sure everything happens.” Audry confirmed.

The Council of Europe upholds human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe, and is renowned for pioneering new standards, which have progressed to become global benchmarks. It is the role of the Council of Europe to ensure that human rights, democracy and the rule of law are protected and promoted in the digital environment including AI.

Head of Innovation at the Council of Europe Alain Mielle said, “We have been very impressed with the functionalities and performance of Profuz LAPIS as our media asset management platform. In our opinion it is the “Rolls Royce” platform of this industry sector, offering a competitive and attractive price tag. It is not a run of the mill digital asset AV management system, as it offers so much more in terms of functionality and features, and we have seen significant productivity gains and positive user feedback.”

Alain added, “The LAPIS system is easily accessible, and its search capabilities are exemplary, enabling universities and research groups to access the Council of Europe’s information. We envisage exploiting its AI capabilities in the future – for example permitting journalists and broadcasters to be able to look up past speeches made by world presidents… Companies such as Profuz Digital are well placed to tackle the challenges ahead as we all face the coming AI revolution in this new digital age.”

Organisations already adopting Profuz Digital’s technology include the likes of the Council of Europe, Canal Plus France and Myanmar, London’s Wilco Media, Euro Media Group Belgium, Tarjama in the UAE, Polsat, Bulgarian National Television, Bulgarian National Radio, IT Pros Italy, Digitalmeister GmbH, Leinhäuser Language Services GmbH, University of Warsaw, Ghent and KU Leuven University in Belgium and others. Further information can be found at Profuz Digital’s website here www.profuzdigital.com

Dubai’s Tarjama embraces SubtitleNEXT and NEXT-TT for Localization Services

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Leading MENA language tech firm chooses NEXT-TT for secure cloud-based subtitling


For immediate release – 3 November 2022, DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Well-established technology developer, Profuz Digital is thrilled to announce that leading language solutions provider Tarjama, has selected the SubtitleNEXT and NEXT-TT platforms to optimise subtitling, translating and localization services, along with further reinforcing security.

Founded in 2008, Dubai-based Tarjama is a pioneering language technology firm that offers a wide variety of linguistic services that includes translation, localization, content creation, transcription, subtitling and strategic advisory.

SubtitleNEXT is a sought-after timed-text platform that offers real-time and offline subtitling and captioning for all media formats. Profuz LAPIS is an integrated web-accessible digital workflow asset management system that powerfully executes total desktop and cloud-management through browser functionality.

NEXT-TT combines SubtitleNEXT’s functionalities with Profuz LAPIS, into one powerful hybrid technology-base. The unique NEXT-TT platform provides an adaptable and multipurpose foundation for delivering enhanced localization services.

Tarjama adopted SubtitleNEXT and NEXT-TT to further boost their automatic voice recognition and machine translation services in order to manage costs.

Founder and CEO of Tarjama Nour Al Hassan says, “Tarjama uses a hybrid model that controls the speed of our innovative proprietary technology. Paired with the accuracy and creativity of expert linguists, it enables subtitlers to deliver quality content to companies at phenomenal speed, and efficiency. The fact that the Profuz LAPIS technology within NEXT-TT allows companies of all shapes and sizes to access projects at any given time, from anywhere, and facilitates collaboration among clients and staff, was a major draw. NEXT-TT can also be customized to produce targeted management and efficient workflows.”

Profuz LAPIS’s capabilities within NEXT-TT brings Tarjama many other advantages. It plays a central secure role, and controls the organisation’s processes seamlessly, from acquisition, classification, storage, search, post-production, to media content distribution. Data-files ranging from audio, videos, images, subtitles/captions, documents, news, projects, and more, are managed through its multi-platform content delivery capabilities that extensively synchronise the entire content production workflow and distribution chain.

Security is also of paramount importance to Tarjama and was a vital factor in their decision-making process. Nour Al Hassan confirms, “After extensively researching many cloud-based subtitling and workflow management platforms, we made the decision to invest in Profuz Digital’s SubtitleNEXT and NEXT-TT platforms as they fulfilled all our requirements, and “ticked all the right boxes”. As a company, we opted to pivot from single-license desktop subtitling applications to more accessible cloud-based subtitling tools. So, not only does this shift bring convenient benefits, but more crucially, security.”

“Particularly when employing freelance linguists,” Nour added, “it is imperative that we ensure security for our clients, many of whom entrust us with sensitive material that might not yet have been aired or hit cinema theatres yet. So therefore, the possibility of security breaches would have disastrous consequences, and it’s a risk we are never willing to take. That’s why we chose SubtitleNEXT and NEXT-TT as trusted technologies that we can safely rely on in this area.”

CEO Nour Al Hassan founded Tarjama to meet the growing demand for excellence in translation services that cater to the unique multicultural environment of the Middle East. By tapping into an undervalued network of exceptional and talented women, she challenged conventional norms and went on to excel in the translation and localization fields. Under her stunning leadership, Tarjama has set new standards in the industry through the company’s commitment to quality, speed, and extraordinary linguistic value.

Nour affirms, “SubtitleNEXT and NEXT-TT have proven to be the solution that caters for all our technical needs and is the most cost-effective of all the other solutions that we had researched. Working in a fast-paced world of subtitling that comes with extremely tight deadlines and air dates, we also find the Profuz Digital and PBT EU teams to be very helpful and responsive. Their fast and effective support is essential to our business continuity, and we are extremely pleased to have the perfect support-system now in place, with Profuz Digital and PBT EU at the helm as our technology partners.”

Ivanka Vassileva, CEO and Managing Partner of Profuz Digital and PBT EU concludes, “Tarjama has an excellent reputation in the MENA region and delivers first-rate subtitling projects for incredible clients that use cutting-edge technology and span across a multitude of verticals, such as VOD, cinematic theatre releases, e-learning, corporate and government videos, in-flight entertainment and so much more. All of these areas demand their own set of specific requirements, challenges, and workflows, and Tarjama’s aim is for all of these projects to now go through SubtitleNEXT and NEXT-TT systems. We are absolutely delighted that Tarjama has chosen SubtitleNEXT and NEXT-TT technology as they continue to serve their customers and expand their offering, and we very much look forward to supporting them for the long-term.”

Discover the power behind Profuz LAPIS here www.profuzlapis.com;
Find out more about SubtitleNEXT at www.SubtitleNEXT.com;
Explore the NEXT-TT platform further at https://subtitlenext.com/product-line/platform/

 

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About Profuz Digital
Profuz Digital develops and provides performance-leading solutions for customisable engineering system integration to empower content providers, broadcast, production, and post-production professionals to operate efficiently at the forefront of an ever-evolving digital environment. Profuz Digital’s primary focus is flexibility, futureproof customer-driven product innovation, fast deployment, along with committed teamwork.

Creators of the advanced real-time and offline captioning and subtitling software platform SubtitleNEXT and Profuz Digital’s digital asset workflow management platforms, Profuz LAPIS, designed to efficiently centralise processes and data all under one roof. Proven technology already adopted by the likes of Canal PLUS, Jornal do Centro, Council of Europe, Bulgarian National Radio and many other organisations.

The NEXT-TT system combines SubtitleNEXT’s functionalities with Profuz LAPIS into an all-in-one powerful hybrid technology-base that provides media professionals with a versatile backbone for enhanced localization services. NEXT-TT can be customised to produce targeted management and efficient workflows. It manages subtitles, dubbing and localization services for media content including the coordination of teams of translators, subtitlers, AV professionals, creative freelancers, while providing users with powerful toolsets in a secure workspace environment.

Some of the many organisations, that have already adopted Profuz Digital’s technology include Titles-On, EMG, Digitalmeister GmbH, Leinhäuser Language Services GmbH, Polsat, Kino Polska, University of Rome Tor Vergata, the University of Warsaw, University of Ghent, European School of Translation, Max Live Media Access, Biovisjon, IT Pros Subtitles, Doli Media Studio, Cube Cinema Technologies, Tring TV, Bulgarian National Television, Canal Plus Myanmar, AMC, HD Media, Hellenic American College of Greece, European School of Translation, the Complutense University of Madrid, and many others.

www.profuzdigital.com

About Tarjama
Tarjama is a language technology and services provider helping companies scale rapidly with multilingual content of every format and language. With a mission to help companies realize their potential for global growth, Tarjama is committed to delivering language solutions that meet international standards of quality, speed, and cost-efficiency. To find out more about Tarjama, visit www.tarjama.com

NEXT-TT forms the technology backbone of unique PixelSub platform

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NEXT-TT forms the technology backbone of unique PixelSub platform

For immediate release – 4 June 2020, Dubai  – Profuz Digital  is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with leading post-production, localization, and entertainment company, Linxstream Media. The partnership launches with the creation of Linxstream Media’s PixelSub;  a cloud-based platform for managing localization, dubbing and timed-text services.

We provided the underlying technology to power PixelSub by integrated business management software Profuz LAPIS  with timed-text application SubtitleNEXT. Together, the resulting hybrid platform (“NEXT-TT”) provides a technology base which can be highly customized to produce precisely targeted management and localization workflows.

Linxstream Media then applied their unique localization knowledge to the base technology to create PixelSub, which is a product aimed at helping enterprises, collaborators and single users monetize and streamline localization projects efficiently, while combining the advantages of the cloud and desktop.

The PixelSub platform features the management of order creation, invoicing, project coordination and collaboration while providing multi-tier protection of content with private workspaces and a wide suite of tools designed to support the industry’s largest content creators, distributors, and studios. The PixelSub platform additionally offers other advanced features such as automatic speech recognition (ASR) and machine generated subtitles that convert text into multiple languages. These operations all incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies (MLT) into the localization services. This way, users can benefit from using a single platform in order to prepare automatic, semi-automatic and human written subtitles and captions for audio-visual content.

Machine translation and transcription are tools for automatic speech recognition (ASR) and are key functions within Profuz Digital’s NEXT-TT platform.  NEXT- TT includes automatic translation of text from one language to another and automatic transformation of actors’ voices into captions and subtitles.  All of these advanced features from NEXT-TT are now made available in PixelSub by incorporating third party engines which activate these automatic processes.

By virtually connecting to localization platform PixelSub, users can gain access to proprietary tools, technologies, and delivery capabilities that provide breakthrough client results. With Profuz Digital’s deep technology and engineering expertise, the collaboration represents a step-change in the way both businesses address the needs of the localization and subtitling market.

As part of the strategic alliance, Linxstream Media is authorized to resell products and services from Profuz Digital in the Middle East.

CEO of Profuz Digital Ivanka Vassileva stated, “We are delighted that Linxstream Media, along with their expertise of the media localization business and their presence in the Middle East, have become one of our most respected regional partners to serve the sector. Through this strategic partnership, we have essentially expanded our NEXT-TT platform offerings that will now allow users in the Middle East to benefit from a localized version of our powerful NEXT-TT solution backed by reliable local systems integration, onboarding and continuous technical support services. Working together and joining hands with Linxstream Media as one of our key partners will enable us to deliver an integrated and optimal experience for our customers in the region.”

Profuz Digital’s CTO Kamen Ferdinandov and developer of the NEXT-TT platform said, “Our hybrid NEXT-TT platform which was created by combining both our LAPIS and SubtitleNEXT functionalities, provides a versatile backbone to power-focused localization services. Linxstream Media has demonstrated this with PixelSub. The main advantage of our technologies is that they are highly adaptable to each client’s specific requirements, allowing a wide range of different configurations and UI experiences. This project with PixelSub demonstrates that our distributor PBT EU openly welcomes ideas from companies of all sizes to share their unique vision and understanding of the localization processes which we can adapt to form a specialised bespoke solution.”

Founder of Linxstream Media Rafiq M. Sarwari confirmed, “PBT EU and Profuz Digital helped build the remarkable cloud-based multi-layered PixelSub platform based on Profuz Digital’s NEXT-TT solution. One of the key factors that we took into consideration when we first approached them about collaborating, was whether we were willing to invest in each other’s vision and commitment to develop a product that would be truly unique and innovative, and also be able to simplify the arduous localization tasks. So, together we developed a mutualistic linkage and a shared way of working together that serves both of our clients’ interests. Working with PBT EU was simply the right choice. From the start it was clear that the team was willing to roll up their sleeves and get things done and deliver on their promises.”

Rafiq expanded, “The partnership between Linxstream Media and PBT EU has provided us with a localization and subtitling platform that truly is a one stop shop for our clients. PBT EU’s understanding of complex digital product development, its deep engineering expertise and collaborative approach is uniquely complimentary to how a Linxstream team works. With presence in Europe, North America, Canada, India and the Middle East, and the added capabilities of over 7,000+ global freelance translators, this partnership will allow us to drive far more business impact for our clients.”

“In summary, both PBT EU and Linxstream’s combined years of experience and expertise, and our shared willingness to be open and agile, have contributed to the creation an advanced platform that not only solves many problems but simplifies daily tasks. Simply said, excellence speaks for itself!” concluded Rafiq.

 

To find out more about NEXT-TT, visit https://profuzdigital.com/next-tt/

To find out more about PixelSub, visit https://www.linxstream.com/services/pixelsub/