Pro-Bel VALID8 Scoops RTS Innovation Award
Reading, UK – 9th November 2007: Pro-Bel has scooped a prestigious Royal Television Society (RTS) Innovation Award for its groundbreaking VALID8 lip-sync test signal generator and receiver.
The Award was given in the “Gizmo” category, which recognises innovation in the form of a discrete piece of hardware which answers a previously unmet need. Also taken into account is the ease with which the hardware can be assembled, integrated, maintained, understood and used. The RTS citation said of Valid8, “The winning gizmo is something that now offers a unique method of dealing with a thorny issue in complex production and broadcast environments. That particular issue is lip-sync.”
VALID8 stands for Video and Audio Line-up and Identification. The device addresses problems caused by the increasing complexity of the behind-the-scenes signal processing that is required to ensure that broadcast sound and pictures are delivered to all necessary destinations in all appropriate formats and standards, especially high definition. With a wealth of different concurrent processes frequently being necessary, it is all too easy for sound and pictures to lose synchronisation with each other. This causes a gap to appear onscreen that viewers find disturbing, especially when speech is involved, hence the term “lip-sync.”
Pro-Bel’s VALID8 provides broadcasters with the ability to check at a variety of points in the chain whether video and audio are still in sync. VALID8 clearly and accurately displays precise information about time discrepancies between video and audio signal paths.
The RTS awards were presented on Tuesday 6th November 2007 at Bafta in London. The evening was hosted by Peter Snow and Dan Snow while David Lowen, RTS Honorary Secretary, presented the Awards. There are six different award categories, which recognise innovations that take media into the next generation, and which combine traditional skills with a whole new range of disciplines emerging in content, creativity and distribution.
Pro-Bel CEO Graham Pitman comments, “We are thrilled to win this award for such a pioneering – and necessary – technological development. The RTS is known worldwide for its industry work and to be so clearly recognised is an honour.”
Contact Information:
Company contact:
Katharine Guy
Pro-Bel Ltd
Tel: +44 1189 214 294
katharine.guy@pro-bel.com
Press contact:
Jennie Evans
Manor Marketing
Tel: +44 1635 44991
jennie@manormarketing.tv
Images available at:
www.pro-bel.com/news_and_events/c/Press Information/