Julian Clover looks at Elemental Technologies, who are bringing video processing to multiscreen.
New technologies mean new opportunities; a few weeks ago we wrote about thePlatform, which is extending its footprint from the United States, and into Europe.
Working along similar lines Elemental Technologies, which established its UK presence in March, is now looking to work the market for video processing solutions in the new multiscreen world. Elemental, headquartered in Portland, Oregeon, already counts QVC among its customers.
Elemental’s streaming technologies are helping to support QVC UK’s recently introduced iPhone app and the shopping channel’s new Italian network has also picked up on the technology.
Later this month Deltatre, which is providing services to the Rugby World Cup, will also use Elemental video processing solutions.
“Sport is genuinely compelling and for content owners it adds a new lease of life,” says John Nemeth, director, EMEA. Nemeth says content owners are only just taking on board the true meaning of multiscreen. “On a white board they’ll explain how they deliver linear TV in great detail, while in the corner there is a fluffy white cloud. They get it pretty quickly and realize we can make it work for them.” Nemeth is only too aware of the desire by rights holders to “sweat their assets to death”, by extending them across as many devices as possible.
Other European clients now being served by Elemental include TF1 Group, WRN Broadcast and VMMa.
The early days of the company were spent developing H.264 codecs before moving onto GPU technology that is used to accelerate the standard H.264 video encoder.
Nemeth is clear that the iPad is the driver, describing it as the “Hoover of multiscreen”, but he urges operators to be aware of the devices that their customers hold.
Already it is becoming clear that this is multiscreen’s year at IBC and exactly how the tablets are deployed will represent a significant test.
