Tag Archive for: captioning

Ghent University adopts SubtitleNEXT to equip students for the future

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For immediate release – 19 May 2022, Ghent, Belgium – Europe’s prestigious Belgian Ghent University has invested in the SubtitleNEXT platform for the Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication to further empower students.

After carefully reviewing a number of subtitling software systems, including free cloud-based programmes, the university’s Language and Translation Technology team chose SubtitleNEXT as system of choice to replace their previous subtitling tool.

Ghent University is a major public research institution, currently ranked within the top one hundred World University Rankings. With a total of 36,000 students and 9,000 staff, the University of Ghent has over eleven faculties offering more than two hundred courses that conduct in-depth research within a wide range of scientific disciplines, while its research investment averages around £180 million annually.

Within the Department of Translation, Interpreting and Multilingual Communication, students are being trained as language and language technology specialists, which offers them career perspectives in the translation and interpreting industry, including marketing and communications, education, natural language processing (NLP), and so forth.

For many years, subtitling has been part of the curriculum at Bachelor, Master, and Postgraduate level, and constitutes an important internship program thanks to collaborations with The International Film Fest Gent.

Ghent University’s Language Technology Lecturer Cynthia Van Hee says, “SubtitleNEXT stood out from the other systems due to many factors such as its intuitive interface and the large number of functionalities it offers. The versatile licensing schemes, including PBT EU’s dedicated technical support and maintenance options also appealed to us, as they give us flexibility to request specific functionalities for our purposes.”

Expanding on the key elements that attracted the department to invest in SubtitleNEXT, Cynthia outlines further details, “With teaching purposes in mind, our decision was mainly based on the technical advantages that SubtitleNEXT offers, outlined in my summary as follows:

Firstly, SubtitleNEXT’s intuitive interface works for us. Basic functionalities for loading a video, such as, spotting, adding, removing, and editing subtitles are all straightforward in the system. This is a major requirement for us, given that teachers and students with different backgrounds would be working with SubtitleNEXT.

Secondly, we were very impressed with the multitude of functionalities SubtitleNEXT has to offer and that they are also relevant to a range of other courses in our department. SubtitleNEXT provides invaluable respeaking and live subtitling options for candidates in our Interpreting Master’s programme too, including automatic translation plugin possibilities for the courses on Translation, displaying different interface layouts that allow easy comparison of subtitle files and so on.

Thirdly, given our yearly collaborations with different film festivals, SubtitleNEXT also delivers in this important area for us, with the types of video formats the system supports and the number of export possibilities.

Finally, the SubtitleNEXT floating licensing option that PBT EU offers is a considerable advantage when working with many groups of students.”

In addition, Cynthia reveals a few of her favourite features in SubtitleNEXT, “We really like the logical and clear layout design with limitless options for subtitle layout and editing. The various interface layouts, such as the side-by-side view for correcting purposes are useful, as well as the support for different video and export formats. It’s also great that we have the opportunity in SubtitleNEXT to create different subtitling profiles, each with their own set of properties.”

Looking ahead to what’s next, she adds, “We are also eager to learn more about the live subtitling option in the future. We are truly satisfied with SubtitleNEXT as our new subtitling software, and so are our students. The software appears to be very intuitive to them and provides all necessary options to allow them to successfully embark on their subtitling adventure.

We are also really happy with and grateful for the customer support we received so far. Switching software always implies many changes and a steep learning curve, but we can always address our concerns and questions, which are responded quickly and efficiently.”

CEO and Managing Partner of PBT EU, Ivanka Vassileva concludes, “We are delighted to welcome Ghent University to the growing community of SubtitleNEXT professionals. We feel immensely proud that the university’s dynamic Language and Translation Technology team invested in SubtitleNEXT for its various language and translation programmes, arming a future generation with key skills within a fast-paced global market. As a team that places our customers as first priority, we deeply value the relationship we have with the university, and we very much look forward to working with Cynthia and her outstanding team as they continue to transfer excellent subtitling skills to the next generation in an evolving digital world.”

The SubtitleNEXT platform is used for both offline and real-time captioning for all kinds of media formats. Some of the many organisations, including universities that have already adopted SubtitleNEXT include EMG, Digitalmeister GmbH, Leinhäuser Language Services GmbH, Polsat, Kino Polska, University of Rome Tor Vergata, the University of Warsaw, 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.

Find out more about SubtitleNEXT at www.SubtitleNEXT.com

For more about Ghent University’s Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication, visit https://www.ugent.be/lw/vtc/nl. Further information about the Department’s Translation and Language Technology research can be found here https://lt3.ugent.be/

 

Media Information


About PBT EU

PBT EU develops and provides performance-leading solutions and 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. PBT EU’s primary focus is flexibility, futureproof customer-driven product innovation, fast deployment, teamwork, perseverance, openness, speed, high quality work, as well as dedicated support of its products, solutions and services, which include – PlayBox Technology Neo product suite, EXEcutor™ broadcast servers and software applications, advanced captioning and subtitling software platform SubtitleNEXT, as well as Profuz Digital’s powerful business process and information management system LAPIS designed to efficiently centralise processes and data all under one roof. PBT EU collaborates with worldwide renowned technology partners across distribution and system integration projects. Headquartered in Sofia, Bulgaria, with a global outreach including centres outside the country where sales, support, manufacturing, and R&D operations take place. www.pbteu.com

 

About SubtitleNEXT

SubtitleNEXT is a user-friendly, innovative, customisable, intuitive, and affordable timed-text software platform. Already adopted across various multimedia industries, it is designed for personal and professional use. It easily adapts to any settings, resolutions, and formats such as AR, MR, VR, 8K, 4K, 2K, HD, SD, 3D, UHD across online video, TV, film, theatre, concerts, festivals, conferences, and events. It can be applied throughout the entire video production process from concept to distribution. SubtitleNEXT already has a proven track record of success and continued to support customers throughout the entire pandemic, owing to its flexibility and remote capabilities. Visit www.SubtitleNEXT.com

 

About Ghent University

To find out more, visit the Language and Translation Department website (in Dutch): https://www.ugent.be/lw/vtc/nl

The website of the research group Language and Translation Technology: https://lt3.ugent.be/

Socials:
www.vtc.ugent.be
www.facebook.com/ugent.vtc
www.instagram.com/ugent.vtc

 

London-based Titles-On embraces NEXT-TT to fully optimise global localisation efficiency

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NEXT-TT penetrates the UK market as technology partner at London’s Titles-On

For immediate release – 25 May 2022, London, UK – Broadcast media and localisation specialists PBT EU announced today that London-based company Titles-On has invested in the NEXT-TT localisation workflow management technology platform to bolster the company’s infrastructure. NEXT-TT’s wide-ranging functionality has provided Titles-On with a powerful backbone designed to further support the whole organisation, in one single efficient system.

The NEXT-TT and SubtitleNEXT editors system which has been deployed at Titles-On, provides the organisation with dependable support for all subtitling management workflow processes which include closed captions, and subtitles creation, editing, correction, delivery, and in other crucial areas, such as freelance orders, financial and media asset management, purchase order management, automatic pricing calculations, income, and expenses breakdown reports and much more. NEXT-TT is also being used to support clients, in-house project management and professional teams of freelance subtitlers and translators, through to accounting staff and owners.

PBT EU installed a complete NEXT-TT management solution to integrate seamlessly within the organisation as a whole. Titles-On now makes full use of the CRM and commercials management modules within NEXT-TT. The platform’s consistent capabilities encompass every aspect of the business, irrespective of the complexity or simplicity of the tasks at hand.

UK-based Titles-On is a global company with an expanding presence in Asia. The company provides quality subtitling and audio services, such as dubbing and audio description and comprised of talented professionals from around the world to provide subtitling and localisation services. The team is set up to work remotely via cloud technologies, connectivity, and the best industry software. The company has established a reputation for consistency and has acquired exceptional recognition worldwide.

Titles-On is passionate about accessibility and believe that everybody should be able to enjoy the world of media. They also recognise that captions can be instrumental in supporting literacy, and they feel strongly that there is a special place in their hearts for independent film makers to reach audiences across borders and get their films distributed on streaming platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, and Amazon. Titles-On is affiliated to a number of organisations that work with them to provide the best services for their clients such as The American Translators Association, Media & Entertainment Media Alliance, Entertainment Globalization Association, and the Raindance Film Festival.

“Titles-On is a tech-enabled player at the forefront of utilising the smartest technology to automate parts of our workflow. When choosing our technology partner, the deciding factor was the flexible approach of the team at NEXT-TT, creating a solution for us to meet our specific preferences today as well as facilitating adaptation of the system to meet future requirements. It is like having bespoke technology at retail prices.” Stated CEO of Titles-On, Bente Ottersen.

“We are thrilled to support Titles-On as a fully-fledged cloud facility, which has always been at the core of NEXT-TT’s strategy, long before the pandemic arose. Our aim is to best help companies manage security and complexity across projects, global offices, staff, and freelancers,” noted PBT EU’s CTO Kamen Ferdinandov. “The partnership with Titles-On demonstrates how NEXT-TT’s platform allows global firms to access projects at any given time, from anywhere, and facilitate collaboration among staff.”

“We are immensely proud to be Titles-On technology partner, and it’s rewarding to see them embracing NEXT-TT as their platform of choice for their production pipeline for media localisation workflows, and much more,” PBT EU’s CEO and Managing Partner Ivanka Vassileva said, “Titles-On has an excellent reputation for delivering high-calibre services. They are a dynamic company that continually revises and works with the latest technology to stay ahead of change within our industry, ensuring best practice and adapting to emerging technologies in order to benefit their clients and wider community. We admire their outlook and are very pleased to be providing the NEXT-TT platform from which they can continue to deliver great work. We look forward to a long partnership with them.”

PBT EU specialises in the broadcast and media market with a host of hardware and software solutions for digital asset management and localisation services, which includes the SubtitleNEXT and NEXT-TT platforms.

NEXT-TT is a hybrid software platform for managing timed-text, dubbing and localisation services for all types of content. It includes functionality for managing translation teams, audiovisual professionals, creative freelancers, while providing users with powerful toolsets in a secure workspace enabling accelerated workflows with quality results.

The SubtitleNEXT platform is used for both offline and real-time captioning for all kinds of media formats. Some of the many organisations, that have already adopted SubtitleNEXT include 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.

Find out more about NEXT-TT at https://pbteu.com/products/next-tt/

For more about Titles-On, visit www.titles-on.com

Subtitling enriches the best of both worlds of Noise and Silence

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We live in a world of noise. We experience busy cities, bustling towns, crowded service stations, hectic roads, airports, and shopping malls. Loud announcements, traffic, road repairs and planes flying by, all bombard our air space with decibels that drown out what we might be trying to listen to or watch on screen at the time. Even at airports or railway stations, for example, schedule announcements are constantly interrupting our concentration. Wherever we are, be it at home, or on the road, we are regularly faced with visuals that seem to scream at us vociferously – from large giant plasma screens, bright flashing digital signage ads through to our own home televisions, laptops, or mobile phone screens.
Whether we are able to hear or have impaired hearing, we can find ourselves in blaring environments that make it very difficult and challenging to hear a news broadcast we might be playing that we need to concentrate on, or a message we want to hear on our phone. The solution is clear – we simply just need to switch on the subtitles in our preferred language, and they immediately allow us to step into a new world of clarity.
Subtitles play a hugely important role in making us feel included in all situations and help us to still take part despite the clamour around us. Whether we are watching a news broadcast on a public TV screen with a lot of background noise or trying to watch a movie on our laptop in a busy airport lounge or as a hearing-impaired person attending a conference or watching a movie at the cinema or a play at the theatre, subtitles help to bridge the communication gap and welcome everyone in to the circle of communication.
Following new regulations for broadcasters that require AV content to be made accessible to everyone, including hearing-impaired people, subtitling is finally being recognised as essential, making subtitles a valuable asset to programme makers.

Imagine being in a world where your sense of hearing has completely gone, and a wall of silence surrounds you wherever you go. It can be a lonely, isolating, and frightening place if you are not able to sense what is being communicated in a public space and if you feel cut off from everything. In this scenario, it is important that everyone is included and has access to public messages in public places, as well as being able to access news, plays, movies and television programmes, just as much as everyone else can and this can be achieved via subtitling options.
Hearing loss is an extremely important subject. The more it is brought to the forefront of debates, even if awareness is raised in the form of a sci-fi movie, for example, the better society will learn to take great care of those who struggle with their hearing. To raise awareness of the experiences that our hearing-impaired friends and loved ones endure is vital.
Owing to the disruptive chaos caused by the health crisis, it is a positive move in media to see more stories focusing on marginalised groups and demographics within the mainstream.
Empathy can be evoked, and perceptions can be changed by more nuanced cinematic depictions of what deaf people have to live with. Recent films that touch on this well include Todd Haynes’ Wonderstruck (2017) and Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal (2019). In addition, Coda is another movie worth mentioning and is this year’s most anticipated drama release about a deaf family that live and work on the Eastern Coast of the United States. John Krasinski’s directorial debut, A Quiet Place (2018) has proven to be a great success for the deaf and hard of hearing community with deaf co-star Millicent Simmonds and the film’s use of American Sign Language throughout. This engaging thriller glances into a world where silence is golden, and where sound brings grave danger in a post-apocalyptic America, where the characters have to move in absolute silence to avoid alerting a mysterious pack of creatures that have intense levels of hearing.
Sound and silence become personified as characters in the film, helping to build up the tension, with the camera enabling the viewer to see a different perspective and to hear the world through the ears of the protagonist. These scenes powerfully help to shine a spotlight on the personal struggles people with hearing loss have to cope with. The scenes portray the sheer courage required to navigate through a silent world and depict the very real challenges that hearing loss can present to people in multiple situations.
These excellent films have brought the issue out in the open, giving deaf people the visibility they deserve. Hopefully these brilliant movies will inspire more filmmakers to look to the deaf and hard of hearing community in creative ways and to use subtitling to be more inclusive to everyone including those who speak different languages.
Filmmakers and broadcasters can benefit from subtitling software that provides them with flexibility so they can enjoy a seamless in-house network to share live output across multiple different production teams on a global scale. With reliable and affordable software systems on the market, subtitling is not burdensome or expensive.
SubtitleNEXT is a very popular and affordable system that is used for captioning live events and offline content in real time. It can stream content in multiple formats that are suitable for linear broadcasting, including VOD platforms and social media platforms. Defined as an exceptionally dependable subtitling software platform, it is no surprise as to why SubtitleNEXT is referred to by many professionals today as the “subtitler’s lifesaver.” Delivering to high industry standards, the system has an array of immediate resourceful tools and features.

The SubtitleNEXT subtitling platform provides subtitling professionals with many toolsets that can significantly enhance their work, one example being the “live dictation” function which can be used in live subtitling workflows in order to caption news and events in real time which is quite an exciting new development. Many more exciting features have been released and more are on the horizon for 2021. The team at SubtitleNEXT support hearing impaired charities and have a great interest at making their lives easier by supporting Bulgaria’s Listen Up organisation which champions their cause to be heard.
SubtitleNEXT already has a proven track record of success. Throughout the entire pandemic, it has continued to support customers, owing to its flexibility and remote capabilities. Many of the companies that have already adopted SubtitleNEXT include Polsat, Kino Polska, OiV in Croatia, Listen Up in Bulgaria, AMC in Hungary, Hayat, HD Media, OBN, University of Warsaw, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Doli Media Studio and The European School of Translation. Others include Europe’s largest Belgium-based production company Videohouse where SubtitleNEXT was used for well-known TV series such as Big Little Lies, Sirens, Vikings, and others.
SubtitleNEXT user, Veronique Denis creates accessible audio-visual content for the hearing and visually impaired and is an accessibility professional and specialist in real-time subtitling and Co-founder of Max Live Media Access Services in Belgium. She shares, “We strongly believe in media accessibility and in the fact that if you open up content for a smaller group, such as people with hearing impairment, there’s always a much larger group that can benefit from it as well. Think of the mother rocking her baby to sleep while watching a video or a neurodivergent person who gets overwhelmed at a busy railway station trying to obtain information. With today’s technological possibilities, which SubtitleNEXT showcases perfectly, not providing subtitling is almost equal to actively choosing to exclude a part of society. Luckily, over the last few years, awareness for inclusive media has increased and subtitles are now often expected as a standard service. This may be challenging for broadcasters wanting to meet accessibility standards and who want their content subtitled on different platforms. SubtitleNEXT enables us to meet broadcasters’ demands and high standards by being our one stop shop for all of our subtitling needs: live, semi-live or pre-recorded, the result is always of high quality.”

Veronique Denis, Co-founder,Max Live Media Access Services

Sonya Chakarova who is the Sales and Marketing Director at Pro Systems adds, “We are impressed with PBT EU’s refreshing approach and their impact in the broadcast sector with SubtitleNEXT. This remarkable software platform is playing a relevant role, not only in exceptionally constructive and helpful areas such as advancing accessibility for the hearing-impaired, but also in helping to improve communication and boost subtitling creativity in the broadcasting, media, and creative industries with a viable and affordable solution.”

Sonya Chakarova, Sales and Marketing Director, Pro Systems
Visit www.SubtitleNEXT.com for further updates.

Belgium’s MAX Live Media Access Services relies on SubtitleNEXT’s advanced toolsets to meet real-time accessibility goals

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“SubtitleNEXT enables us to meet broadcasters’ demands and high standards by being our one-stop-shop for all of our subtitling needs – the results are always high quality.”
Veronique Denis, Co-founder, Max Live Media Access Services

For immediate release – 28 July 2021, Kontich, Belgium – Belgium-based live-subtitling experts MAX Live Media Access Services have invested in SubtitleNEXT to provide real-time subtitling workflows. SubtitleNEXT has already been put to work to support MAX Live Media’s broadcast clients with advanced subtitling services to help meet stringent media accessibility goals, as well as provide interlingual real-time subtitling, timed-text streaming for international events and more.

SubtitleNEXT is a convenient all-in-one solution that can be used for captioning live events and offline content in real time. It can stream content in multiple formats that are suitable for linear broadcasting, including VOD platforms and social media platforms.

Subtitling is finally being recognised as essential, and no longer an optional add-on, as previously perceived. This positive move has revealed how valuable subtitles are to programme makers and filmmakers, as they not only promote growth, but increase profits by reaching out to vast global audiences in different languages.

There is a growing understanding of accessibility, and the definition is broad – from motor disabilities, sensory, to cognitive, the key element is to ensure that content is made accessible to everybody and that no one is excluded. New regulations requiring audio-visual content to be made accessible to everyone, including hearing-impaired people, have resulted in a seismic shift in the broadcast industry’s attitude towards subtitles. Broadcasters all around the world are now subjected to these new rules to ensure scheduled programmes have sufficient subtitling to meet guidelines, thus increasing demand for subtitling and captioning solutions. Accessibility has been made affordable with reliable software systems on the market like SubtitleNEXT, therefore subtitling should no longer be regarded as a regulatory burden for broadcasters.

Co-founder of MAX Live Media Access Services Veronique Denis states, “I have been creating accessible audiovisual content for the hearing and visually impaired since 2015, and over the past few years, people have started consuming audiovisual content anywhere and anytime. This is challenging for broadcasters who want to meet accessibility standards for content that needs subtitling across various platforms. SubtitleNEXT enables us to meet these broadcasters’ demands and high standards by being our one-stop-shop for all of our subtitling needs: – whether they are live, semi-live or pre-recorded, the results are always of high quality. With SubtitleNEXT, we can provide all of these services and more. We are able to meet our clients’ demands for accessibility of all of their content on any platform and we can open up content for other speaking audiences too.”

Veronique adds, “We also use SubtitleNEXT to accommodate our clients’ need for accessibility for the deaf and hard of hearing with intralingual real-time subtitling of live streams, webinars and other broadcasts and to also provide real-time subtitles for conferences and corporate meetings. Increasingly more companies realise that accessibility is not simply making sure that work space is accessible for people with physical disabilities, but it is also about making sure that those with sensory and ‘invisible’ disabilities are able to participate at work just like any other employee. This fits perfectly with one of our company’s long-term goals: making for a more inclusive society in which accessibility is a given and not something one should ask for. It should be there from the get-go. We try to raise awareness by providing potential clients with statistics, for example that one out of ten Belgians are hearing-impaired. If a company has 50 employees, then 5 could benefit from having real-time subtitling.”

MAX Live Media relies on SubtitleNEXT for other projects such as interlingual subtitling for multilingual events, whether offline or via livestream. Veronique expands further, “As Belgium is a multi-lingual country, it is important for events to be accessible to a diverse audience. Without subtitling, organisers used to resort to interpreters, but then had to have a wide array of audiovisual means to get the message to those who need it. With real-time subtitling we provide textual assistance for those who need it and if the event is streamed online as well, the viewers at home can watch the content with subtitles too. Moreover, the subtitles generated with SubtitleNEXT are timed like regular subtitles, which is something that other text streaming applications lack. Therefore, thanks to SubtitleNEXT, we can provide the client with a subtitle file after the event so that they can use it for the publication of their content.”

A smaller portion of MAX Live Media’s activities includes writing audio description for the blind and visually impaired, using SubtitleNEXT to identify where they can describe what’s shown on screen and then use the reading speed calculations for the text to gauge if the voice-over is timed well. Veronique notes, “Thanks to the many “export-abilities” of SubtitleNEXT, we then can export this audio description script into any format the client may want to use for their script or studio recordings.”

CEO of PBT EU Ivanka Vassileva remarks, “We are delighted that MAX Live Media Access Services have embraced SubtitleNEXT to meet their clients’ broadcasting needs. We pride ourselves in providing software that provides our clients with flexibility so they can enjoy a flawless in-house network all under one roof. The SubtitleNEXT subtitling platform provides subtitling professionals with many toolsets that can significantly enhance their work, one example being the “live dictation” function which can be used in live subtitling workflows in order to caption news and events in real time which is quite an exciting new development. Many more exciting features have been released and more are on the horizon for 2021. We are thrilled to have MAX Live Media join the growing SubtitleNEXT family of professional users.”

Defined as an exceptionally dependable subtitling software platform, it is no surprise as to why SubtitleNEXT is referred to by many professionals today as the “subtitler’s lifesaver.” Delivering to high industry standards, the system has an array of immediate resourceful tools and features.

SubtitleNEXT already has a proven track record of success. Throughout the entire pandemic, it has continued to support customers, owing to its flexibility and remote capabilities. Some of the many companies that have already adopted SubtitleNEXT include Polsat, Kino Polska, OiV in Croatia, Listen Up in Bulgaria, AMC in Hungary, Hayat, HD Media, OBN, University of Warsaw, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Doli Media Studio, The European School of Translation, Videohouse, UCM and Hellenic American College of Greece.

Visit www.SubtitleNEXT.com for further updates on the latest news and join the SubtitleNEXT club to stay on top of what’s new in subtitling.


About MAX Live Media Access Services – Visit www.livemax.be


 

 

IT Pros Subtitles® embraces NEXT-TT to Remote-Manage its expanding Localization Services

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For immediate release – 16 March 2021, Perugia, Italy – Specialist audiovisual translation firm IT Pros Subtitles® has invested in the NEXT-TT localization platform to manage and organise its expanding remote workflow infrastructure. NEXT-TT is a powerful collaborative hybrid platform which combines SubtitleNEXT software with comprehensive business management processing system Profuz LAPIS. NEXT-TT provides IT Pros with a formidable all-in-one versatile, timesaving, cost-effective solution, therefore equipping them with a highly efficient workhorse to manage teams of freelance translators, and with the bonus of immediate remote access to SubtitleNEXT’s proprietary tools, technologies, and delivery capabilities at the same time.

IT Pros has vast creative experience working with a number of VOD and online content providers, filmmakers, directors, post-production studios, and larger subtitling companies, offering services that include multilingual subtitling, SDH subtitling, AV, subtitle translation services, dubbing, voiceover, subtitle permanent embedding into HD digital files and much more.

Having adopted the SubtitleNEXT application back in 2018, IT Pros was already familiar with the software and ahead of the curve by offering the very first remote SubtitleNEXT online training course long before the pandemic even began. More recently, after exploring various innovative and business management systems that could meet their specific and complex growing requirements, they chose NEXT-TT as the most reliable and extensive system on the market. It was a logical next step for IT Pros to embrace NEXT-TT and be able to virtually connect to the industry’s most inclusive localization platform that would be able meet high standards of performance and delivery that IT Pros clients demand.

IT Pros Subtitler and Translator Monica Paolillo affirms, “We are absolutely delighted with our recent investment in NEXT-TT, which is an SSL secure on-premises based subtitling platform. It gives us the peace of mind that all our content is handled and subtitled securely and confidentially without ever leaving our in-house server. The NEXT-TT system was professionally supplied and installed by PBT EU and is developed by Profuz Digital – they are also the developers of SubtitleNEXT which is, in our opinion, the best subtitling software available on the market right now and great value for money.”

The advantages NEXT-TT commands are unparalleled to other localisation platforms by providing full automation, template proficiency, artificial intelligence in combination with SubtitleNEXT’s user-friendly, innovative, customisable, intuitive, and affordable timed-text software platform. In addition to its remote work capabilities, the NEXT-TT solution supports unlimited users and provides configurable workflows, including the ability to import BPMN workflows. It boasts advanced project management tools that are packed with endless options and settings for customising tasks and project metadata. The platform’s unique hybrid approach to subtitling tools includes a simplified online subtitles editor for translators; and offers advanced subtitling toolsets through integration with SubtitleNEXT. Other highlights include NEXT-TT’s advanced management of video content including watermarking and encryption to secure the highest levels of protection and security for localization service providers. The software interface is available to customers with their own branding and company logo integrated along with the added option to choose in-house hosting or to use a public or private cloud service provider.

Monica points out a few of the many advantages the team at IT Pros are already benefitting from by using NEXT-TT, “Over the past few months, selected projects have been handled within this protected environment where clients can upload and download their files, freelancers can log into the platform and securely transcribe, translate, subtitle from their home office using SubtitleNEXT’s powerful features without downloading or moving files from our server. Our QC team can finalise projects as and when they are ready in a fast-paced, but rewarding, subtitling supply chain. During the subtitling process, all content is watermarked and converted to low res to add an extra layer of security. It’s been a worthwhile transition.”

PBT EU’s CEO Ivanka Vassileva states, “We feel confident that our NEXT-TT solution provides localization companies with a collaborative and reliable platform that solves security and management challenges. Conveniently, the system tackles a plethora of organisational concerns all under one roof. These include content copyrights protection, the entire supply chain management, project management, task planning, translation, QC, and delivery. It even takes remote working into consideration. In addition, we offer our clients the option to customise the system to meet their unique working processes in tune with their organisational structure. We also provide exciting opportunities and incentives to suit all budgets, by offering several licensing packages that cater for small, medium and large enterprises, effectively optimising processes of smaller companies with the same innovative toolsets that larger organisations enjoy.”

Adding further, Ivanka notes, “We cherish our special partnership with IT Pros and are proud to cooperate with world class professionals like them in order to provide to the market a product that fits real users’ expectations. They are early adopters of our technology solutions and we are incredibly appreciative of the role they have played in adding so much value to the growth of our products over the last five years by incorporating invaluable feedback and suggestions. We continue to support them in their ongoing success.”

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

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MEDIA INFORMATION

About ITPros
Visit https://itpros.it/

About PBT EU
PBTEU develops and provides performance-leading solutions and 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.

PBTEU’s primary focus is flexibility, futureproof customer-driven product innovation, fast deployment, teamwork, perseverance, openness, speed, high quality work, as well as dedicated support of its products, solutions and services, which include – PlayBox Technology Neo product suite, EXEcutor™ broadcast servers and software applications, advanced captioning and subtitling software platform SubtitleNEXT, as well as Profuz Digital’s powerful business process and information management system LAPIS designed to efficiently centralise processes and data all under one roof, including the NEXT-TT platform.

PBTEU collaborates with worldwide renowned technology partners across distribution and system integration projects. Headquartered in Sofia, Bulgaria with a global outreach including centres outside of the country where sales, support, manufacturing, and R&D operations take place. Visit www.pbteu.com

Multilingual Film Productions rely on efficient Subtitling

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SubtitleNEXT creator Kamen Ferdinandov talks through “what’s NEXT-TT in subtitling software to equip subtitlers”

Subtitles support upcoming filmmakers by providing accuracy and fluency. They play a vital role in ensuring that directors receive the recognition they deserve on the regional and international stage.

Subtitles are beginning to feature in international films. They help movie makers gain global recognition and even win awards.

Now in 2021, subtitles are a hugely important topic more than ever before. Subtitles recently hit the radar again with Minari receiving the Golden Globes award for best “Foreign language film”. The multi-Oscar award-winning South Korean black comedy thriller Parasite made history by winning best picture, a feat that no other subtitled film achieved in the 92-year history of the Academy Awards. The film’s director Bong Joon-ho used his acceptance speech at the Golden Globes to champion subtitles and encouraged audiences not to be put off by international films. He said that once audiences “overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles” they will be introduced to so many amazing films, further noting that we use only one language: “the cinema.”

This outlook reflects the mindset of Profuz Digital’s CTO Kamen Ferdinandov, a passionate and inspiring developer who also believes in opening audiences up to a whole new world. By creating a subtitling application to help surpass language barriers, he hopes to make subtitling more widely accessible and user friendly.

SubtitleNEXT creator Kamen Ferdinandov discusses what’s next in subtitling software to equip subtitlers with efficient toolsets and achieve results that filmmakers require.

From the very beginning, Kamen wanted to make a platform available to everyone at every level. This meant it had to be equipped with familiar text-editing application tools. He set out to make the subtitling software-only platform SubtitleNEXT to achieve just this.

Kamen notes, “No longer are subtitles only deemed necessary for those with impaired hearing but are perceived as imperative to anyone wanting to watch content when in noisy places or with the sound off.”

He points out, “When conducting timed text representations of the spoken text in another language, in other words, translating spoken text from one language into written text into another language, especially in the audio-visual field, you need to pay attention to the time restrictions and cultural differences. Therefore subtitling is never pure text translation, as there should always be some adaptation involved in order to transmit the message of the speaker. However, localisation is key to account for the viewer’s cultural references. The SubtitleNEXT system we have created, offers many helpful tools to assist the translation and interpretation processes incorporated into the new Smart Text Assist features for example. The software offers alternatives and suggestions when preparing subtitles which facilitates translation and adaptation processes, but it also provides additional visual materials such as emojis and a variety of text formatting and styling features which are really useful when interpreting.”

 

Kamen established Profuz Digital back in 2014 with his colleague Ivanka Vassileva to develop software solutions for the digital media industry. With headquarters based in Toronto, they use their R&D Centre in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia as a technology hub. Ivanka is CEO of systems integration firm PBT EU in Bulgaria and naturally took the position of CEO of Profuz Digital as well.

Profuz Digital and its SubtitleNEXT team are constantly evolving to meet the needs of subtitlers. Kamen expands further, “SubtitleNEXT stems from a proven and well-established 30-year legacy based on world-wide renowned subtitling tool for broadcasters “SubtitlePlus”, which originally evolved from “Subtitle”, one of the first file-based subtitling tools. 2016 marked the year that SubtitlePlus quickly migrated to the fully-fledged product SubtitleNEXT that is used today by many subtitling professionals. By referencing a system as “legacy” means that it paved the way for the standards that would follow and that it is tried and tested, solid, trusted and a reliable product that has had time to prove itself to the market.”

SubtitleNEXT is used by the likes of the University of Warsaw, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Polsat, Doli Media Studio, The European School of Translation and Europe’s largest Belgium-based production company Videohouse, where it was used on well-known TV series such as Big Little Lies, Sirens, Vikings and many more. In addition, the Hellenic American College of Greece invested in SubtitleNEXT to equip Masters in Translation students with key localization skills to prepare future subtitlers with a definitive career path to face the pace of demand in the translation and creative industries.

Defined as reliable timed-text subtitling software, it is no surprise why SubtitleNEXT is referred to by many professionals today as the “subtitler’s lifesaver”. Delivering to high industry standards, the system has an array of immediate resourceful tools and features. Available in a single compact application, it punches above its weight and can be put to work on heavy deadline-driven workloads.

Primarily aimed at audio-visual translation freelance professionals, through to Language Services Providers, production, post-production companies and broadcasters, SubtitleNEXT has proven itself as a time-saving, but also a productive profit-making product to media organisations worldwide.

Another exciting offering on the market is the localisation platform NEXT-TT – Profuz Digital’s complete cloud solution that combines SubtitleNEXT with Profuz LAPIS – already adopted by the likes of Canal + Myanmar FG, Linxstream Media, Doli Media Studios and IT Pros Subtitles.

“NEXT-TT can be configured to work in a “hybrid” way.” Kamen adds, “ Profuz LAPIS is our dedicated business management system that ties all business processes under one roof and adds an additional layer of security and creates a single environment to control the management, usage, structure, storage of business data and audiovisual processes. We want our customers to enjoy a user-friendly interface that anyone in their organisation can understand, and NEXT-TT is designed to be convenient and easy to use.”

Kamen continues, “SubtitleNEXT’s impact on Profuz Digital due to its historical role has been a positive one. To have an established product that the market already believes in, provides a great foundation to build further features that can bring efficiency speed and proficiency to users in a busy environment. In essence, the Profuz Digital outlook has always been fully committed to deliver simpler and versatile solutions without compromising functionality and performance.”

Kamen concludes, “Our secret is that even if we have a lot of experience we listen carefully to what everyone has to say, and we genuinely care about the challenges the industry faces. As a team, we take an interest. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic we have ensured that our systems can be used remotely where required to serve our clients. We encourage feedback and use it to implement positive changes, develop new capabilities to deliver ground-breaking functionalities that benefit users more than ever before. We never stop evolving, learning, and growing on this exciting journey, and we want to make subtitling fun for everyone to enjoy, across various genres, appealing to the novice and the pro!”

Further information and a free trial, visit www.subtitleNEXT.com and  https://profuzdigital.com/about-us/