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Profuz Digital heads to IBC2022

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Profuz Digital’s team attending IBC to gauge industry trends post-Covid


For immediate release – 18 August 2022, London, UK – Creators of the subtitling system SubtitleNEXT, Profuz Digital, confirms its teams attendance at IBC this year. Plans to meet up with industry professionals and reassess the current state of the industry, post-Covid are priority. IBC allows companies like Profuz Digital to reunite, engage with friends, and re-energise once again.

Profuz Digital is an established European technology developer and creates customised platforms that allow global firms to access projects at any given time, from anywhere, and facilitate collaboration.

At IBC, CEO and Managing partner of Profuz Digital Ivanka Vassileva will be available to meet potential partners and clients and share the latest innovations available in the Profuz Digital range of products – SubtitleNEXT, Profuz LAPIS, and NEXT-TT.

The highlight of the show is the IBC2022 Special Award which will reward those who came together via a LinkedIn Group called ‘Support for Ukrainian Media Professionals’. Initiated by Sonya Chakarova at PlayBox Neo and Daniella Weigner of Cinegy, with consultant Phillip Covell, the LinkedIn Group provides resources, solutions and hardware to Ukrainian TV channels and media outlets to ensure they can stay on air during the ongoing war and has evolved into an active technical hub.

IBC will celebrate this collaborative effort of over 400 broadcast, media companies and individuals enabling broadcasting in Ukraine during the conflict. The Innovation Awards winners will be announced and showcased at an online digital awards show on 5 September at 4pm BST, followed by IBC’s prestigious Innovation Awards Ceremony at The RAI in Amsterdam on Sunday, 11th September.

“We are so grateful to the SubtitleNEXT team for offering subtitling solutions across Europe, helping efforts to support displaced refugees with easy access to television programming.” Said Phillip Covell on behalf of the ‘Support for Ukrainian Media Professionals’ LinkedIn Group.

The Profuz Digital team has been providing subtitling services via its SubtitleNEXT platform across Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, and other countries that have taken in Ukrainian refugees. SubtitleNEXT is included in the list of industry companies, and initiatives acknowledged and given special mention by The Group, such as AVID, VIZRT Group, Octopus Newsroom, and others.

SubtitleNEXT is a popular and affordable timed-text platform that offers real-time and offline subtitling and captioning for all media formats.

Profuz LAPIS, one of Europe’s most advanced digital asset workflow management platforms, has already been adopted by the likes of Canal PLUS, Jornal do Centro, Council of Europe, Bulgarian National Radio, and many other organisations. It delivers highly adaptable, business-based future-proof efficiency and is proven technology that can be deployed on AWS or other cloud service providers as well as on-premises.

Profuz LAPIS is a discerning investment for companies requiring management process integration under one roof. Web-accessible, it powerfully executes total management of cloud and desktop technologies through browser functionality. 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.

Profuz LAPIS’ other key features include optional modules for commercials management; unlimited users with supported licensing file modes; plus various data-files irrespective of location managed from a single dashboard without local system storage transfer. Configurable consoles for various user levels with built-in workflow design and automation are included. Flexible software licensing ownership and subscriptions pricing options are available.

The NEXT-TT system combines SubtitleNEXT’s functionalities with the integrated business management system 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.

Organisations that have embraced SubtitleNEXT and NEXT-TT’s technology include London’s Titles-On, EMG, many universities such as University of Ghent, Warsaw, Hellenic American College of Greece, European School of Translation, Complutense University of Madrid, Max Live, Biovisjon, IT Pros Subtitles, Doli Media Studio, Cube Cinema Technologies, Tring TV, Bulgarian National Television, Canal Plus Myanmar, AMC, HD Media, and others.

Profuz Digital proudly supports all its customers, most of which are already adopting cloud-based facilities capable of remote working capabilities, which has always been at the core of NEXT-TT’s strategy, long before the pandemic even arose. Profuz Digital’s aim is to best help companies manage security and complexity across projects, global offices, staff, and freelancers.

“It will be great to be back at IBC this year, especially, as we prepare to launch Profuz LAPIS, in the UK for the first time at London’s KitPlus Show. Being able to attend IBC beforehand, provides us with an exceptional platform from which to explore, expand options and be inspired with new ventures and European partnerships in the pipeline.” noted Kamen Ferdinandov, CTO of Profuz Digital and technical brainpower behind SubtitleNEXT, Profuz LAPIS and NEXT-TT technologies.

Profuz Digital’s CEO and Managing Partner Ivanka Vassileva added, “We are delighted to catch up with technology creatives in-person at IBC again and listen to current concerns people are facing. We’re eager to share the advantages our customised solutions bring individuals and organisations including our support for remote and in-house production pipelines and media localization workflows. We are honoured to support Ukrainian broadcasters helping refugees, and it is humbling to receive recognition, along with other companies from IBC’s Awards team. We look forward to seeing you there.”

To arrange a meeting with Profuz Digital at IBC, contact Ivanka Vassileva on +359 884 83 93 53, via mobile or WhatsApp, or by email at Ivanka@profuzdigital.com

Register to attend IBC at https://show.ibc.org/registration

For more information about LinkedIn Group “Support for Ukrainian Media Professionals” visit https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12630563/

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


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, Hellenic American College of Greece, Complutense University of Madrid, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 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, and many others.

www.profuzdigital.com

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

SubtitleNEXT Version 5.11 Kick-Starts 2022, allowing users to directly Translate Audio in Real Time and more

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SubtitleNEXT kick-starts 2022 with a brand-new release of SubtitleNEXT Version 5.11 that further equips subtitling, captioning and localisation specialists with an array of stunning innovative toolsets at their fingertips. The popular and affordable SubtitleNEXT software platform is used for captioning live events and offline content in real time and is being embraced by a growing number of industry professionals across the globe.
Filmmakers and broadcasters 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 world-wide scale. With reliable and affordable software systems on the market such as SubtitleNEXT, subtitling is no longer burdensome or expensive.
A major new feature that stands out in SubtitleNEXT V5.11 allows for the direct translation from audio in real time. This significant capability can be used for automatic translation work and to generate subtitles directly from sound.
The remote capability that SubtitleNEXT offers, through the implementation of its dynamic licensing model in the current pandemic era, helped raise the bar for localisation companies to continue to excel to a new high when regulations call for flexible working.
The new version of SubtitleNEXT has gone another step further by providing its users with the ability to self-administrate their own licenses. The options include static licenses, which can be used offline on one PC, or alternatively, utilised in a dynamic and secure capacity that requires a log-in mode. These licensing models empower users, team managers and producers, with the added benefit and flexibility to be able to switch between different licensing preferences, on an “as and when” basis according to project requirements.
Other highlights of the latest upgrade in V5.11 include several new improvements and additions that enhance live subtitling projects, one example being the streaming of subtitles to Zoom, irrespective of the text length. SubtitleNEXT version 5.11 further improves how content can seamlessly stream in multiple formats that are compatible with linear broadcasting, VOD, and social media platforms at accelerated speeds.
PBT EU’s CEO Ivanka Vassileva reflects on the success of 2021, “We enjoyed a highly successful year, welcoming many new SubtitleNEXT customers on board, despite the challenges living in a pandemic situation presents. Nevertheless, we still had a productive and industrious year by participating in various digital online seminars and tradeshows, where we have continued to listen to our current customers, academics, and localisation professionals concerning their growing needs in the industry. Our focus is always on our customers, and we’ve been hard at work on new developments over the past few weeks, to meet the challenging demands and tight turnaround times that our customers face. The new user-friendly tools and resourceful features in version 5.11 will provide excellent advantages and benefit busy subtitlers. This coming year holds great promise, and it’s motivating to start the year off on such a positive note.”
In addition, the SubtitleNEXT team ran a series of free online “SubtitleNEXT Friday Workshops” at the end of last year which proved to be a big hit, providing subtitlers with key tools and skillsets to tackle real live projects to round off what has been an extremely successful 2021, following SubtitleNEXT’s virtual presence at successful APTRAD and Languages & the Media digital events. The 8 sessions were presented by the developer of SubtitleNEXT Kamen Ferdinandov, which attracted a fantastic turnout of attendees, who interacted and engaged in the Q&A after each session.
Key feature topics covered included how to create subtitles from scratch or from a source; tips on how to work more efficiently when checking, editing, correcting, fixing, and finalising subtitles for delivery.
The October 29th SubtitleNEXT Workshop covered ideas on how to work more efficiently when translating subtitles, other sessions revealed how to creatively style and format subtitles using SubtitleNEXT and how subtitlers can use SubtitleNEXT for live subtitling of TV shows, live events, online meetings, and video streaming platforms. The workshops also helped familiarise attendees on how companies and teams can collaborate and successfully perform online subtitling with NEXT-TT and SubtitleNEXT used in tandem. The December 3rd SubtitleNEXT Workshop outlined NEXT-TT’s innovative management features to help subtitlers gear up and be well-prepared to confidently face 2022 and the challenges ahead in their upcoming projects. The final SubtitleNEXT Workshop of the year fell on December 10th and ensured subtitlers were armed with the latest generation subtitling tools and knowledge skillsets they need to enhance their work.
Recordings of the SubtitleNEXT Workshops are available on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFMPWFADMbyUopPfcb_uK-5EUo7LYhpem

What do subtitling professionals around the world think of SubtitleNEXT?

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For those not yet familiar, SubtitleNEXT is a highly popular and affordable subtitling system that is used for captioning live events and offline content in real time. SubtitleNEXT streams content in multiple formats attuned for linear broadcasting, including Video On Demand and social media platforms. Delivering to high industry standards, it boasts an array of immediate resourceful tools and features.

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.”

Following SubtitleNEXT’s successful virtual presence at APTRAD and Languages & the Media digital events last year, suggestions were made at both events, by prominent subtitling professional to run a series of workshops to help equip subtitlers out there, with new ideas to help enhance skillset efficiency.

The SubtitleNEXT team responded with enthusiasm and held a series of informative hourly Friday digital workshops that were completely free of charge for attendees, these are summarised at the end where a You Tube link is provided for those who could not attend at the time.

We caught up with some of the industry’s brilliant and talented subtitlers who attended the SubtitleNEXT workshops, APTRAD and other subtitling forums, in order to gauge their opinions of the SubtitleNEXT subtitling system currently taking the AVT world by storm.

SubtitleNEXT’s advanced features set it apart in the Cloud

APTRAD raffle winner at SubtitleNEXT’s virtual booth, Portuguese translator Paulo Fernando, who specialises in audiovisual translation, namely subtitle translation and creation, said this is an area he has been fully dedicated to for 18 years. He has collaborated with several companies, ranging from small local companies to large OTT Language Serviced Providers in a plethora of subjects, with his favourite genres being animation, certain documentaries, and fantasy.

He briefly shared his thoughts on SubtitleNEXT, “I had heard of SubtitleNEXT and PBTEU before, but only came in contact with the software at their virtual booth at APTRAD’s first international audiovisual translation conference in Portugal, where my curiosity was further enticed into other audiovisual areas I could branch out into, like voice-over or Respeaking, and now I’m counting on SubtitleNEXT as a partner in these new avenues.”

Paulo added, “SubtitleNEXT is a highly customisable software platform, designed for subtitlers, offering all the features a professional subtitling tool is expected to offer today, with a large array of exporting subtitle formats. It handles multiple media formats and all the editing and timing options.

In all honesty, what I think is interesting about the software are the options and opportunities it provides, with regards to contemplating the future, so to speak.

In today’s day and age, when the cloud capabilities and proprietary software of some large OTT companies and distributors reign, the “basics,” so to say, implies that features of subtitling software are covered. Therefore, I think that the more advanced features will set the software apart in this area, and SubtitleNEXT is already setting a trend!

I’d like to point out the precision of the software too in detecting spot changes, including the use of customisable styles for creative subtitles, without resorting to third party software, and its Dictation mode all impress me. These are all extremely promising features in speech recognition and possibly the next big step forward technologically for the audiovisual translation industry. Respeaking is something that’s just starting to be talked about in some sectors, but it’s already applicable in SubtitleNEXT.”

SubtitleNEXT is the first system subtitlers turn to

SubtitleNEXT Workshop raffle winner Zoya Katsoeva is an experienced audiovisual translator, who specialises in subtitling. She translates subtitles for features, television series, and documentaries for many major streaming services.

After attending the SubtitleNEXT Friday workshops, the team caught up with her to find out how she was getting on. She outlines her experience using SubtitleNEXT, “I merit SubtitleNEXT for all the settings that are available. I also like the extensive range of technical options the SubtitleNEXT platform provides. Whenever I need to work using my own software, not my client’s online platforms, and when the source subtitles are not perfect, and require a lot of retiming and repositioning around shot changes and so forth, SubtitleNEXT comes to my rescue and is the very first software program I reach out for.”

Alba Multimedia introduces SubtitleNEXT to Russia’s AVT community

ALBA Multimedia is a translation firm based in Russia that offers high quality translation and interpreting services to individuals and corporations worldwide. They recently partnered with PBT EU as an exclusive reseller of SubtitleNEXT and NEXT-TT products within the region which marks a major expansion in footprint for the software.

Successful debut of SubtitleNEXT at “Translation Forum Russia” with ALBA Multimedia, as major partner of the event , August 2021, Courtesy ALBA Multimedia

Following the partnership, the SubtitleNEXT team launched an initiative with ALBA Multimedia recently that involved a SubtitleNEXT presentation, quiz, and a raffle. The winner was AV specialist Uliana Gorshineva, who tried out SubtitleNEXT. With SubtitleNEXT entering a brand-new market, it was interesting to receive her feedback on the industry as a whole and her trust in PBT EU’s partner and excellent products they represent.

Uliana noted, “I have been specialising in audiovisual translation for several years, and I like following the news in this sphere so that I know what features the software developers have added to subtitling software. But sometimes it might be a problem to find the software that would meet all the requirements of the project and would have a variety of different functions.

It is also interesting for me to find out what software is used by professional translation agencies and dubbing studios.

I always follow the social media of ALBA (I get notifications of their new posts) as they always publish some interesting and up-to-date information.

The audiovisual translation market is growing rapidly, and I want to keep abreast of its innovations. Alba’s team are real professionals, so I want to keep up with them, and it is twice as pleasant that I can get first-hand information from them.”

New SubtitleNEXT version 5.11 enables direct translation from audio in real time

A major new feature that stands out in SubtitleNEXT V5.11 allows for the direct translation from audio in real time. This significant capability can be used for automatic translation work and to generate subtitles directly from sound.

In addition, the new version of SubtitleNEXT provides users with the ability to self-administrate their own licenses, namely static licenses, used offline on one PC, or in a dynamic capacity that requires sign-in. The licensing models can be switched between licensing modes, as required. Other highlights include streaming of subtitles to Zoom, irrespective of text length.


An inspiring note from CEO Ivanka Vassileva

 

PBT EU’s CEO Ivanka Vassileva comments, “We have had an incredible start to 2022 already, despite the challenges the pandemic situation still presents. We continue to listen to our valued customers, academics, and localisation professionals concerning the industry’s growing needs. Our focus is always on our customers, and we’ve already been hard at work on new developments to meet the challenging demands and tight turnaround times that our customers face. The new user-friendly tools and resourceful features in our latest version 5.11 of SubtitleNEXT provides users with excellent advantages. This coming year holds many opportunities for subtitling pros out there.”

 

Watch the SubtitleNEXT Friday Workshops on You Tube

The SubtitleNEXT Workshop sessions, presented by developer Kamen Ferdinandov covered fundamental areas in subtitling such as creating subtitles from scratch, through to tips on how to improve efficiency across skills such as checking, editing, correcting, fixing, and finalising subtitles for delivery. Further tips were shared on how to translate subtitles more efficiently, how to creatively style and format subtitles using SubtitleNEXT and how subtitlers can use SubtitleNEXT for live subtitling of TV shows, live events, online meetings, and video streaming platforms. The workshops also helped familiarise attendees on how companies and teams can collaborate and successfully perform online subtitling with NEXT-TT and SubtitleNEXT used in tandem. The workshops outlined NEXT-TT’s innovative management features that are specifically designed to help subtitlers are equipped with the latest generation subtitling tools and knowledge skillsets required to enhance the incredible work they do.

Recordings of the SubtitleNEXT Workshops are available on You Tube so you can catch up: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFMPWFADMbyUopPfcb_uK-5EUo7LYhpem

Who uses SubtitleNEXT?

SubtitleNEXT already has a proven track record of success. The team at SubtitleNEXT support hearing impaired charities and have a great interest at making people’s lives easier by supporting Bulgaria’s Listen Up organisation which champions the important cause to be heard.

Throughout the entire pandemic, SubtitleNEXT’s team have 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, 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.

 

Keep us updated on how you use SubtitleNEXT

If you use SubtitleNEXT and would like to tell us your story or share a recent project you worked on using SubtitleNEXT, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us at marketing@pbteu.com

 

Germany’s Digitalmeister selects SubtitleNEXT for high-volume AV workflows

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SubtitleNEXT’s advanced subtitling and captioning tools attracts Germany’s largest AV transcription provider

For immediate release – 6 December 2021, Hanover, Germany – Digitalmeister GmbH (abtipper.de) – a German transcription and translation agency that is looking to expand into the world of subtitles, has selected SubtitleNEXT to support its high-volume AV translation projects. Armed with the latest version 5.10 of SubtitleNEXT and the New Floating License possibilities, the transcripts and subtitle files at Digitalmeister are generated by the professional audiovisual translator team. The SubtitleNEXT system has already been put to work at Digitalmeister and will be used in many projects. Transcription and translation clients at Digitalmeister include the likes of big corporate brands such as Daimler, BMW, Mini, GFK, Sennheiser, Bahlsen, Robert Koch Institute and German media companies such as Brigitte, BILD, arte, Hessischer Rundfunk.
Digitalmeister is an established innovation leader in transcriptions, with an extensive portfolio of over 20,000 high profile projects behind its name. The company delivers transcription services across 80 languages plus regional accents, dialects and accents. Digitalmeister has successfully taken on numerous projects for non-profit organisations too, including Save the Children and FIBS and also supports world-class academic institutions such as the University of Darmstadt, Harvard University, Zurich University and many others.
“We’ve only recently started out with subtitles and are realising more and more projects, so far, mostly for online platforms such as YouTube videos, internal corporate communication and so forth. My team and I purchased SubtitleNEXT in August this year to improve the quality of our subtitles as well as our workflow. Since then, we’re very pleased with all the features the software provides, such as speech-to-text, various formats, as well as hardcoding and the facilitated timing options.” Said Carolin Alsbach, Digitalmeister’s trained translator and head of proofreading and subtitling, “What we did not expect is the amazing customer service that comes with it as well. There is always someone available in chat, if you need them. We’re glad we chose SubtitleNEXT and would definitely recommend using the software for professional subtitling.”


PBT EU’s SubtitleNEXT Sales Manager and Product Specialist, Maria Markovska confirmed, “We are delighted that Digitalmeister has invested in SubtitleNEXT. Digitalmeister chose SubtitleNEXT for its flexible workflow models, advanced offline subtitling and captioning capabilities, as well as its excellent array of user-friendly tools that are packaged in one powerful application. Other key functionalities that appealed, include the use of language dictionaries, QA features for automatic fixing of subtitle files that are based on rule presets and many others. It is very exciting to see Digitalmeister already reaping the benefits of using the system, and we welcome them into the growing SubtitleNEXT family of global users, and continue to support them as they continue to deliver successful results for their clients.”
New features in SubtitleNEXT version 5.10 include integration with newsroom editing systems such as AVID, iNews and Octopus, real-time live subtitling with one or two stages respeaking capability, dictation corrections plus more, which are compatible with You Tube, Zoom, Decklink, Newfor and others.

_________________________________________________________________________
MEDIA INFORMATION
About Digitalmeister GmbH (abtipper.de)
Visit www.abtipper.de
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. www.SubtitleNEXT.com
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. 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

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.

New features in SubtitleNEXT and NEXT-TT to be revealed at APTRAD, including brand new automatic Licensing Manager

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APTRAD Virtual Conference – 8 – 11 September 2021- Porto, Portugal

For immediate release – 19 August 2021, Porto, Portugal – As a premium sponsor of APTRAD, the SubtitleNEXT team will launch the very latest innovation in its subtitling technology, including a new automatic Licensing Manager now available in SubtitleNEXT version 5.10. The new SubtitleNEXT License Manager provides organisations with an administrator account to allocate the acquired licenses for the users of their choice, under their own control and self-management.

In addition, the powerful NEXT-TT platform will be presented at APTRAD, revealing brand new features that optimise collaborative work and QC, by incorporating many of the stunning advancements available in SubtitleNEXT.

With media accessibility being more urgent than ever for broadcasters and AVT professionals, the timing of a show like APTRAD is paramount. APTRAD 2021 takes place from 8 – 11 September, marking Portugal’s first-ever international online audiovisual translation event. It provides top industry professionals with a space to connect and explore informative topics across the AV translation and broadcast sectors ranging from subtitling, dubbing, accessibility modalities, subtitling for hearing-impaired people, and audio description. The APTRAD 2021’s conference pass provides participants with free access to lectures, live courses, and interactive online workshops. Lecture sessions will be recorded which will be made available to all registered participants after the event.

APTRAD will feature dedicated online demo sessions of SubtitleNEXT that will be held at 4pm every day of the show in Room C, as outlined in the official programme. The sessions will unveil SubtitleNEXT version 5.10 in action and how it adapts to specific AVT and broadcasting. The SubtitleNEXT virtual booth plans to run a quiz, and APTRAD attendees are invited to enter the raffle for a chance to win a laptop and a sought-after SubtitleNEXT Lifetime Expert License.

 

Creator of the SubtitleNEXT software platform, Profuz Digital’s CTO Kamen Ferdinandov, who is a speaker at the technology roundtable sessions at APTRAD, will highlight the important role that audiovisual translation tools play in today’s world.

Ivanka Vassileva, CEO of PBT EU states, “We have exciting announcements to make at APTRAD with the very latest development upgrades created to help professionals adapt in line with the pandemic and post pandemic situation with regards to remote work and frequent changes in the workplace. Our primary focus at APTRAD is about introducing our new floating licenses mechanism and automatic electronic licensing, together with the brand-new License Manager in SubtitleNEXT that is completely versatile for delivering both remote and on-site use by single or multi users. The new licensing modules are designed to empower customers to have much more control over their licensing schedules. Kamen and I look forward to engaging with attendees over the upcoming four-day event and introducing them to the incredible benefits that the SubtitleNEXT and NEXT-TT platforms provide.”

What’s New In SubtitleNEXT version 5.10

A summary of the many new upgraded features in SubtitleNEXT 5.10 to be demonstrated at APTRAD 2021, include the integration with newsroom editing systems such as AVID, iNews, and Octopus, real-time live subtitling with one or two stages respeaking capability, dictation corrections with optional filters and spell checking as well as compatibility with outputs such as You Tube, Zoom, Decklink, Newfor and more. Another new amazing feature of SubtitleNEXT is “New Getting Started Tour and Dashboard” for quick access to useful tools and resources, support of multiple automatic translation engines and options to use these at the same time via Microsoft and Google, batch conversions including automatic transcriptions, audio extraction from video, video proxy creation, new subtitle templates and profiles with selectable StyleSets per file, integration with multiple dictation applications and ASR engines such as Google, Microsoft and Scriptix (https://www.scriptix.io/). Other exciting features among numerous others also include, upgraded mechanism for embedding subtitles into media including 4K burning, keyboard macros recording and library, parallel multi-subtitles synchronous preview, custom time markers and scene changes name, time and colour, editing; offset corrections; saving and export, audio timeline with waveform and spectrum visualisation-zoom, gain, magnification controls, global detachable timeline, multi-region supported by timed text formats like WebVTT, TTML, Netflix, EBU-TT, SMPTE-TT, EIA-708, and much more.


What’s New in NEXT-TT

To list a few of the many impressive enhanced complex and involved capabilities the NEXT-TT platform can perform, that will be presented at APTRAD, include tasks such as creating single and multi-language series, project management, automatic task creation and assignment, resources classification per skill set such as language pairs and language proficiency, resource availability management and workload display per day, the implementation of Microsoft cognitive services for transcription and translation from and to multiple languages, creation and management of purchase orders and payments to external resources, automatic price calculations based on video materials duration for clients’ and vendors’ orders, inventory module supporting services with validity and maintenance periods, improved purchasing process including creation of purchase orders and invoices as well as stock, availability management, multiple statistics in the form of pie charts, bar charts and other visualization types, improved subtitle suite and online subtitles editor, quick start mechanism and wizard for new users and beginners, a new simplified subtitling dashboard for “newbies”, and a stunning brand new License Manager for managing users accounts by the company’s administrator to control and manage SubtitleNEXT floating licenses and assignment. (https://subtitlenext.com/product-line/platform/ )

Contact www.SubtitleNEXT.com to find out more about SubtitleNEXT and NEXT-TT and to access the latest demo.

To register for the APTRAD conference online and to view the full programme, please visit https://aptrad.pt/1stAVTIntConf/

Media Information

About SubtitleNEXT

SubtitleNEXT is a user-friendly, innovative timed-text software platform already adopted across various multimedia industries, offering live and offline subtitling. SubtitleNEXT already has a proven track record of success across Europe and the rest of the world. Throughout the entire pandemic, it has continued to support customers, owing to its flexibility and remote capabilities. Many of the organisations that have already adopted SubtitleNEXT, include the likes of 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, Spain’s UCM and The European School of Translation, Europe’s largest Belgium-based production company Videohouse, The Hellenic American College of Greece, Madrid’s UCM and many others. Find out more here www.subtitleNEXT.com

About NEXT-TT – Find out more here https://subtitlenext.com/product-line/platform/

About PBT EU – Visit them at www.pbteu.com

About Scriptix – Visit them at https://www.scriptix.io/

Subtitling recognised as essential to Broadcasters to meet Accessibility Goals

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New regulations have come into force that require audio-visual content to be made accessible to everyone, includinghearing-impaired people. As a consequence, this has generated a seismic shift in the broadcast industry’s attitude towards subtitles, resulting in increased demand for subtitling and captioning solutions. Broadcasters all around the worldnow have to ensure that their scheduled programmes have sufficient subtitling to meet these new guidelines.

Optimistically, subtitling is finally being recognised as essential, and no longer merely 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 they also dramatically increase profits by reaching out to vast global audiences in different languages.

Until recently, regulators only specified legal targets for linear channels. With OTT platforms dominating the market, the focus on regulating access services is switching to this area of content delivery.  Targets for accessibility are set by regulatory bodies in each country. For example, in the UK the targets are set by Ofcom, and other regulators include ACMA in Australia, FCC in North America, CRTC in Canada, CSA in France and CNMC in Spain.

However, meeting these guidelines can seem like a daunting challenge for broadcasters that have to work in fast-paced environments that demand constant live content and consistently updated news. This is where companies such as PBT EU come in and can confidently ensure that their broadcast customers are well-prepared ahead of time, to meet these obligations.

CEO of PBT EU Ivanka Vassileva notes, “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. Broadcasters need 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 like SubtitleNEXT, subtitling should no longer be a regulatory burden for broadcasters. 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.”

SubtitleNEXT can also be set up to be based around remote working. Working in live news environments, a system enabling subtitlers to have access to newsrooms running orders is vital, as is the ability to deal with late schedule changes and breaking news.

In addition, it is crucial that skilled professionals working in subtitling have a good command of the language they are working in with regards to spelling and grammar.  Automatic speech recognition (ASR) is becoming more prominent and used by many of PBT EU’s partners and customers such as Linxstream in Dubai and AppTek in the States. AppTek hasintegrated its award-winning NMT, ASR and Intelligent Line Segmentation (ILS) technologies directly into SubtitleNEXT captioning, subtitling and localization platform, further enhancing SubtitleNEXT’s subtitling and captioning workflows.

Veronique Denis is a well-respected accessibility professional and specialist in real-time subtitling with speech recognition and also Co-founder of Max Live Media Access Services in Belgium. She has already been creating accessible audiovisual content for the hearing and visually impaired since 2015. She shares her thoughts on the topic of media accessibility, “Over the last few years, people have started consuming media in a different way: they consume audiovisual content anywhere and anytime. This is challenging for broadcasters wanting to meet accessibility standards and 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.”

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.”

When it comes to film and television production, Professor Agnieszka Szarkowska who works at the Institute of Applied Linguistics at the University of Warsaw, passionately believes that subtitling is a creative process which requires ample time, experience, and imagination and believes that in order toensure the highest quality in subtitling, filmmakers should be interested in how their subtitled films can “speak” to audiences across the globe. She told the SubtitleNEXT team that she believes subtitling is crucial for the international success of a film, or TV series. “And yet”, she says, “It is surprising how little attention filmmakers typically allocate to subtitling, which – from their perspective – is probably merely an afterthought, a minor part of the post-production process.”

Professor Szarkowska adds further, “I am surprised how many content owners tend to downplay the role of subtitling by resourcing it to people with no experience or by allocating scant amount of funding for subtitling. Filmmakers and content owners need to realise that good quality subtitling is an excellent investment, a brilliant way for their films to travel across borders, and definitely not something where they would want to cut  costs.

Having put so much effort into creating credible film dialogues, filmmakers wouldn’t want their text to be stifled by unidiomatic turn of phrase and poorly synchronised subtitles. When done unprofessionally, subtitling – instead of enabling the viewers immersion into the story world – only shatters their suspension of disbelief, annoys them, makes them switch off and feel disappointed with the film as a whole.”

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. 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.

Recently Spain’s UCM and Hellenic American College of Greece adopted 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.

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.

Visit www.SubtitleNEXT.com for further updates on the latestnews and join the SubtitleNEXT club to stay in the “know”.

More about Ivanka Vassileva, CEO of PBT EU, please visitwww.pbteu.com  

CONTRIBUTORS’ CREDITS



Picture courtesy Liesje Brockley Photograph

 

Complutense University of Madrid embraces SubtitleNEXT for its AV Translation Prospectus

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For immediate release – 27 May 2021, Madrid Spain – The Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) has selected SubtitleNEXT for their subtitling prospectus. The SubtitleNEXT software line has been included in the audiovisual translation degree courses at the university’s Department of English Studies, Linguistics and Literature.

The Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) is a well-respected public research and one of the oldest universities in the world. It registers over 85,000 students, ranking among Spain’s top universities and offers a vast selection of degrees, providing some of the most prestigious PhD programmes in the country.

Responding to the growing demand for further education in the AV translation field, UCM holds courses in AV translation and media accessibility training which provides students with a detailed introduction into translation and technical aspects related to linguistic accessibility in audiovisual media.

Associate Professor of English Language and Linguistics and Translation at the Complutense University, Dr Juan Pedro Rica Peromingo states, “We have already started using the SubtitleNEXT software in my media accessibility audiovisual translation classes here at UCM. The students are eager to master it, and it is working very well, alongside all the other activities we have in class for AVT training. It slots in perfectly and equips our students with a stunning set of toolsets too. We are impressed with the professional and flexible approach that is tailored by the SubtitleNEXT team to meet our requirements.”

Armed with an exceptional background in his field of expertise, Dr Juan Pedro Rica Peromingo teaches English Studies and master’s degrees in English Linguistics at UCM. His extensive research and publications deal with corpus linguistics, audiovisual translation studies, specifically linguistic accessibility such as subtitling for the hard of hearing and audio description for vision-impaired people. He has also published a large number of articles in magazines on the topic, written several books on translation studies and audiovisual translation and has played a major role in the UAB Transmedia Research Group, and in the UCM Research Groups Application of information and communication technologies to translation and Research Group in literary translation. He also heads the UCM Translation, Audiovisual Translation (TAV) and Linguistic Accessibility (TRADAVAL) Research Group. (Further information here https://www.ucm.es/tradaval/)

In addition, Dr Juan Pedro received several grants for research stays at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and at the Imperial College in London. In 2018 he carried out a research stay at the Centre for Translation Studies (CenTraS) at University College London as well. He has recently been appointed as a member of the ISO standard committee on accessibility including the Spanish standardization agency AENOR for the UNE standards on accessibility.

Dr Juan Pedro is also involved in the “COST LEAD-ME” Project which celebrates its 50th year in 2021. It is the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) and is a funding organisation for the creation of research networks. These networks offer an open space for collaboration among scientists across Europe, giving impetus to research advancements and innovation by promoting and spreading excellence, fostering interdisciplinary research for breakthrough science and empowering and retaining young researchers and innovators. COST implements its mission by funding bottom-up, excellence-driven, open and inclusive networks for peaceful purposes in all areas of science and technology. (More info here https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA19142/#tabs )

PBT EU’s CEO Ivanka Vassileva comments, “We are delighted to support Dr Juan Pedro and his team at the UCM. It is exciting to hear how passionate he is about his work and how enthusiastic his students are to learn how to use a new system such as SubtitleNEXT and engage with its features and capabilities for their work. It is inspiring to see our SubtitleNEXT platform playing such a vital role in such an established university of UCM’s calibre, which is a positive move forward for the industry, not only in Spain but also for future language and AV professionals worldwide that can follow their lead.”

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the SubtitleNEXT team has also been available to help assist universities that want to transition to remote training. Ivanka adds further, “We are in a position to support educational organisations such as universities and colleges with SubtitleNEXT licenses if they need to continue to work remotely during an evolving and changing situation.”

To find out more about SubtitleNEXT visit www.SubtitleNEXT.com

_____________________________________________________________________

Media Information

About PBT EU

What they do – 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.


Who they are & Product Line – 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.

A Global Company – 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. www.pbteu.com

About UCM
Visit www.ucm.es for further information.

About Dr Juan Pedro Rica Peromingo
For further information about Dr Juan-Pedro-Rica-Peromingo, visit https://www.ucm.es/departamento-estudios-ingleses-linguistica-y-literatura/juan-pedro-rica-peromingo

Portfolio Items

POLILENGUA

Complutense University of Madrid

MOTRJIM ACADEMY