Discovery Communications has completed phase one of upgrading its subtitling transmission systems to Screen Subtitling’s Polistream Black, writes David Fox.
Having used Screen’s earlier Polistream Blue system, Discovery approached the manufacturer hoping to find a way to reduce the space needed for equipment and to cut energy consumption.
“When Discovery contacted us it was becoming evident from other feedback that many broadcasters and studios were reaching their space limits for accommodating equipment and that there was a need to urgently address increasing levels of electricity consumption,” explained Screen’s International Sales Manager, Keith Lucas.
“As a mature platform, Polistream Blue has been respected for its reliability and gained a reputation for its ‘plug-in and work’ nature for many years but with the environmental impact of electronic equipment, a core consideration in broadcast, we had to listen to our customers and act on their requests,” added Gary Glover, Sales and Marketing Director at Screen (pictured).
The Polistream Black system was developed and launched by Screen mid-2009 and those now using the equipment benefit from faster operation, lower power consumption, reduced heat output and generally require fewer units.
“As the world’s number one non-fiction media company, Discovery is committed to creating world class content across many platforms. We have had a good experience working with Screen; they understand our business needs and work hard to meet those needs with the Polistream Black product,” said Discovery Communications’ Senior Vice President for Media Engineering, Bart Palmer. Discovery has just completed installation for its Latin America service.
As a multi-channel, multi-language subtitle transmission system, and with the PAC file format developed by Screen becoming an industry standard for subtitling, Polistream Blue has been used by many broadcasters, however thanks to its enhancements, Screen claims that “Black is definitely looking like the new Blue.”
