Switch Media has launched new encoding tool Watcha, which is part of the company’s product suite, MediaHQ.
The solution automatically highlights and reports issues during the encoding process. According to the company, it was designed to answer the changing needs of broadcasters as they continue to adapt to on-demand services.
Watcha tracks content at the same time it’s being encoded, immediately sending a report to an engineer detailing when and where any issues were encountered. If encoding fails, Watcha is able to automatically restart the process. The solution can encode and stitch together sections of content again.
Project lead for the Watcha tool, Kevin Staunton-Lambert, solutions architect, R&D Department, Switch Media said: “Prior to Watcha, if a 4K movie took eight hours to encode, the report may take another eight hours to prepare. With Watcha the two work together simultaneously. That’s a huge time saving for broadcasters who are under pressure to get their content to multiple platforms quickly.”
The solution is also able to support broadcasters and content owners in production environments. According to Switch Media, if a sports broadcaster is broadcasting a football match, the vision mixer can use Watcha to detect camera issues, with the solution automatically telling the operator to jump to another camera that can cover the pitch in the same area. Watcha will continue to monitor the cameras and will automatically revert to the previous camera if required.
