Digital Rapids — the leading provider of tools and solutions for bringing television, film and web content to wider audiences — today announced powerful new features in the Digital Rapids Transcode Manager automated media transcoding software. Mirroring the enhancements to the new version 3.1 software for StreamZ and StreamZHD encoding systems, new features in Transcode Manager include :

* Creation of file-based content for delivery through Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) Smooth Streaming technology, an HTTP-based platform that maximizes viewing quality by dynamically varying the bit rate delivered to the viewer based on current playback conditions

* Expanded import and output support for the Sony XDCAM system, including XDCAM HD422 at 50Mbps with Transcode Manager’s MXF option

* Optional import of R3D media files from RED Digital Cinema cameras

* Insertion of Active Format Description (AFD) codes for subsequent aspect ratio management workflows while transcoding into the MPEG-2 compression format

* Embedding of SCTE 35 cueing messages for digital program insertion (such as local advertising) with Transcode Manager’s advanced Transport Stream multiplexing option

For more information on these features, please see the separate press release “Digital Rapids Enables Smoother Streaming and Advanced Workflows with Stream 3.1 Encoding Upgrade”.

These new features build further on the extensive new capabilities added to Transcode Manager earlier this year, including enhanced enterprise integration, numerous new import and output formats, and automated quality control through integrated support for Tektronix Cerify and Interra Systems Baton content verification systems.

“The enhancements we’ve made to Transcode Manager this year enable significant advances in automation and efficiency, not only during the transcoding process, but also in downstream workflows,” said Brian Stevenson, Director of Product Management at Digital Rapids. “At the same time, the numerous new compression and delivery formats we’ve added continue our ongoing commitment to ‘any format in, to any format out’ flexibility.”

Digital Rapids Transcode Manager provides centralized management, automation, fault tolerance and intelligent load balancing for high-volume, multi-format transcoding workflows, increasing production volume while reducing operational costs. A Transcode Manager server works in conjunction with multiple Transcode Engines, intelligently assigning jobs for optimal throughput. Scalable from small transcoding farms to enterprise level operations, Transcode Manager is ideal for both dedicated transcoding applications and as part of complete ingest-through-delivery media workflows.

The complete line of Digital Rapids solutions is being showcased in stand number 7.G41 at the IBC Conference and Exhibition, September 11-15 in Amsterdam. For more information, please visit www.digital-rapids.com.

About Digital Rapids Corporation — Digital Rapids develops market-leading hardware and software solutions for transforming and delivering media, enabling the multi-platform experiences that are defining the future of digital video. Scaling from individual applications to enterprise and global operations, Digital Rapids systems span the critical points in today’s complex media workflows. Recipient of two prestigious Frost & Sullivan awards in the World Video Encoders and Transcoders market, Digital Rapids combines innovative technology with proven expertise to help our customers maximize their productivity, quality, and the value of their content in the evolving digital media market. Digital Rapids Corporation (www.digital-rapids.com) is headquartered in Ontario, Canada with offices in the United States, the UK, Australia, Argentina and Hong Kong.