METRO BROADCAST INVESTS IN EDIFIS SD SCRATCHBOX

Metro Broadcast, London's leading video restoration specialist, has joined the growing number of video facilities to invest in an Edifis Scratchbox noise reduction system. Metro Broadcast required a fast and easy-to-use de-spotting system for use in its film restoration suite. The system purchased incorporates two hours of uncompressed video storage plus two independent AES/EBU pairs of digital audio.

Scratchbox allows sparkle and scratches on film and video media to be concealed quickly and easily. A logically-arranged graphic user interface and intuitive control panel enable repairs to be made more cost-effectively than with any other system currently available. Being disk-based, Scratchbox eliminates time-consuming video tape pre-rolls and incurs no degradation of image quality. Metro Broadcast technical operations manager Mike Smith comments:

"Scratchbox forms part of a 500,000 pound investment in image and sound restoration equipment. Working alongside a Cedar audio noise reduction system and Snell & Wilcox Archangel, Scratchbox gives us precise manual control over image defects. Any two adjacent frames of a film normally resemble each other quite closely unless the camera is moving quickly or there is a complete scene change. Large or small defects can therefore be masked by importing the clean section of a good frame over a damaged section of an adjacent image. With a little practice, this can be achieved so well that the original defect is completely concealed."

The restoration suite has proved popular with broadcasters and film industry clients, processing old and new titles for transmission or remastering to DVD. Recent contracts have includes the vintage Hitchcock classic 'Suspicion' and a 16 mm print of John Kennedy's assassination originally captured by Marie Muchmore using an 8 mm cine camera.

Scratchbox provides independent control of four layers of image data: foreground video, mask layer and matte. The mask layer can control the composite or mix of two sources. On-screen menus combined with a control panel, jog wheel and transport buttons, enable a speed of operation limited only by the skill of the operator. A soft-edged matte or key is painted over a damaged frame using a tablet and pen interface. The operator composites or mixes within Scratchbox between the damaged foreground and undamaged background layers using this key. Scratches, blemishes and sparkle are painted away and replaced by good material. The resulting repaired frame is re-recorded at the press of a single button.

Edifis (www.edifis.com) was formed in July 1997 and is located at the centre of Britain's electronics industry. The company has achieved a high reputation for large-capacity uncompressed digital video and audio systems meeting film, post-production and broadcast requirements worldwide. Edifis hardware and software are independent of third-party computer manufacturers or operating systems, allowing highly reliable products to be produced at cost- effective prices to meet the rigours of outside broadcasting and for on-air transmission.

Contacts for further information:

Richard Lilley, Edifis Ltd

t:+44 (0) 1189 712 279
e:richard@edifis.com

Joanna Heaviside, Metro Broadcast
t: +44 (0)20 7434 7700
e: joanna.heaviside@metrobroadcast.com