
AmberFin & ATG Broadcast Jointly Promote DPP-Focused Approach to File-based Workflows in UK 01 Mar 2013
At BVE (stand K31), AmberFin, a leading developer of file-based media ingest, transcoding and quality control solutions for content owners, broadcasters, sports organizations and post-production houses, has come together with broadcast systems integrator, ATG Broadcast, to jointly promote an approach to the adoption of digital file-based workflows that focuses on the Digital Production Partnership (DPP) initiative in the UK.
DPP is an initiative formed by the UK's public service broadcasters to help producers and broadcasters maximise the benefits of digital production. The partnership is funded by the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, with representation from Channel 5, Sky, S4C and the independent sector on its working groups. DPP draws on industry experts from the worlds of technology and broadcast production to help fulfil its remit. AmberFin has been a strong supporter of the DPP initiative because it promises Open Standards interoperability and this dovetails neatly with the company's strategic development goals.
At BVE, ATG Broadcast and AmberFin are sharing a platform where they will showcase the market's first DPP specific media ingest workstation and file transcoder. Designated iCR-100-DPP (transcoder), iCR-300-DPP (media ingest workstation) and iCR-500-DPP (media ingest, transcode, playback, metadata entry and QC review), these new products reflect AmberFin's aim of addressing the broadest range of media organizations with enterprise level solutions that are designed to meet their specific business needs. In the UK, these products are available through AmberFin's channel partner ATG Broadcast.
The iCR-300-DPP media ingest workstation and the iCR-100-DPP transcoder are both designed specifically to create high-quality MXF-wrapped AVC-Intra or D10 assets compliant with the AMWA AS-11 specification and DPP guidelines from tape or line sources. Available as a standalone workstations or scalable enterprise solutions, both systems reflect a design that is optimized for easy integration and operation with proven interoperability in multi-vendor environments. The workstations offer clearly defined, documented and extensible APIs. They benefit from AmberFin's Unified QC (UQC) approach, providing automated and manual quality control operation.
The iCR-500-DPP is the complete workstation for the creation and preparation of AMWA AS-11, DPP compliant assets. The iCR-500-DPP combines ingest, transcode and playback functionality with metadata entry and validation, QC review, mark-up and segmentation.
DPP is all about the business of broadcast
According to AmberFin and ATG Broadcast, DPP provides solid foundations for future business growth and, importantly, it provides a level playing field for all the companies working within that sector. DPP provides a sheltered environment or ecosystem in which companies can interact with each other: the other option offers no protection and individual companies can make ill-judged decisions that cost them dearly.
In a world of extremely diverse media utilisation, it is impossible to create a one shoe fits all' media format. The business requirements for archiving the production master of a new movie are different from the business requirements for exchanging a metadata rich proxy across a business network, comments Bruce Devlin, Chief Technology Officer at AmberFin. The best we can do is to have a hierarchy of standards that reduce the number of variants in an application. MXF is the toolbox standard. DPP is the shim (smallest specification) that defines how that application will be used in a given environment i.e. the UK Digital Production Partnership.
Devlin believes that the DPP in initiative could provide the bedrock on which broadcasters, production companies and facilities can build their file-based workflows. He sees a number of clear and strong advantages in this unified approach:
The essence of the problem is the lack of a common interchange format to enable these transactions. DPP is the first open public interchange format that is specifically designed to address this issue.
In a standardized DPP world, there would be a limited amount of pain and cost felt by everybody but this would be shared equally amongst the organizations involved and it would be a limited cost, which is incurred only once. After this point, our industry has a fantastic common interchange format to help encourage partnerships and build businesses.
In a world that has adopted DPP, media and metadata interoperability is not an issue since the format is built on a strong, detailed common interchange specification. In this homogeneous scenario the resources that would have been used in the interoperability engineering process can be used in more creative and productive ways, such as programme making.
In a modern workflow the typical number of file encoding stages between camera and screen is around 10. If you have a single interchange format within your workflow then the number of transcode operations can be dramatically reduced the end product will retain all its quality. The utilisation of DPP as a common interchange format simplifies the workflow and assures that quality levels are maintained throughout. Furthermore, a homogeneous codec environment enables effective QC irrespective of the number of process steps.
In a file-based workflow, the largest single source of cost saving is automation the creation of systems that are capable of making decisions based on metadata. In this environment, it is logical that the better the quality of the metadata, then the better automated decision-making systems that work from that data.
Every operator, working at every stage of the workflow benefits from superior quality metadata. The best q
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
IPC Expands Brazilian Presence with New Channel Partner CCATech
Industry veterans Carlos Abrah o and Bruno Lopes strengthen local support and expand IPCs prese...
20/08/2026
Zixi Enters Mauritius Market Through Strategic Deployment with MTC Jockey Club
Worlds Oldest Horse Racing Club in the Southern Hemisphere Selects Zixis Softwar...
20/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Scripps Research assistant professor Tiantian Liu has received a five-year NIAID DP2 award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Di...
20/08/2026
Audiences reveal appetite for multicultural Australia on-screen 20 August 2026
Dr Georgie McClean, Dr Rebecca Huntley (L-R)
By Dr Georgie McClean and Dr Rebec...
20/08/2026
How Mavis Studio Is Expanding Live Production Teaching at Sussex
Brie Clayton August 19, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image displays a student about to mix be...
20/08/2026
Vertical Unscripted Series Legal Queens Captured with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton August 19, 2026
0 Comments
Reality TV veteran Eric Gardner create...
19/08/2026
As the cost of IP nears price parity with traditional SDI, Reynolds argues that ...
19/08/2026
A private 5G bubble was chosen instead of traditional broadcast RF for the race ...
19/08/2026
(L-R) Rafael Manuel and Isabel Sicat attend the Filipi ana premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 23, 2026, in Park Cit...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
World Cup Games Generate 84 Billion Minutes Across FOX, Fox Sports 1 and NBCU...
19/08/2026
July brought typical peak-holiday drops in viewership, driven primarily by viewers stepping away from screens and a visible decline in reach across both traditi...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Henry joins BCE as the company accelerates its commercial strategy and expands its international presence across the media, broadcast and technology markets. He...
19/08/2026
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices, today announced a major milestone in Android platform optimization with the successfu...
19/08/2026
NTP Technology announces that ST 2110-30 audio-over-IP connectivity with AES67 and RAVENNA capabilities is now available for the brand's world-class audio i...
19/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected to provide its Nimbra platform by the service provider Big Blue Marble, formerly ORS Group, as the core media transport solution f...
19/08/2026
LiveU has supported Coventry City FC and several other top-flight UK football clubs through one of their most demanding live production challenges of the year, ...
19/08/2026
Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Brie Clayton August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Filming endangered turtles required camera...
19/08/2026
Neyrinck Brings D-Control Consoles Back to Life on Apple Silicon with D-Control ...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Australia, implemented a comprehensive communications infrastructure that brin...
19/08/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, will spotlight a major leap forward in remote guest con...
19/08/2026
Integrated platform melds media asset management, playout automation and newsroom workflows
EMAM, PlayBox Neo and SNEWS have officially launched Nuvex, a conne...
19/08/2026
Screen Australia releases the Private Investment Toolkit to strengthen screen in...
19/08/2026
Do Aussies truly value local content? Unpacking Screen Currency 2026 with Deirdr...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
SportStream 2026, a free three-day virtual event, will take place September 15-17. One registration provides access to all three days of live programming and on...
18/08/2026
BeckTV will introduce BeckFlow to the European market at IBC2026, demonstrated on the Providius stand (10.F53).
BeckFlow is a web-based schematic documentation...
18/08/2026
Boland Communications will introduce a SMPTE ST 2110 input option for its 4K monitors at IBC2026, along with a new 55-inch super-narrow bezel display for video ...
18/08/2026
Dolby Laboratories and the Seattle Seahawks have announced a partnership integrating Dolby OptiView into the Seahawks' live streaming coverage, making the S...
18/08/2026
For BMG Executive Producer of Sports Production, Graham Taylor, producing live s...
18/08/2026
TMRW Sports has appointed Rufus Hack as President of Golf, a newly created role in which he will lead the company's golf businesses including TGL presented ...