Testronic Labs announced the opening of its new File-Based Lab, located in the company’s 1st Street Facility in Burbank, California.
For more information visit: www.TestronicLabs.com
Unedited press release follows:
Testronic Opens the Doors to its New File-Based Lab
Standards Setting QA/QC Facility Built from Ground Up to Support File-Based Workflows
June 9, 2011 (Burbank, CA) Testronic Labs, the recognized global leader in quality assurance services for film and television, games, websites, hardware, and software, has announced the opening of its new File-Based Lab, located in their 1st Street Facility in Burbank, California. The first of its kind lab was designed and built from the ground up to serve the growing needs of studios and content holders as the industry rapidly transitions to a fully digital, file-based ecosystem that takes content all the way from mastering through to digital distribution to consumers. The File-Based Lab will provide end-to-end QA/QC services in a way that has not been previously available for rich media.
Testronic spent the last year in focused research and analysis of file-based workflows and how they differ from tape-based workflows. The company was convinced that simply mimicking the traditional process for file would limit their ability to craft the most efficient and effective QC process in the industry. As a result, Testronic has heavily invested in ground-breaking new technology for their File-Based Lab, including an innovative, advanced system for high-resolution, multi-format A/V playback, which allows the company to streamline the amount of equipment necessary to test all of the various master and distribution file formats and allows a QC operator to switch among a wide variety of file formats without having to switch to other equipment or to a different QC bay. Also factored into the design were the experiential Testronic efficiencies in high volume workloads and the capacity to handle a massive quantity of files, a critical component facing facilities in the immediate and long term.
Jason Gish, Testronic’s VP of Business Development for Film and Television Services, said, “It is exciting to bring the services of our ground breaking new lab to market. Our industry is undergoing a profound change, and we knew that we had to break the old mold to meet our clients’ new expectations. Whether in our new lab, our 3D lab, in our customers’ facilities or our testing facilities, Testronic has the big picture in mind when designing for our clients. For the File-Based Lab, we heavily invested in research and worked in consultation with leading industry experts, but the foundation of the lab is deeply rooted in our extensive experience, a profound understanding of the needs of our customers, and our thoughts about the future of content distribution to the consumer.”
The core of the Testronic File-Based lab features a strong project and asset management system. While automating part of the QA/QC process does reduce costs and human error, Seth Hallen, CEO of Testronic Labs, notes that Testronic will never underestimate the importance of skilled experts. “In our new lab, we have automated the administration of file delivery, as well as asset and project management, enabling us to achieve significant internal efficiencies and focus our process improvement efforts on content QA/QC, but the human element will continue to be integral to the testing process into the foreseeable future. Testronic is currently developing a pioneering system which will integrate seamlessly with our existing systems and set new standards of high-volume efficiency in a file-based workflow, and will also grant our clients a real-time view into the status of their files and projects.”
The Testronic File-Based Lab offers:
• Multiple Formats
– Including DPX, Clipster, JPEG 2000, ProRes, GXF, QuickTime, Windows Media, MPEG, and AVC.
• High Speed File Transfers
– With a 10 Gbps line, the lab can accept transfers of large files (e.g., a 2TB DPX package) via any of the standard Internet (e.g., FTP) or popular file acceleration (e.g., Signiant, Aspera, WAM!NET) protocols.
• Spec Compliance
– Files are analyzed to ensure they meet required delivery specs.
Hallen concludes, “Testronic has always had an incredible team, and I am proud of the work that we have done to open the File-Based Lab. It is grounded in their brilliance and dedication. We believe that a modern physical and systems architecture specifically designed for file-based workflow, in combination with automated administration, will allow us to create the most efficient and effective process for file-based QC in the industry. We are shattering existing paradigms and offering a successful new solution, while supporting our clients’ needs and reducing their costs across the board.”
For further information about Testronic Labs, visit www.TestronicLabs.com.
About Testronic Labs
Testronic Labs’ high standards have been protecting clients and safeguarding the consumer experience since 1998. As the leading global provider of quality assurance, compliance, and localization services for a notable array of industries; including media, entertainment, games, education, e-commerce and consumer electronics, Testronic Labs ensures efficient and secure delivery of the highest quality consumer deliverables. Based in Burbank, CA, Pinewood Studios and central London UK, Diepenbeek, Belgium and Warsaw, Poland, Testronic Labs offers an unparalleled history of next-generation innovation and service excellence across the entire digital media industry.