Each year video technology companies unveil impressive solutions that trump everything we purchased six months ago.  Sometimes the benefits of upgrading do not warrant the investment but Syncro couldn’t resist Telestream’s Vantage 3.0.  When we considered its ability to quadruple our capture and output capacity, we had to have it.

Like many post production and distribution environments, technology has had an extraordinary impact on our facility.  Only six years ago, sister company WheresMyMedia catapulted us into the digital age with its early file-based workflow tools.  While Syncro made several innovations since then, implementing Vantage’s server-based software has had the same kind of “head-turning” impact.

Telestream consistently introduces great products dating back to Clip Mail.  Our facility uses Telestream’s Pipeline, Episode, and Flip Factory, but now Vantage has holistically integrated them along with hardware and systems even outside the Telestream umbrella.

Consider it like “glue”, automating and combining every post-production workflow into one big content packaging assembly line.  Throughout each process, various quality checks automatically occur, ensuring each video is finished to perfection.

Installing Vantage 3.0 is definitely a productive way to start 2012.  From the initial point of ingest, we rarely need to move a file now.   Transcoding, captioning, metadata wrapping, and final distribution take place from the same Vantage interface.  We can even send to ftp sites and our brand new Blu-ray tower in one shot.

Who wouldn’t want their content perfectly finished in a quarter the time? While we’ll always call it our beloved “DMD” (Digital Media Department) it’s more like “video assembly line meets information highway”.   So if you aren’t pumped to drop off your hard drive and take a ride, just wait another six months.   I’m sure someone here will return from NAB with a new toy saying “Beam me up Scotty”, or “Charlie” for that matter.

Christie Calahan