This just in! Hot off the press!

It is an exciting time with eMAM™.



The HD World Show is next week. We are excited to talk about all our recent developments, including the eMAM SGL AutoChanger integration as an entry level complete archive management system. Certainly a great excuse for a party. Hope you can visit our booth: #1052.



From the development end, eMAM Cloud integration is helping customers deliver content worldwide. We can deliver 5x faster than standard http with eMAM Cloud Front integration and now 70x faster with eMAM Cloud Storage integration! No dedicated point-to-point connections are required, and all users can enjoy faster download speeds at the same time.





The team is excited to announce the launch of eMAM Vault 2.0 this quarter. An EVEN BETTER one box storage and management system with greater power and an even lower price tag.



In addition to the eMAM feeder desktop application, we are developing a Final Cut Pro plug in for Apple editing workflows. We will also be announcing exciting developments for other editing workflows…



The Empress installation team is busy with recent enterprise projects.



The Yankees are done for the year, but at the least the sun has come out in New York.

The cloud..

Asking yourself if the cloud is right for your business??? Let us educate you into making the correct decision.

Give us a call or shoot us an email!

(888)683-6773
lara@empressmam.com

HDCAM SR Overview & why its so important..

CineAlta products are Sony’s response and commitment to the ITU 709 global standard for international high-definition (HD) program origination. HD programming has rapidly entered the mainstream, and the HDCAM format has become the most popular format supporting it. That popularity has escalated demands for even higher quality and greater storage capacity – enough to support extremely high-quality digital production, high-resolution film transfer work, sophisticated graphics recording, and multi-channel audio mastering.



Responding to the requests for more headroom in digital recordings by many prominent content producers, Sony has introduced HDCAM-SR. Developed using the very latest, cutting-edge technology, HDCAM-SR offers greater storage capacity, higher data-transfer rates, and more audio channels than any other products on the market.

HDCAM-SR products are capable of recording either RGB 4:4:4 or component 4:2:2 high-definition video at an astonishing net video rate of 440 megabits-per-second, providing a combination of higher bandwidth, higher bit depth, and lower compression than any previous half-inch or quarter-inch HD VTR. As a result, the HDCAM SR recorders capture the full detail of the Common Image Format 1920(H) x 1080(V) sampling structure without pre-filtering or sub-sampling. HDCAM SR recording also capitalizes on the unique new scalable MPEG-4 studio profile compression algorithm to achieve a mild compression ratio.

Key features of HDCAM-SR include:


Creating Visually Lossless Images: The MPEG-4 Studio Profile (SP)
Another industry first from Sony is an integrated video encoding/decoding chipset that conforms to the MPEG-4 SP (Studio Profile: ISO/IEC 14496-2:2001-1). The Studio Profile was created to specifically address the requirements of high-resolution image-production applications. It is free from GOP (Group Of Pictures) structures, and is scalable in its pixel count (SDTV, HDTV, Film-resolution data), bit depth (10- or 12-bit), and colour resolution (component or RGB).



In order to achieve maximum compression efficiency, the HDCAM-SR format uses intra-frame compression for progressive images. Intra-field compression is used for interlaced images. Special attention has been paid to multi-generation dubbing performance and, in common with industry-standard Digital BETACAM VTRs, the SRW-5000 HDCAM-SR VTR is capable of consistent dubbing without using a separate SDTI interface (native stream). This is only possible thanks to the high performance of the MPEG-4 SP, which offers reproduction of visually lossless images.

More Data, Same Long Running Time: The New Footprint
Each picture frame consists of 24 helical tracks (or 12 tracks per segment/field), in which data is shuffled to protect the recording from occasional burst errors. Recordings are further protected by highly robust error-correction and concealment techniques perfected through years of Sony digital-VTR development. Thanks to the finer track pitch and shorter minimum recording wavelength, the data-packing density of the HDCAM-SR format is 3.5 times that of the HDCAM format. Frame-accurate editing is guaranteed by the intelligent allocation of pilot signals for precise head-to-tape tracking.


More Power, More Stability: The New Tape Formula
A newly developed, ultra-fine-grain magnetic particle creates the very thin magnetic layer required to achieve the minimum recording wavelength of 0.29µ. This minimum wavelength allows the tape to hold more data and increases the tape transfer rate, resulting in increased performance. Not only that, but stable and consistent playback results are provided through a new proprietary manufacturing process that minimizes tape deformation. What’s more, because the tape medium is designed with a highly rigid new base film material treated with antioxidants, the tape is also ideal for archiving purposes.

Final cut server hits end of life..

After months of speculation, Apple yesterday announced end of life for Final Cut Server. We can’t say we were completely surprised as the lack of updates from Cupertino along with the elimination of the XServer platform painted a bleak future for Apple Pro Apps. But that doesn’t mean we are any less disappointed. Final Cut Server brought powerful workflow automation tools at a low price to those willing to work through the interface. Personally, I have been involved in many deployments where Final Cut Server was simply the only tool for the job. The lack of future development of such a versatile tool no doubt leaves a void in the industry.
Many of our subscribers have asked us, what is next?

eMAM has entry level systems to help fill the gap in the marketplace, with Final Cut Pro integration.

EMAM Demo

Contact us for more details! (888)683-6773

Promotion for the month of May 15th - June 15th !

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1% Cash Back by preloaded MasterCard for all new tape, evaluated tape and hard drive purchases.

Buy $2500, get a $25 card.
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Shall we go on?

Toll Free: (888)683-6773 / 306 W. 38th St. New York, NY 10018
10777 Sherman Way Blvd. Sun Valley, CA 91352

*Limited time offer

JAPAN'S DAMAGED FACTORIES AFTER THE TSUNAMI...

The recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan have damaged factories and stopped all production of Sony professional media. Maxell, Panasonic, and Fujifilm have had little or no damage, but they face electrical and infrastructure challenges in production. Sony alone made the popular HDCAM SR format. Other manufacturers can make most of the other formats, and are moving to increase production to compensate with increased demand. As a result, there is a critical shortage of HDCAM SR, and shortages of other popular tape formats.
We ask for patience and understanding during this difficult period. We will do whatever we can to provide for the ongoing needs of our customer base during this critical time. We have been offering alternatives for years, which are well worth considering during the current situation: VIDEO TAPE EVALUATION and TAPELESS WORKFLOW.

Video Tape Evaluation
Empress has Research Technology International (RTI) 4100 TapeCheck units, capable of evaluating Betacam SP, Digital Betacam, Betacam SX, IMX, HDCAM, and HDCAM SR tapes. The machines clean each used videotape, erase all of the content, and electronically inspect for physical tape defects that potentially cause playback or record problems. Options are also available for reuse of DVCAM, DVCPRO, XDCAM, D5, Umatic 3/4”, and other tapes.
We have ten years of experience in video tape evaluation, with a veteran staff. We are increasing production in NY with additional space, staff, and machines, and will start evaluation in our LA office this month. Quality remains our first priority. Each tape and case is thoroughly cleaned, with labels and marks removed. Tapes are individually processed as described above. Finally, tapes are double degaussed to ensure complete erasure. Machines are regularly checked for correct operation and periodically inspected by factory technicians on-site or at the factory. Our careful process ensures that each tape will be error free, eliminating the guesswork out of simple degaussing or re-recording of tapes.
Evaluation as a Service: We can process your used tapes as above. We will send back only the good tapes to use, so you can be comfortable with all of your stock.
Purchase of Evaluated Products: You can purchase evaluated used tape that we have in stock from customers who no longer need or want their used product.
Tape Donation: You can donate your unwanted used tapes for cash or credit, depending on the quantity and format of the tapes you have.
Legal Erasure: We can count and individually erase each of your used tapes. We can provide documentation of every used tape and certify that any content is completely and totally gone. Your valuable content is protected from unwanted distribution and copy.

Digitization: We can help you move content on tapes or hard drives to a centralized storage or archive system for protection, storage, and universal access. We have partnered with experienced veterans in media migration to provide complete end-to-end solutions to customers. We have partnered with many of the largest names in storage and archive to provide powerful and scalable solutions for our customers.
Digital Delivery and Tapeless Workflow Options
Our flagship eMAM™ Digital Asset Management Software System is helping customers from small production and edit facilities to major broadcasters manage their workflow without tape stock. eMAM™ provides a digital library of all your content with universal web access. Small proxy copies of each video, audio, image, or document allow for easy web browsing, collaboration, annotation, rough cut editing, comments, approvals, and sharing of content. Producing and distributing copies on tape is becoming a thing of the past for our customers.

eMAM ™ is a media manager for the original source content, providing download and digital delivery across platforms, with transcoding on demand. The system is feature rich and highly configurable to meet your needs; with our team ready to customize or produce specialized middleware as needed.

eMAM Online Our remote server stores your content for web access for your authorized staff and clients. Use our infrastructure and bandwidth for easy setup; no equipment costs, and flexible monthly payments. It is also an easy entry point for customers who seek to test our technology, or use a smaller remote system to sit outside their facility security firewall.

eMAM Enterprise Our system can run off servers in your facility to power your operation. We have developed integrations with many of the non-linear editing systems, broadcast servers and storage systems, such as Isilon, Rorke Data, Blue Arc, JMR; and archive systems such as SGL Flash Net and XenData. Working with our partners we can develop complete turnkey solutions to meet the needs of your organization.

The Future
Tape stock production will return to previous levels later this year. In the interim, an increasing number of customers may never go back to their previous demand. Many have already discovered what others have known for years: that high quality evaluated tape can be used for many or all of their needs, at a much lower price. An increasing number have already migrated from tape into a tapeless workflow.

Tape budgets may never be the same again.