Anystream Launches Scaled Production Software

Anystream, Inc. Tuesday debuted the Agility Workgroup encoder, an automated solution for re-purposing content – regardless of source – to the Web in all popular formats.

Agility Workgroup speeds time-to-Web for post-production houses, production companies, service bureaus and aggregators by automating the four phases of the encoding process: content acquisition, pre-processing, encoding and distribution.

The Agility Workgroup encoder is designed to fit within the video professional’s existing workflow and ships with built-in profiles for encoding media in Real, Microsoft, QuickTime and MPEG-1. Users load tape, select the segment and method for encoding, and press the encode button.

Agility Workgroup controls the tape deck, captures the source media in real time, applies the specified pre-processing filters, and encodes the media into any number (or combination) of formats and bitrates. It also can apply real-time color correction, watermarking and other pre-processing features — eliminating the need to capture media in a non-linear editor in order to prepare it for encoding.

Professional content creators encoding media for dailies, client reviews and other common projects can submit encoding jobs from their desktops to the Agility Workgroup encoder – freeing up their systems to continue editing or designing. Agility Workgroup acts as a shared network resource that everyone on the production team can easily access — much as they would a shared printer.

“The Anystream team clearly understands the needs of post-production professionals. Their Agility Workgroup encoder is light years ahead of anything on the market today,” said Michael Andrews, president of Gotham Pictures, a New York- and San Francisco-based video production company specializing in high-end marketing videos for Internet delivery. “With an hour or two of training, every editor, animator and intern in my facility can encode video — from tape or hard drive — with a few mouse clicks. We are seeing a rapid increase in the demand for Internet video, and Anystream provides us with a simple, powerful tool to meet this demand,” he said.

“We developed the Agility Workgroup encoder in response to demand from clients whose needs were growing, but not yet large enough to require the massive scalability of our Agility Enterprise encoding platform,” said Geoff Allen, president of Anystream. “The Agility Workgroup encoder gives video professionals a cost-effective way to substantially increase output without having to increase headcount,” he said.

The Agility Workgroup encoder, which includes all necessary software and capture hardware, lists for $44,995, and is scheduled to ship next month.