DSMCi Signs National Geographic Television As Client For Digitization Of Film Library.

Business Editors/Hi-Tech & Entertainment Writers

BELTSVILLE, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 24, 2001

DSMCi, a leader in implementing media asset management solutions for media-rich organizations, today announced the signing of National Geographic Television (NGT) as a recipient of its Media Center Outsourcing Services for the digitization of its award-winning stock footage.

Under the terms of the agreement, DSMCi has contracted to digitize and create a searchable database for National Geographic's extensive film archive, allowing NGT to fully utilize its vast amount of media assets.

"The introduction of our new U.S.-based National Geographic Channel and the increasing expansion of our international Channels have made it necessary for us to realize the full capabilities of our stock footage and resources within the film library," said Matthew White, Vice President, Film Library at NGT. "DSMCi's Media Center has the technological and practical means to help us achieve this goal and will allow us to work more effectively with our producers here and with our clients in the commercial sector."

As a means to satisfy the demands of National Geographic's Film Library, DSMCi has developed several customized applications to ensure the expedited digital encoding of its high volume of assets. Currently, DSMCi's Media Center has the capability to digitally encode 1,000 hours of video per month in multiple file formats and bit rates.

While being a fully-automated system, the proprietary index and encoding process used in these applications are equipped with a number of quality assurance checks, which are necessary to maintain the integrity of National Geographic's stock footage throughout the digitization process.

"Our partnership with National Geographic Television clearly demonstrated that our outsourcing services can reduce the risks for our clients when entering the world of media asset management while helping them reap the benefits of a MAM system now," said Duane Shugars, CEO of DSMCi.

The customized process, developed by DSMCi in consultation with National Geographic Television, begins with a bar-coded videotape and associated metadata, which are supplied by the film library to DSMCi. The videotape is scanned using a DSMCi application called MediaTracker(TM) and merged with the tape-level metadata in DSMCi's Media Center system.

The system then automatically ingests and digitizes the media, creating thumbnail images representing scene changes, decoding the voice track, when available, to create corresponding metadata, and encoding the media in several resolutions, including multiple proxies in low resolutions. The system then dubs a broadcast-quality DVC Pro copy of the source material and copies the MPEG-2 version to a DLT.

Using LabelSync(TM), a DSMCi software program developed for tracking and retrieval purposes, DSMCi automatically integrates video proxies and associates each segment of information with the appropriate bar-coded, physical videotape.

As portions of the video hours contain logged descriptions of the video content, DSMCi developed custom applications to fuse the descriptions with the corresponding thumbnail and metadata derived from the logging process. Each of the merged files and video proxies undergo additional quality assurance checks by DSMCi Media Center technicians and are then stored in DSMCi Media Archive System (MAS(TM)) for National Geographic Television.

Videotapes lacking shot-level metadata are exported to a third-party cataloging firm where the ingested data files are edited, using DSMCi's VDF Editor(TM), to include scene descriptions and manipulate key frames. Subsequently, the edited files or enhanced videos are electronically transferred to DSMCi for quality assurance and then imported into the production database.

Over 150,000 different media objects are managed by the system, which provides access to NGT, or its affiliates, from anywhere in the world through a secure extranet connection.

About DSMCi

DSMCi is a leading end-to-end solutions provider of media asset management technology for organizations with large media libraries including broadcasters, cablecasters, motion picture studios, educational institutions and government agencies. Our reputable list of consulting, systems integration, and outsourcing clients include ABC, Inc., CBS Online, Discovery Communications, Inc., E! Entertainment Network, National Geographic Television, NBC Olympics, South Carolina Educational Television Network, Turner Entertainment Networks, and Viacom.

For more information, visit the company's website at www.dsmci.com, or call 301/572-5122.

About National Geographic Television

Building on its reputation for remarkable visual and compelling stories, National Geographic Television (NGT) augments its award-winning documentary production (winner of 109 Emmys and more than 800 other industry awards) with feature films, large-format, and long-form television drama programming, as well as international broadcast and video distribution.

At present, NGT's programming can be seen in the U.S. on the National Geographic Channel, CNBC, and PBS as well as on home video & DVD, and internationally through video distribution and broadcast syndication in more than 100 different outlets in some 90 territories.

The National Geographic Channel in the U.S. is a business enterprise of National Geographic Television and Fox Cable Networks Group. Abroad, those partners are joined by NBC, and the Channel reaches 129 countries and over 100 million households in 18 languages. More information about NGT is available on www.nationalgeographic.com.