ENCO (booth 2593) is preparing for its InfoComm debut in Orlando next week, with plans to introduce its array of automation and playout solutions to the commercial AV market. Long known in the broadcast market for its automated workflows, ENCO has recently gained traction with AV systems integrators and end users in need of reliable systems to ingest, manage, and play out media content.
“Broadcast-quality automation and playout solutions have historically been cost-prohibitive and/or cumbersome to use in many AV operations, which often don’t have the budgets and technical staff that TV and radio stations enjoy,” said Ken Frommert, president, ENCO. “However, as presentations and live events grow more dynamic, and organizations leverage their growing media libraries in new ways, there is a greater need for more power and versatility. ENCO is an ideal fit for corporate, education, government, worship, and entertainment organizations that require the benefits of broadcast-quality automation and playout at an affordable price point.”
ENCO will anchor its demonstrations with enCaption3 R3, a live speech-to-text conversion system. enCaption3 R3 brings fully automated closed-captioning to the commercial AV market, allowing content creators to automate real-time captioning of live and recorded video for hearing-impaired audiences. Since the software-defined solution removes manual operation via file-based ingest and playout, there is no need for advance voice training, or expensive live captioners and signers.
Since enCaption3 R3 is speaker-independent, any subject can begin speaking into the system immediately to produce captions for live presentations, lectures, and events. For organizations with large libraries of video content, such as a university, municipality, or government body, enCaption 3R3 accelerates the process of putting large media libraries and live content online.
“A university or corporation may have 20,000 videos they want to put online, but cannot serve the hearing-impaired audience without captioning in place,” he said. “The costs and labor of doing that manually are enormous. enCaption3 R3 solves the problem of achieving such a goal in a timely and compliant manner.”
ENCO’s solutions for instant media playout first began with HotShot, used for quick delivery of audio clips in entertainment (stadiums, theme parks) and worship facilities. With features across auto trimming, instant cueing, auto ingest, and custom asset reporting, HotShot delivers a combination of robust hardware and flexible software for novice and advanced users alike.
ENCO ClipFireAt the start of 2017, ENCO began shipping ClipFire, its first instant video playout solution. Like HotShot, ClipFire offers an all-in-one solution with ENCO’s “button box” functionality, providing a simple user interface to fire video clips from an array of large, legible buttons with thumbnails, file information, and progress meters. The ENCO media library system organizes all assets for quick recall, while operators can enhance video playout with graphics, commands, and supporting audio clips.
Related to media playout, ENCO’s enStreamer hardware solution for in-store media and digital signage playout will also be on display. Compact for installation behind displays, in ceilings, or other discreet locations, enStreamer helps retail, hospitality, and other businesses target background music, live, and recorded announcements, videos, and other media content to single or multiple zones—all controllable from a central media library and distributed appropriately.
ENCO also recently started shipping MOM, a complete automated playout system that brings automatic ingest, media asset management, graphics, and playout automation together into a single platform. Like ClipFire and HotShot, MOM (short for Media Operations Manager) offers a comprehensible design using ENCO’s button box functionality to allow a single operator to easily ingest, schedule, edit, and play out media from the same interface. MOM’s powerful engine, configurable front-end layout, and ease of use gives corporations, universities, government bodies, and houses of worship a way to unify all media workflow operations within a single workstation.
