Product Update

RNS Number : 2826J

Zoo Digital Group PLC

29 March 2010

 



ZOO Digital Group plc

("ZOO" or "The Group")

AUTOMATED BLU-RAY AUTHORING SYSTEM AND TRANSLATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

ZOO Digital, the provider of software and software-led services for the filmed entertainment market, announces the launch of its automated authoring software for producing regionalized Blu-ray™ Discs and its first customer for the Translation Management System.

Following on from the success of its software tools for menu regionalization and automated authoring of DVD-Video titles, ZOO will shortly begin deployment of a similar solution for Blu-ray Disc.  Blu-ray is the recently introduced industry-standard packaged media format for high definition home video and is growing rapidly.  According to research reported by the British Video Association sales of Blu-ray Discs increased 123% year on year in 2009 and accounted for over 20% of new disc sales of a number of leading titles.

The requirements that major film studios have for their Blu-ray Disc products lead to highly complex production processes.  This is in part due to the complexity of the Blu-ray format and partly to the work necessary to adapt titles developed in one language to create multiple language variants.  ZOO's integrated software toolset automates the preparation of digital content including complex interactive menus, regionalization into multiple language variants, and assembly and formatting for full compliance with the Blu-ray Disc specification.  This enables ZOO's customers to produce Blu-ray titles for multiple languages more quickly and easily and at lower cost.  ZOO charges a fee for each title processed and therefore recurring revenues will scale with the volume of Blu-ray titles created by the system.  The system is currently being evaluated by a major Hollywood studio.

The regionalization capabilities of the Blu-ray automated authoring toolset are delivered through integration with ZOO's Translation Management System (TMS).  ZOO is pleased to announce that, following extensive trials, this system has now been deployed for a major Hollywood studio where it is beginning to be used to manage, coordinate and regionalize worldwide marketing campaigns for theatrical film releases.  ZOO expects that, in due course, the system will be used by this studio's staff on a daily basis in more than 60 territory offices.  The TMS is a web-based system that is licensed on a Software-as-a-Service basis, generating recurring revenues for ZOO that scale with the total number of subscriber users.

Stuart Green, CEO of ZOO commented: "We are excited by the potential of our new automated Blu-ray authoring system as the entertainment industry continues the migration of products for worldwide publishing in high definition.  It is pleasing to secure our first customer for the Translation Management System which, when used in conjunction with our other software tools, optimises production processes and will deliver operational efficiencies that we expect will result in significant savings of time and cost for our customers."

Ends

About ZOO Digital Group plc:

ZOO Digital Group plc is a provider of creative media transformation software and related services. ZOO's products form an integrated suite of desktop applications and on-demand systems that work with printed materials and audio/visual content, adapting these media to different languages, sizes, and technical formats.  ZOO makes this process extremely quick and cost effective and is clearly differentiated in the market.

ZOO's services are built on its proprietary patented software and enable customers to reduce considerably the costs and time to market of regionalized filmed entertainment titles and marketing campaigns across multiple territories and across a wide range of applications and formats, including printed materials, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, video on demand, electronic sell-through and broadcast.  Working closely with language translation partners, ZOO's media adaptation software transforms computer-based workflows through radical process re-engineering and provides clear differentiation for the company's production, consulting and custom development services. 

ZOO is focused on the worldwide creative media production markets and in particular video production for entertainment applications, with customers including major film studios and other producers and publishers of video-based consumer products.

Blu-ray is a trademark of the Blu-ray Disc Association.

 

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