Digital Rapids has integrated its encoder technology with Civolution’s watermarking technology. The combination allows video distributors to watermark and encode VOD and OTT content in a single step.
The two companies said that this combination is an enabler for Home Premiere services. Home Premiere is the premium VOD service that several Hollywood studios are working on with Comcast, DirecTV and other distributors that would make films available on VOD much earlier than usual for a premium charge, probably about $30 a film.
The new support for per-transaction watermark pre-processing complements Digital Rapids’ existing support for Civolution’s NexGuard – Pre-Release forensic watermarking technology, the two said.
“We are pleased to expand our support for Civolution watermarking technology with the addition of NexGuard – PayTV & Online,” said Brick Eksten, president of Digital Rapids. “The combination of our solutions enables exceptionally efficient workflows for content encoding and watermarking. Per-transaction watermarking will ultimately benefit consumers, who should be able to enjoy content such as movies at home in earlier release windows”.
The combined solution leverages Digital Rapids’ H.264 encoding, efficient workflow automation and simultaneous multiple-bit-rates output capabilities for adaptive streaming. The new integration of NexGuard – PayTV & Online is incorporated into a software upgrade for StreamZ and StreamZHD.