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Ghent University adopts SubtitleNEXT to equip students for the future

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For immediate release – 19 May 2022, Ghent, Belgium – Europe’s prestigious Belgian Ghent University has invested in the SubtitleNEXT platform for the Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication to further empower students.

After carefully reviewing a number of subtitling software systems, including free cloud-based programmes, the university’s Language and Translation Technology team chose SubtitleNEXT as system of choice to replace their previous subtitling tool.

Ghent University is a major public research institution, currently ranked within the top one hundred World University Rankings. With a total of 36,000 students and 9,000 staff, the University of Ghent has over eleven faculties offering more than two hundred courses that conduct in-depth research within a wide range of scientific disciplines, while its research investment averages around £180 million annually.

Within the Department of Translation, Interpreting and Multilingual Communication, students are being trained as language and language technology specialists, which offers them career perspectives in the translation and interpreting industry, including marketing and communications, education, natural language processing (NLP), and so forth.

For many years, subtitling has been part of the curriculum at Bachelor, Master, and Postgraduate level, and constitutes an important internship program thanks to collaborations with The International Film Fest Gent.

Ghent University’s Language Technology Lecturer Cynthia Van Hee says, “SubtitleNEXT stood out from the other systems due to many factors such as its intuitive interface and the large number of functionalities it offers. The versatile licensing schemes, including PBT EU’s dedicated technical support and maintenance options also appealed to us, as they give us flexibility to request specific functionalities for our purposes.”

Expanding on the key elements that attracted the department to invest in SubtitleNEXT, Cynthia outlines further details, “With teaching purposes in mind, our decision was mainly based on the technical advantages that SubtitleNEXT offers, outlined in my summary as follows:

Firstly, SubtitleNEXT’s intuitive interface works for us. Basic functionalities for loading a video, such as, spotting, adding, removing, and editing subtitles are all straightforward in the system. This is a major requirement for us, given that teachers and students with different backgrounds would be working with SubtitleNEXT.

Secondly, we were very impressed with the multitude of functionalities SubtitleNEXT has to offer and that they are also relevant to a range of other courses in our department. SubtitleNEXT provides invaluable respeaking and live subtitling options for candidates in our Interpreting Master’s programme too, including automatic translation plugin possibilities for the courses on Translation, displaying different interface layouts that allow easy comparison of subtitle files and so on.

Thirdly, given our yearly collaborations with different film festivals, SubtitleNEXT also delivers in this important area for us, with the types of video formats the system supports and the number of export possibilities.

Finally, the SubtitleNEXT floating licensing option that PBT EU offers is a considerable advantage when working with many groups of students.”

In addition, Cynthia reveals a few of her favourite features in SubtitleNEXT, “We really like the logical and clear layout design with limitless options for subtitle layout and editing. The various interface layouts, such as the side-by-side view for correcting purposes are useful, as well as the support for different video and export formats. It’s also great that we have the opportunity in SubtitleNEXT to create different subtitling profiles, each with their own set of properties.”

Looking ahead to what’s next, she adds, “We are also eager to learn more about the live subtitling option in the future. We are truly satisfied with SubtitleNEXT as our new subtitling software, and so are our students. The software appears to be very intuitive to them and provides all necessary options to allow them to successfully embark on their subtitling adventure.

We are also really happy with and grateful for the customer support we received so far. Switching software always implies many changes and a steep learning curve, but we can always address our concerns and questions, which are responded quickly and efficiently.”

CEO and Managing Partner of PBT EU, Ivanka Vassileva concludes, “We are delighted to welcome Ghent University to the growing community of SubtitleNEXT professionals. We feel immensely proud that the university’s dynamic Language and Translation Technology team invested in SubtitleNEXT for its various language and translation programmes, arming a future generation with key skills within a fast-paced global market. As a team that places our customers as first priority, we deeply value the relationship we have with the university, and we very much look forward to working with Cynthia and her outstanding team as they continue to transfer excellent subtitling skills to the next generation in an evolving digital world.”

The SubtitleNEXT platform is used for both offline and real-time captioning for all kinds of media formats. Some of the many organisations, including universities that have already adopted SubtitleNEXT include EMG, Digitalmeister GmbH, Leinhäuser Language Services GmbH, Polsat, Kino Polska, University of Rome Tor Vergata, the University of Warsaw, European School of Translation, Max Live Media Access, Biovisjon, IT Pros Subtitles, Doli Media Studio, Cube Cinema Technologies, Tring TV, Bulgarian National Television, Canal Plus Myanmar, AMC, HD Media, Hellenic American College of Greece, European School of Translation, the Complutense University of Madrid, and many others.

Find out more about SubtitleNEXT at www.SubtitleNEXT.com

For more about Ghent University’s Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication, visit https://www.ugent.be/lw/vtc/nl. Further information about the Department’s Translation and Language Technology research can be found here https://lt3.ugent.be/

 

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About PBT EU

PBT EU develops and provides performance-leading solutions and customisable engineering system integration to empower content providers, broadcast, production, and post-production professionals to operate efficiently at the forefront of an ever-evolving digital environment. PBT EU’s primary focus is flexibility, futureproof customer-driven product innovation, fast deployment, teamwork, perseverance, openness, speed, high quality work, as well as dedicated support of its products, solutions and services, which include – PlayBox Technology Neo product suite, EXEcutor™ broadcast servers and software applications, advanced captioning and subtitling software platform SubtitleNEXT, as well as Profuz Digital’s powerful business process and information management system LAPIS designed to efficiently centralise processes and data all under one roof. PBT EU collaborates with worldwide renowned technology partners across distribution and system integration projects. Headquartered in Sofia, Bulgaria, with a global outreach including centres outside the country where sales, support, manufacturing, and R&D operations take place. www.pbteu.com

About SubtitleNEXT

SubtitleNEXT is a user-friendly, innovative, customisable, intuitive, and affordable timed-text software platform. Already adopted across various multimedia industries, it is designed for personal and professional use. It easily adapts to any settings, resolutions, and formats such as AR, MR, VR, 8K, 4K, 2K, HD, SD, 3D, UHD across online video, TV, film, theatre, concerts, festivals, conferences, and events. It can be applied throughout the entire video production process from concept to distribution. SubtitleNEXT already has a proven track record of success and continued to support customers throughout the entire pandemic, owing to its flexibility and remote capabilities. Visit www.SubtitleNEXT.com

About Ghent University

To find out more, visit the Language and Translation Department website (in Dutch): https://www.ugent.be/lw/vtc/nl

The website of the research group Language and Translation Technology: https://lt3.ugent.be/

Socials:
www.vtc.ugent.be
www.facebook.com/ugent.vtc
www.instagram.com/ugent.vtc

 

PBT EU and OOONA team up to optimise combined integrated localization tools

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Integrating web-based subtitling editor tools into the NEXT-TT platform further extends powerful capabilities

For immediate release – 21 April 2022, Sofia, Bulgaria – PBT EU is delighted to announce its technology partnership with OOONA, the global provider of professional management and production tools for the media localization industry. The two companies acknowledge the complementary nature of their solutions and will now be offering some of each other’s products.

OOONA will demonstrate the latest refinements to its flagship OOONA Integrated media localization platform at the NAB Show in Las Vegas, at booth C3122, including the OOONA Mobile App, an expanded user interface now available in 12 languages, support for Japanese timed text editing, plus a host of API integrations to management systems and language technology solutions from select partners. Visitors at the booth can arrange online meetings with the SubtitleNEXT team via OOONA.

Located in Tel Aviv, OOONA develops web-based subtitle editing tools with the goal of being at the heart of the media localization workflow. Trusted by thousands of users in over a hundred countries, the company enables the processing of tens of thousands of projects per month, serving a plethora of media clients, such asIDC, BLU, LinQ, VRT, Captionmax, The Kitchen, Visual Data, Roundabout and many others, as well as a number of academic institutions offering bespoke training in media localization.

PBT EU specialises in the broadcast and media market with a host of hardware and software solutions for broadcast playout and localization services which include the SubtitleNEXT and NEXT-TT platforms.

The SubtitleNEXT platform is used for both offline and real-time captioning for all kinds of media formats, including storage, streaming, signals and protocols, with a long track record of success. Some of the many companies that have already adopted SubtitleNEXT include EMG, where SubtitleNEXT was used for the localization of well-known TV series such as Big Little Lies, Dexter: New Blood, including HBO shows And Just Like That and Euphoria. Other satisfied customers of the platform include Digitalmeister GmbH, Leinhäuser Language Services GmbH, Polsat, Kino Polska, OiV in Croatia, AMC in Hungary, Hayat, OBN, Doli Media Studio, the University of Warsaw and the European School of Translation.

NEXT-TT is a hybrid software platform for managing timed-text, dubbing and localization services for all types of content. It includes functionality for managing translation teams, audiovisual professionals, creative freelancers, while providing users with powerful toolsets in a secure workspace enabling accelerated workflows with quality results.

OOONA’s professional online tools for subtitling and captioning will be integrated in PBT EU’s NEXT-TT management platform, and SubtitleNEXT Live, a state-of-the-art desktop software for the creation and delivery of live subtitles and captions, will be made available to OOONA’s customers. Both companies offer end-to-end, customisable and scalable solutions, hosted on AWS and provide a secure, tested, scalable, online solution for the design and execution of any media localization project, irrespective of team size. The combined platforms offer an intuitive perspective of the entire localization pipeline with inbuilt budget control, and features that facilitate the scheduling of urgent tasks and collaboration of remote workers.

“OOONA has developed an impressive web-based toolkit that we will be integrating in our NEXT-TT platform so we can offer secure web-based options to our customers for every media localization need that they might have,” stated Ivanka Vassileva, PBT EU’s CEO and Managing Partner. “As media localization software providers, we might be perceived as competitors, but it made more sense to join forces with OOONA and work together. This positive move reflects our shared customer-centric approach, which focuses on empowering our customers with complimentary products and services. We can achieve so much more as a team. If our solutions benefit customers, it is a truly winning combination.”

“Our partnership with OOONA opens up great opportunities, as it means we can integrate, upon clients’ requests, their online subtitle editor tool into our NEXT-TT platform,” commented Kamen Ferdinandov, CTO at PBT EU. “In turn, this allows our customers greater access to even more professional subtitling tools, which include the NEXT-TT built-in editor, an integrated SubtitleNEXT editor and, in the near future, OOONA’s editor as well. OOONA will also be offering the SubtitleNEXT Live subtitling tools to their clients. It is a win-win situation for our customers that will further strengthen the technologies and services we provide to the media localization industry. We are looking forward to working together with OOONA for ongoing advancements while staying true to our user-focused approach in everything we do.”

“Our clients have been looking for ways to handle their live subtitling work and PBT EU has a great solution,” added Wayne Garb, OOONA co-founder and CEO. “Rather than reinventing the wheel, it made more sense for us to collaborate.”

Visit NAB to find out more about OOONA at https://nabshow.com/2022/

SubtitleNEXT Version 5.11 Kick-Starts 2022, allowing users to directly Translate Audio in Real Time and more

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For immediate release – 11 January 2022, Sofia, Bulgaria – PBT EU kick-starts 2022 with a brand-new release of SubtitleNEXT Version 5.11 that further equips subtitling, captioning and localisation specialists with an array of stunning innovative toolsets at their fingertips. The popular and affordable SubtitleNEXT software platform is used for captioning live events and offline content in real time and is being embraced by a growing number of industry professionals across the globe.

Filmmakers and broadcasters benefit from subtitling software that provides them with flexibility so they can enjoy a seamless in-house network to share live output across multiple different production teams on a world-wide scale. With reliable and affordable software systems on the market such as SubtitleNEXT, subtitling is no longer burdensome or expensive.

A major new feature that stands out in SubtitleNEXT V5.11 allows for the direct translation from audio in real time. This significant capability can be used for automatic translation work and to generate subtitles directly from sound.

The remote capability that SubtitleNEXT offers, through the implementation of its dynamic licensing model in the current pandemic era, helped raise the bar for localisation companies to continue to excel to a new high when regulations call for flexible working.

The new version of SubtitleNEXT has gone another step further by providing its users with the ability to self-administrate their own licenses. The options include static licenses, which can be used offline on one PC, or alternatively, utilised in a dynamic and secure capacity that requires a log-in mode. These licensing models empower users, team managers and producers, with the added benefit and flexibility to be able to switch between different licensing preferences, on an “as and when” basis according to project requirements.

Other highlights of the latest upgrade in V5.11 include several new improvements and additions that enhance live subtitling projects, one example being the streaming of subtitles to Zoom, irrespective of the text length. SubtitleNEXT version 5.11 further improves how content can seamlessly stream in multiple formats that are compatible with linear broadcasting, VOD, and social media platforms at accelerated speeds.

PBT EU’s CEO Ivanka Vassileva reflects on the success of 2021, “We enjoyed a highly successful year, welcoming many new SubtitleNEXT customers on board, despite the challenges living in a pandemic situation presents. Nevertheless, we still had a productive and industrious year by participating in various digital online seminars and tradeshows, where we have continued to listen to our current customers, academics, and localisation professionals concerning their growing needs in the industry. Our focus is always on our customers, and we’ve been hard at work on new developments over the past few weeks, to meet the challenging demands and tight turnaround times that our customers face. The new user-friendly tools and resourceful features in version 5.11 will provide excellent advantages and benefit busy subtitlers. This coming year holds great promise, and it’s motivating to start the year off on such a positive note.”

In addition, the SubtitleNEXT team ran a series of free online “SubtitleNEXT Friday Workshops” at the end of last year which proved to be a big hit, providing subtitlers with key tools and skillsets to tackle real live projects to round off what has been an extremely successful 2021, following SubtitleNEXT’s virtual presence at successful APTRAD and Languages & the Media digital events. The 8 sessions were presented by the developer of SubtitleNEXT Kamen Ferdinandov, which attracted a fantastic turnout of attendees, who interacted and engaged in the Q&A after each session.

Key feature topics covered included how to create subtitles from scratch or from a source; tips on how to work more efficiently when checking, editing, correcting, fixing, and finalising subtitles for delivery.
The October 29th SubtitleNEXT Workshop covered ideas on how to work more efficiently when translating subtitles, other sessions revealed how to creatively style and format subtitles using SubtitleNEXT and how subtitlers can use SubtitleNEXT for live subtitling of TV shows, live events, online meetings, and video streaming platforms. The workshops also helped familiarise attendees on how companies and teams can collaborate and successfully perform online subtitling with NEXT-TT and SubtitleNEXT used in tandem. The December 3rd SubtitleNEXT Workshop outlined NEXT-TT’s innovative management features to help subtitlers gear up and be well-prepared to confidently face 2022 and the challenges ahead in their upcoming projects. The final SubtitleNEXT Workshop of the year fell on December 10th and ensured subtitlers were armed with the latest generation subtitling tools and knowledge skillsets they need to enhance their work.

Recordings of the SubtitleNEXT Workshops are available on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFMPWFADMbyUopPfcb_uK-5EUo7LYhpem

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MEDIA INFORMATION

About SubtitleNEXT
SubtitleNEXT is a user-friendly, innovative, customisable, intuitive, and affordable timed-text software platform. Already adopted across various multimedia industries, it is designed for personal and professional use. It easily adapts to any settings, resolutions, and formats such as AR, MR, VR, 8K, 4K, 2K, HD, SD, 3D, UHD across online video, TV, film, theatre, concerts, festivals, conferences, and events. It can be applied throughout the entire video production process from concept to distribution SubtitleNEXT already has a proven track record of success. Throughout the entire pandemic, it has continued to support customers, owing to its flexibility and remote capabilities. Many of the companies that have already adopted SubtitleNEXT include Digitalmeister, Leinhäuser Language Services, Polsat, HD Media, OBN, University of Warsaw, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Doli Media Studio, The European School of Translation, Europe’s largest Belgium-based production company Videohouse and many others.

Visit the SubtitleNEXT website to find out more www.SubtitleNEXT.com

Belgium’s MAX Live Media Access Services relies on SubtitleNEXT’s advanced toolsets to meet real-time accessibility goals

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“SubtitleNEXT enables us to meet broadcasters’ demands and high standards by being our one-stop-shop for all of our subtitling needs – the results are always high quality.”
Veronique Denis, Co-founder, Max Live Media Access Services

For immediate release – 28 July 2021, Kontich, Belgium – Belgium-based live-subtitling experts MAX Live Media Access Services have invested in SubtitleNEXT to provide real-time subtitling workflows. SubtitleNEXT has already been put to work to support MAX Live Media’s broadcast clients with advanced subtitling services to help meet stringent media accessibility goals, as well as provide interlingual real-time subtitling, timed-text streaming for international events and more.
SubtitleNEXT is a convenient all-in-one solution that can be used for captioning live events and offline content in real time. It can stream content in multiple formats that are suitable for linear broadcasting, including VOD platforms and social media platforms.
Subtitling is finally being recognised as essential, and no longer an optional add-on, as previously perceived. This positive move has revealed how valuable subtitles are to programme makers and filmmakers, as they not only promote growth, but increase profits by reaching out to vast global audiences in different languages.
There is a growing understanding of accessibility, and the definition is broad – from motor disabilities, sensory, to cognitive, the key element is to ensure that content is made accessible to everybody and that no one is excluded. New regulations requiring audio-visual content to be made accessible to everyone, including hearing-impaired people, have resulted in a seismic shift in the broadcast industry’s attitude towards subtitles. Broadcasters all around the world are now subjected to these new rules to ensure scheduled programmes have sufficient subtitling to meet guidelines, thus increasing demand for subtitling and captioning solutions. Accessibility has been made affordable with reliable software systems on the market like SubtitleNEXT, therefore subtitling should no longer be regarded as a regulatory burden for broadcasters.
Co-founder of MAX Live Media Access Services Veronique Denis states, “I have been creating accessible audiovisual content for the hearing and visually impaired since 2015, and over the past few years, people have started consuming audiovisual content anywhere and anytime. This is challenging for broadcasters who want to meet accessibility standards for content that needs subtitling across various platforms. SubtitleNEXT enables us to meet these broadcasters’ demands and high standards by being our one-stop-shop for all of our subtitling needs: – whether they are live, semi-live or pre-recorded, the results are always of high quality. With SubtitleNEXT, we can provide all of these services and more. We are able to meet our clients’ demands for accessibility of all of their content on any platform and we can open up content for other speaking audiences too.”


Veronique adds, “We also use SubtitleNEXT to accommodate our clients’ need for accessibility for the deaf and hard of hearing with intralingual real-time subtitling of live streams, webinars and other broadcasts and to also provide real-time subtitles for conferences and corporate meetings. Increasingly more companies realise that accessibility is not simply making sure that work space is accessible for people with physical disabilities, but it is also about making sure that those with sensory and ‘invisible’ disabilities are able to participate at work just like any other employee. This fits perfectly with one of our company’s long-term goals: making for a more inclusive society in which accessibility is a given and not something one should ask for. It should be there from the get-go. We try to raise awareness by providing potential clients with statistics, for example that one out of ten Belgians are hearing-impaired. If a company has 50 employees, then 5 could benefit from having real-time subtitling.”


MAX Live Media relies on SubtitleNEXT for other projects such as interlingual subtitling for multilingual events, whether offline or via livestream. Veronique expands further, “As Belgium is a multi-lingual country, it is important for events to be accessible to a diverse audience. Without subtitling, organisers used to resort to interpreters, but then had to have a wide array of audiovisual means to get the message to those who need it. With real-time subtitling we provide textual assistance for those who need it and if the event is streamed online as well, the viewers at home can watch the content with subtitles too. Moreover, the subtitles generated with SubtitleNEXT are timed like regular subtitles, which is something that other text streaming applications lack. Therefore, thanks to SubtitleNEXT, we can provide the client with a subtitle file after the event so that they can use it for the publication of their content.”
A smaller portion of MAX Live Media’s activities includes writing audio description for the blind and visually impaired, using SubtitleNEXT to identify where they can describe what’s shown on screen and then use the reading speed calculations for the text to gauge if the voice-over is timed well. Veronique notes, “Thanks to the many “export-abilities” of SubtitleNEXT, we then can export this audio description script into any format the client may want to use for their script or studio recordings.”
CEO of PBT EU Ivanka Vassileva remarks, “We are delighted that MAX Live Media Access Services have embraced SubtitleNEXT to meet their clients’ broadcasting needs. We pride ourselves in providing software that provides our clients with flexibility so they can enjoy a flawless in-house network all under one roof. The SubtitleNEXT subtitling platform provides subtitling professionals with many toolsets that can significantly enhance their work, one example being the “live dictation” function which can be used in live subtitling workflows in order to caption news and events in real time which is quite an exciting new development. Many more exciting features have been released and more are on the horizon for 2021. We are thrilled to have MAX Live Media join the growing SubtitleNEXT family of professional users.”
Defined as an exceptionally dependable subtitling software platform, it is no surprise as to why SubtitleNEXT is referred to by many professionals today as the “subtitler’s lifesaver.” Delivering to high industry standards, the system has an array of immediate resourceful tools and features.
SubtitleNEXT already has a proven track record of success. Throughout the entire pandemic, it has continued to support customers, owing to its flexibility and remote capabilities. Some of the many companies that have already adopted SubtitleNEXT include Polsat, Kino Polska, OiV in Croatia, Listen Up in Bulgaria, AMC in Hungary, Hayat, HD Media, OBN, University of Warsaw, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Doli Media Studio, The European School of Translation, Videohouse, UCM and Hellenic American College of Greece.
Visit www.SubtitleNEXT.com for further updates on the latest news and join the SubtitleNEXT club to stay on top of what’s new in subtitling.

Media Information
Images to download, courtesy and copyright MAX Live Media Access Services – https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MV-CshSGIQiSZ0PsuzWyGN4SAsSUeXes?usp=sharing

About SubtitleNEXT
SubtitleNEXT is a timed-text subtitling software package with an array of immediate resourceful tools and features that deliver to a high standard. Created by Profuz Digital and distributed by PBT EU, it is available in a single compact and powerful application. It’s a system that benefits many professionals and different skillset levels such as freelance audio-visual translation professionals, through to Language Service Providers, production and post-production companies and broadcasters. Anyone who has to handle heavy workloads within tight timeframe structures will find that SubtitleNEXT proves to be a time-saving and productive asset. Find out more here www.subtitleNEXT.com

About PBT EU – Visit them at www.pbteu.com

About MAX Live Media Access Services – Visit www.livemax.be