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SmartJog
SmartJog offers content distribution service to broadcasters
Over 400 new pilots have been uploaded on the SmartJog service for MIPCOM 2003 by the US distributors using the system
SmartJog  offers a global content distribution service to broadcasters and content owners, providing digital store-and-forward delivery of broadcast quality programming over satellite to customers.
 SmartJog's digital content distribution platform for the broadcast industry is being tested by leading TV stations in ten major European countries, including 90 per cent of French and UK channels as well as the majority of US and European studios.
"In the broadcast industry, there have has been a lot of evolution in the post production and production field," says SmartJog's senior vice president of marketing, Jean-Sébastien Petit. "When you produce a movie, you get a file to post production. At the end of the production process, broadcasters also get a file. For the moment, the process in between involves sending tapes. SmartJog's proposition is that if it is a file at the beginning and at the end, let's keep it a file all the way through."
SmartJog has built a private secure network in order to provide this service to distributors and broadcasters. Distributors need to digitise their programmes. "To date, we store programmes in our Paris server and our LA server in two qualities: Windows Media® 9 Series files for preview, and higher resolution MPEG2 files for broadcast," Petit says. Programmes are previewed at full screen resolution with Windows Media 9 Series before the broadcaster and distributor sign a deal on rights, after which an MPEG2 version can be downloaded.
"We chose Windows Media 9 Series because, first of all, it is very efficient. With the jog and shuttle, you don't have buffering. The second reason is that the picture quality is really good, whether it is working at 800 Kbps or 3Mbps. We deliver at 800 Kbps preview quality, but we've seen tests at 3Mbps and it is impressive."
In the UK, commercial broadcaster ITV has been testing the SmartJog system. "I think it has great potential, not only for viewing, but in the long term, for the delivery of the kind of material that currently has to come in physically on tape," says Christine Dillon, head of acquired contracts at ITV Network Centre.
"All technical standards can and will be maintained, and it has to be secure. I've viewed material on my PC and it is very good quality. I'd say it was better than your average VHS quality at very low data rates, which of course could be many generations recorded from the master. It is in many ways an improvement."
Natasha Swanson, acquisitions executive for Sky One, says the picture quality of Windows Media 9 Series makes it easy to use the SmartJog system. "The picture quality and ease of use of the Windows Media 9 Series has been very highly regarded. The process of digital screening via the computer is a natural progression in the convergence of different media that allows us to work more quickly and efficiently, without compromising quality one bit."
Among the distributors using the SmartJog service are Fox, Universal, MGM, Paramount and Carsey Werner.
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