Hitomi’s MatchBox Glass Honoured With Engineering Emmy

Hitomi Broadcast has received an Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The accolade acknowledges MatchBox Glass, the company's latency-generation tool delivered as an iPhone app, which streamlines intricate production set-ups by providing near-instant, in-picture, true lip sync measurement.

As live and remote workflows grow more complex, keeping every source in perfect sync has become a significant operational challenge. Broadcasters and production teams worldwide use the Hitomi MatchBox suite — including Analyser and Panorama — to obtain precise timing measurements.

By embedding audio and video test patterns in an app, MatchBox Glass removes the need to locate insertion points for test signals. An operator simply holds an iPhone or iPad up to the camera and microphone; whatever the signal path, end-to-end latency and lip sync can be captured accurately without interrupting programme feeds, using the everyday device in their pocket.

In support of the Emmy submission, leading engineers from major broadcast operations said of MatchBox Glass "This technology gives us ease of use and tremendous mobility, allowing us to go live from any venue we wish on the spur of the moment"; "We couldn't be without Hitomi Glass for our studio operations"; and "We rely on Hitomi to make the impossible task of eliminating lip sync errors for live sporting events a simple one".

James Robinson, Hitomi's CTO and co-founder, said "This is a tremendous honour, and we are extremely grateful to the Television Academy. We are a small British company, dedicated to making lip sync errors a thing of the past. The causes of latencies and lip sync shifts are buried deep in the technology, but every single viewer recognises the problem when they see it, which is why we are so passionate about it.

"Our solutions are used by the major players in outside broadcasts, large studio operations and live productions worldwide, and we are very grateful for their trust and appreciation for our developments," Robinson continued. "The Emmy, and the recognition by the industry that it implies, is the icing on the cake. As a team we shall celebrate before going back to the lab to make the MatchBox environment even better."

Robinson will collect the Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy at a Television Academy ceremony in Los Angeles on 14 October.

For more on MatchBox, Panorama and MatchBox Glass, visit Hitomi at IBC, stand 10.A40.

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