Autocue Led By Customer And Proven Technology At IBC 2008

Autocue, a leading provider of newsroom automation and teleprompting solutions, will unveil prompting software developments at IBC in response to growing demand from Mac and Vista users, and Asian and Middle Eastern markets. Autocue will also discuss with customers its direction on the much-hyped LED backlit technology, before rolling it out across its "Master Series" prompter range.
The new generation of LED backlit panels use hundreds of individual LED lights, rather than traditional fluorescent tubing, to give a more consistent distribution of brightness and greater contrast, thus making text easier to read, even at lower levels of brightness. Depending on the brightness required, lower levels can also reduce power consumption and therefore longevity of the monitors.
Autocue will use the show to present their assessment of the new technology, and allow customers to compare and contrast features and pricing of the new LED backlit monitors with more traditional technology.
Autocue CEO Frank Hyman said: "We have again led the way - pun intended - in opening up new prompting technology to our customers. At the same time, we are realistic about the infancy of this particular technology and the proclaimed benefits from panel suppliers that are yet to be proven by manufacturers. We want to give a balanced view to our customers and ensure that these products can combine technical superiority with economic viability. If and when our customers approve the technology, we are ready to roll it out across the rest of our range."
Autocue will also launch the next evolution of its unique IP-based "QMaster/QBox prompting software that has proven so successful since its commercial launch in 2007. New developments relating to complex languages will allow Asian and Middle Eastern customers to move away from the old generation of PCI cards to the greater resilience, flexibility and intelligence offered by the QBox.
According to Heyman, "After repeated claims from competitors to be 'the only one' to develop software in-house, our customers are often surprised to hear that we have by far the largest in-house product development and technical support in the industry. We invested considerable time and resource from these teams to bring the QBox to market in 2007, and we have now added complex Asian and Middle Eastern language functionality, including Arabic and Hindi. This will expand the recent competitive advantage that we've enjoyed in North American and European markets, to the Middle East and Indian sub-continent, which continue to fuel our accelerating growth."
Autocue has also responded to growing requests from customers of its "Professional" and "Starter Series" ranges for compatibility with Windows Vista and Mac operating systems. The "QPro" and "QStart" prompting software for the respective ranges are now fully tested and compatible with these OS's - including Macs running Windows emulator software.
The debut of "QStore", an integrated and affordable HD-capable video storage, ingest and playout solution will complete Autocue's IBC showcase. This new addition to the QSeries range of solutions enables Autocue to offer an end-to-end broadcast solution to meet all budgets.
Autocue will be exhibiting at IBC at Stand 11.F60.
(KMcA)