Archimedia Technology, a company whose applications bring precise multi-format viewing to the professional’s desktop, TV, UHDTV, and SDI infrastructure, has announced that third-party quality-control specialist, 3rd i QC, has purchased an Atlas 4K professional media-playing computer for performing quality control (QC) on the myriad file formats it receives from its clients. Atlas 4K will enable 3rd i QC to achieve consistency, speed, and accuracy in the face of an ever-evolving proliferation of formats, production techniques, and metadata richness in production and post-production. The Atlas 4K machine was first used in February 2015 in Archimedia’s demo room at the 2015 HPA Tech Retreat, and is now installed at 3rd i QC’s Culver City, California operation.
“We receive countless different file formats from our clients, but since 3rd i QC is a boutique company, we can be nimble and react quickly to changes in the content-creation landscape,” said Al Limon, 3rd i QC founder and CEO. “After exploring several systems, we found the Archimedia Atlas — with its focus on playback only, its ability to read a multitude of file formats, and its attractive price point, especially compared to purchasing proprietary hardware and software — to be the Swiss Army knife we were looking for.”
Atlas 4K is capable of playing even 4K 60p- and HDR-encoded content at full screen, in practically any format, from all kinds of sources and manufacturers, and on all kinds of screens — all with frame-accurate precision at speeds commensurate with the hardware. This capability will let 3rd i QC complete its deliverables faster and eliminate costly rework, thereby reducing operating costs. It will also eliminate costly rework for 3rd i QC customers, resulting in happy, loyal clients.
“We are moving more of our workload on site to complement the tape-based QC we perform at outside facilities,” said Ramon Breton, chief technology officer of 3rd i QC. “Because it can handle numerous file formats seamlessly, Atlas is a perfect tool for us as we continue this workload shift.”
“Doing more work on site allows us greater scheduling flexibility and affords better pricing for our clients since we don’t have the overhead of a large post-production facility,” added Kathy Blake, 3rd i QC’s source and digital file QC director.
3rd i QC also cited ease of collaboration with Archimedia as another benefit of the deal.
