NAB Las Vegas, Booth SU7507, April 2010  – Hamlet, leading supplier of affordable, high-precision test and measurement equipment, will be demonstrating its range of software-based systems at NAB in Las Vegas, including dedicated tools to add quality control to PC-based systems, and for detecting content which may cause photo-sensitive epilepsy.

The new Hamlet VidScope-BX is a software suite designed to work with any video capture card or similar device on a standard Windows PC, with displays on the screen of your choice. It gives editors, designers and colorists all the precision technical monitoring they need, whether working in SD, HD or 3Gb/s. With the appropriate video card it accepts all common signal formats including analogue, SDI, dual-link SDI, HDMI, Firewire, fibre and ASI.

One recent adopter of VidScope-BX is leading Swedish film transfer specialist Uppsala Bildteknik. “We use the Hamlet VidScope BX software for monitoring our telecine transfers to both SD and HD,” said Kent Kumpula of Uppsala Bildteknik. “I like the ability to scale and design our own custom set-ups, using several of the parades and vectorscopes at the same time. It helps us deliver the best quality to our clients. What more can a professional user ask for?”

Another major concern for production companies and broadcasters today is that certain video sequences, including flashing lights, may be the cause of photo-sensitive epileptic seizures in susceptible viewers. There are now standards, being co-ordinated by the ITU, which determine content which should be detected and trapped. HD PSE testing to this standard is extremely difficult to assess, but it is an established part of the Hamlet VidScope software suite, and there is a standalone software application dedicated to PSE testing. The Hamlet PSE-Scope is the only product available on the market that performs PSE tests in HD.

“We are extremely pleased with this instrument, having well-proven algorithms which reliably detect potentially problematic sequences,” said Steve Nunney, director of Hamlet. “With the standards now being imposed in a number of countries our customers were asking for this test specifically, which is why we have now introduced it as a single application product.”

The Hamlet range of test and measurement devices and quality control software systems can be seen at NAB Las Vegas, Booth SU7507, 12-15 April 2010.

Notes to editors:

Currently celebrating its 24th anniversary in 2010, Hamlet Video International Limited is a British company dedicated to the design, manufacture and supply of innovative, high quality and cost-effective test, measurement, monitoring and quality control equipment to the video and broadcast industries worldwide.

Hamlet has completely eliminated CRTs from its instruments, thereby removing the need for routine display recalibration and thus reducing significantly the cost of ownership of a precision instrument. With its latest devices using an all-digital internal platform, Hamlet has moved towards a calibrated-for-life test and measurement system.

Hamlet’s vectorscopes and waveform monitors either use an internal precision LCD display or provide an output to either a video or a computer monitor, which can be routed to the operator’s convenience. In either case the graticules are generated digitally within the device, so provides a continually reliable and accurate reference.

The company also develops test and measurement software to be used in conjunction with broadcast systems running on standard computers for the analysis of base band or file based signals. Finally, Hamlet manufactures digitally-stable signal generators as a companion to its measurement devices.