TV TECH: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trends at the 2024 NAB Show?

KEN FROMMERT: We have seen significant AI development taking shape since last NAB Show, where the activity was more formative. The media and entertainment industry has now embraced AI to improve business operations and workflows as the technology has matured. We expect to see much more activity this year with AI development, especially as it pertains to content creation. ENCO is leveraging AI for creative workflow purposes within our radio and TV businesses, from spec ad creation to virtual news production to captioning and translation.

TVT: What will be your most important product news?

FROMMERT: ENCO has a lot to talk about at NAB Show. On the radio side, we have integrated our AITrack module into our DAD radio automation system and WebDAD remote control and production workflow. Users can preschedule automated voice tracks (song intros, stations IDs, localized news and weather), by using generative AI and synthetic voice engines to produce natural-sounding, engaging content between songs. We are also demonstrating SPECai, with Compass Media Networks and Benztown, which uses AI to instantly generate fully produced custom spec spots.

We have also added AI functionality within our Qimera virtual production workflow for television. At NAB Show, we will have a full virtual set adjacent to the booth, complete with an AI virtual anchor presenting news stories through synthetic speech.

NAB will also serve as the debut for enCaption Sierra, our next-gen automated closed-captioning solution. Sierra users will see significant improvements in speed and accuracy through GPU processing and large language models as well as flexible deployment options on-prem or in the cloud.

TVT: How is your new product different from what’s available on the market?

FROMMERT: No other captioning product on the market can attain the level of accuracy that we have achieved with enCaption Sierra, which can level on-prem or cloud GPU processing to reach new heights in accuracy. Sierra can also detect audio events such as music, laughter, applause and crowd noise. We had enhanced speaker diarization and improved recognition and accuracy of speech with challenging accents and noisy environments. This is also the industry’s first all-in-one on-prem solution delivered with Windows or Linux OS with the encoder built into the package. That encoder is also new for NAB Show, and is born out of our recent acquisition of DoCaption.

TVT: What is it about the NAB Show that brings you back every year?

FROMMERT: I always refer to NAB Show as being our industry’s “Super Bowl.” Product launches hinge around this time of year and attendees expect to see the latest and greatest innovations from all the vendors. The energy leading up to NAB Show and during is contagious, sparking enthusiasm and anticipation in everyone involved. I’m excited to spend time with our customers and partners all in the same place and learn about their upcoming projects and how we can help. It’s an exciting time for our entire team and I look forward to being in the bright lights showcasing our latest innovations.

TV TECH: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trends at the 2023 NAB Show?

KEN FROMMERT: AI technology has been evolving at a rapid pace. We all know from experience that IP migration has been gradual over many years, and cloud adoption has been mixed due to costs and the reality that some important functionalities have been slow to develop. AI is being implemented across the workflow now and even reaching into the RF world. It has brought immediate benefits to content creation and is proving to reduce operational costs. The quick rise of ChatGPT, which just launched in November, signals that AI is also entering fast acceptance and adoption in the consumer world. I think 2023 is the year of AI on the show floor and we will see it touch almost every part of the signal chain from origination to content delivery.

TVT: What will be your most important product news?

FROMMERT: Live, real-time captioning and translation with our latest enCaption release. ENCO has been very bullish on simplifying captioning workflows and bringing down the costs of producing and delivering closed captions. With each new version the speed that captions appear on screen accelerates, the accuracy rate increases, and the deployment options expand. Our embrace of AI and machine learning technology for automating captions and enabling competitive price points has positioned enCaption as the top choice for broadcasters of all sizes, from large broadcast networks to local PEG stations.

At the 2023 NAB Show, we will formally introduce the productized version of enCaption 5, which adds new features and flexibility such as a caption editor to view and refine the results of offline or previous live transcriptions. enCaption 5 can now add captions to both live and pre-recorded content in 48 languages, combining machine learning with advanced speech-to-text conversion and grammatical structure analysis to deliver exceptional accuracy with extremely low latency.

enCaption also now incorporates our enTranslate systems as a plug-in, which will be available for customers this spring. This brings two important AI-driven services into a common platform for the customer, which means fewer workflow steps to manage. The new enTranslate plug-in adds live translation for 34 languages. Translated captions can be embedded into VOD content for subsequent viewing. These are big steps forward in our ongoing development process for captioning and translation.

TVT: How is your new product different from what’s available on the market?

FROMMERT: Deployment options is a unique differentiator. enCaption5 is a cloud-native, microservices-based solution that takes full advantage of public cloud infrastructure, eliminating the need for on-premises capital equipment when captioning live or transcribing file-based content. However, it is also available as an on-premises or in hybrid on-prem/cloud workflows for customers who need traditional AV signal connectivity for live captioning and transcription or who prefer an on-premises solution. We even now offer programmable API versions for on-prem or the cloud deployments. But perhaps the biggest differentiation is that our translation engines can now be deployed on-premises. That is something that was only possible in the cloud before, and enCaption 5 is the only solution that can provide an on-premises or cloud solution that integrates captioning and transcription within a common platform and without the need for a third-party closed-captioning encoder.

TVT: NAB is celebrating its centennial this year. How many NAB Shows have you been to and do you have any particular standout memories of past shows?

FROMMERT: ENCO has been coming to NAB Show since 1992, when company founder Gene Novacek came to the show with a hand-built 22-inch touchscreen to automate audio playout for television. ENCO stood out from the crowd then, and over 31 years we have continued to grow in ways that make the company stand out on the show floor, from developing technologies for more businesses and verticals to showcasing a continually growing range of partners that help our customers develop complete TV and radio workflow solutions.

It is a challenge to consider an NAB Show that stands apart from the rest, but I would have to say NAB Show 2022 wins that prize. The uncertainty of how the pandemic would affect tradeshows and gatherings was answered as over the last few years: We still need tradeshows. The value of meeting in person with customers, partners and peers is not arguable. Virtual meetings add value in how we communicate daily, but virtual events cannot match the power of in-person communication that global events like NAB Show offer.

TV TECHNOLOGY:What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the 2018 NAB Show?

KEN FROMMERT: The recent usual suspects will remain at the forefront—IP, 4K and the cloud. Beyond these umbrella topics that cross the broadcast workflow and infrastructure, there are some more focused topics bubbling to the surface this year, one of which is automated captioning. As TV networks and independent stations grapple with compliance and the high costs of (and difficulty of securing) live stenographers, new software-defined solutions are coming to market that automate captioning workflow with much greater speed and accuracy then before. We believe this is an area to watch closely.

TVT:What will be your most important product news?

FROMMERT: Our latest automated captioning solution, enCaption4, will make its U.S. debut with new enhancements that will eliminate all concerns with accuracy and speed-to-air. Additionally, we will showcase our MOM solution for organizing, managing and automating critical production and channel playout tasks, with an emphasis on robust integration with NDI and newsroom workflows.

TVT:How is your new product different from what’s available on the market?

FROMMERT: enCaption4 just takes automated captioning to an entirely new level. For one, it’s deployable in the cloud or on-premises; second, it optimizes compliance with expanding regulatory requirements. But there is no question that nothing else comes close to enCaption4 when it comes to speed and accuracy. With our new patented technology, enCaption4’s new speech-to-text engine leverages breakthroughs in machine-learning technology to develop a deep neural network approach to voice recognition. Accuracy is further enhanced by a dictionary database for 28 languages—three times larger than previous enCaption solutions—while integration with popular newsroom computer systems (NRCS) takes advantage of news scripts and rundowns to learn and validate the spelling of local names and terminology.

As for MOM, there is no other solution of its kind that provides as much for such a reasonable cost. It is truly an all-in-one solution, which brings graphics, media ingest, playout automation, media asset management into one flexible solution. It is software-based and unlike the convoluted spreadsheet-like automation systems that permeate the industry, MOM is easy to navigate thanks to an intuitive, legible interface with clear and colorful on-screen arrays.

TVT:What is it about the NAB Show that brings you back every year?

FROMMERT: The NAB Show is all about relationships. It’s impossible to overstate the value of meeting with our customers and partners from around the world in one place. Hearing from our customers that they are happy, satisfied and interested to learn about our latest innovations to bring them into the future is an amazing opportunity. And their feedback on what we can do to further improve our products and solve their problems is invaluable.