Getting ads out at speed

By ADAM GIFFORD

Lack of broadband internet access is about the only thing holding back video post-production house Digital Post.

The Epsom business has just spent more than $1 million on the first SGI Onyx 3200 super-computer in Australasia.

With 2 gigabytes of memory, 2 terabytes of storage and half a gigabyte of memory on its graphics board, the Onyx 3200 will run 8 times faster than the Machine it replaces.

Executive director Garry Little said that was what was needed to keep up with the advent of high-definition television (HDTV).

"The US programme makers say this is probably the last year they will be happy with standard definition, so I'm tooling up."

Digital Post processes many of the medium and high-end advertisements seen on our television screens.

It also works for Australian and US producers, its involvement in the Xena and Hercules series, which was shot in New Zealand for eight years, opening a lot of doors.

It is now working on The Extreme Team, a made-for-TV movie being shot by Disney and Touchstone Pictures in Queenstown.

Mr Little said that exercise was highlighting the problems it had with broadband.

While its agent there has a Jetstream connection, feeds out of Queenstown were throttled back far short of the supposed maximum.

He looks with envy at Wellington's broadband loops - in Auckland it is still cheaper and probably faster to courier tapes from Epsom to TVNZ and TV3 in the city.

"We stream stuff up there over the internet, but lack of control and a lack of guaranteed capacity means the stream tends to get throttled down. If we have a half- hour of video and audio to send, we don't want it to take four or five hours to get there."

He said that on a true 2Mb feed, he would be able to send the studios a half hour of good VHS-quality signal in about 90 minutes.

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