Digital Rapids, a developer of scalable solutions for content ingest, encoding, transcoding, protection, streaming, delivery and playout has unveiled a significant new version of the Digital Rapids Transcode Manager family of automated media transcoding software.

Available immediately, version 1.2 of Transcode Manager FE (Facility Edition) features new video processing functions, enhanced clip list options and a comprehensive Web Services interface, enabling customers and third-party developers to easily integrate Transcode Manager into their own custom applications.

Based on industry-standard SOAP Web Services, the new API lets developers take advantage of the enterprise-level performance, load-balancing intelligence and failover capabilities of Transcode Manager FE in their own applications through an easy XML-based programming interface. The complete range of Transcode Manager features -- from submitting and monitoring the status of jobs to setting video processing options -- can be accessed through the Web Services interface.

New video processing functions include automatic black border detection and removal, enhanced aspect ratio conversion options and more. Extensions to the processing of XML-based clip lists in Transcode Manager allow individually trimmed sections of multiple distinct audio and video source clips to be concatenated into a single transcoded result. Transcode Manager FE 1.2 also includes a number of minor enhancements and refinements, which are also available to users of Transcode Manager LE for smaller studios and workgroups.

"Transcode Manager continues to be the ideal solution for any customer with high-volume, high-throughput transcoding needs, from small studios to large broadcasters and enterprise-class operations," said Brick Eksten, President of Digital Rapids Corporation. "Transcode Manager FE has always included powerful tools for integrating into customer workflows, and our new Web Services interface takes that to an unparalleled level, allowing the benefits of intelligent distributed transcoding to be incorporated into third-party and custom applications faster and more easily than ever before."