Posted by We were pleased to get an insider’s view of Mistika from SGO’s managing director, Geoff Mills, and pick his brain on top industry trends, the challenges he helps SGO customers overcome, and details about the amazing demo his team will showcase at IBC.
Quantum: Can you tell us about SGO, and more specifically SGO Mistika and its top differentiated features?
Mills: Founded in 1993 as a European developer, SGO has had leading high-end software solutions within the post-production market for over 25 years. As a company, SGO is passionate about creating and developing beautiful technology that makes a real difference to our clients’ businesses and outputs. We give them the tools they require to create inspiring content and shape change within their industry.
Mistika Ultima is the world’s most advanced Hero Suite, providing editing, VFX, color grading, text, paint, audio, S3D, full finishing, and more—in a completely scalable, truly interactive, fully real-time, and totally resolution independent post-production system. Mistika Ultima is used in the most demanding projects where challenges such UHD/HDR, high frame rate (HFR), stereo 3D, VR, and even 8K 60p color correction can all be done effortlessly in real time.
Mistika VR is our latest stand-alone software offering that has been developed to specifically address VR stitching using Mistika technology. Mistika VR has been a real game-changer not only for us as a company, but also by being a widely accessible, affordable, and reliable solution for those working in VR.
Quantum: What is your role at SGO and some of your relevant industry experience?
Mills: Before joining SGO, I was at Quantel for over 24 years where I had many different roles, including sales operations and account manager for post-production and broadcast customers in the UK and Benelux. I am now the managing director of SGO and have enjoyed being part of this very dynamic company for over eight years.
Quantum: What are the top trends you’re currently seeing in the industry?
Mills: UHD and HDR are certainly big technology trends. VR is also something many people are looking to exploit, although it is in the early days with many challenges. This market is still very much evolving.
Quantum: How big of a role do you see VR playing in post-production?
Mills: VR is certainly an emerging technology and many content creators are looking to see how they can use it. Interestingly VR is already being used as a production tool, so we will undoubtedly see more VR being utilized throughout the workflow.
Quantum: What are the biggest challenges your customers are currently facing?
Mills: They are facing several challenges, such as competing with ever-decreasing budgets and reducing timescales, to complete projects. So, things like workflow efficiency are fundamental today. With higher resolutions and high frame rates becoming more widely embraced, managing the increase in storage demands is an issue. Storage performance is also a critical factor to maintain agility and real-time playback.
Quantum: What future trends should your customers start preparing for now?
Mills: Being able to work in UHD and HDR are clear requirements for the future. Some will also want to be ready for VR projects that are coming in from new revenue streams as well as the traditional markets for post-production.
Quantum: Can you tell us about your demo at IBC2017 and what you’re most excited about seeing?
Mills: We will demonstrate the latest phase of products spearheading the company’s evolutionary growth that include the latest developments to Mistika Ultima, Mistika VR with new stereo 3D functionality, and recently launched free education software—Mistika Insight. There will also be a preview of Mistika FX as part of the multi-dimensional workflow with Mistika VR.
Peter Amies will also be at Quantum’s booth, giving hourly demonstrations that will feature grading and finishing for UHD, HDR, HFR, 8K, and VR. New Quantum StorNext® 6 performance and collaboration features will also be highlighted.
It will be interesting to see the advances in VR, both in technology and creative content.
To learn more about SGO Mistika and to prepare your media workflow for today, tomorrow, and beyond, visit the Quantum booth at IBC2017 for an exclusive demo.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]