The content accumulated by a broadcaster, a company of media or other producer of content for television must be seen as a treasure, as valuable as the money in the vault of a bank. Unfortunately, in many cases, this is seen more like the old furniture that is kept in an attic: a hindrance dusty and inaccessible that takes up space.
Recent advances in technologies for storage and communications have made storage Digital something much less expensive and have improved dramatically media asset management or MAM (by Media Asset Management) and the management of the content storage or CSM (by Content Storage Management). These advances give new value to the contents of media stored and arrive to benefit not only to broadcasters but also to users in all fields: from sports teams and leagues to agencies of government.
First, it is important to keep in mind two important aspects. in media storage:
- How to access content that has already been saved, and
- How to develop a workflow that ensures a efficient and organized storage of added content today in a way that facilitates its future location.
In a modern workflow, part or all of the new content produced is probably already digitized while that the old man is still on videotapes. The idea of digitizing all that material on videotapes is, sometimes, so overwhelming that administrators are paralyzed by the single intention to make any changes. When this is the case, it is better to start in the present and work backwards. In others words, develop a modern workflow that ensures first the proper storage of the new material, and then, once the system is fully operational, take care of it then yes of the furniture in the attic, digitizing the old one stored content.
A media asset management or MAM solution is effective to organize the media files that need to be stored and to facilitate their subsequent identification. But that's only half the battle. It is also necessary retrieve the broadcast quality of the content itself from its original location, either on a disk drive in a server or on an LTO tape in a tape library of data and moving it to where it is needed. This can be a workstation to view or edit, or a server for reproduce.
Without a solution for storage management of contents or CSM, this step would continue to be manual, and it would potentially lead to a workflow shutdown. CSM is an abstraction layer that automates recovery and delivery of broadcast quality content. The solutions CSM are one of the most critical elements of a work. Silently and obediently works in the background, while it searches and locates media assets so that all other systems work to their maximum.
Solutions for storage management of Front Porch's Digital DIVArchive content offers a fast and efficient transfer of media files between multiple devices in a digital workflow, interacting transparently with MAM solutions and storage devices, and performing critical functions of transcoding of formats when necessary. The CSM solutions also play a key role in the content preservation. For example, such as storage of content depends on physical devices that can be damaged over time, performance decreases and data loss is a constant risk. To reduce this danger, solutions OF DIVArchive can be configured to move the data to a new data tape each time the tape on which it resides present some damage. DIVArchive also allows restoration partial content, which saves a lot of time since the download of media files, especially content in HD, can be very prolonged. Partial restoration is especially useful when creating promos or in any business where time is money.
A common stumbling block in the transition to infrastructure based on digital files is the inadvertent creation of silos of storage, which means that a general operation it tends to be segmented rather than integrated. In fact, the goal it is the opposite result, and it is one that can be achieved: work together and in harmony, MAM and CSM systems optimize collaborative workflows, making the operation a much more efficient and productive whole.
An installation that decides to improve its management of the storage can implement a CSM solution followed by a MAM, or both at the same time. Simultaneous deployment requires significant changes in the responsibilities of the and this change should be anticipated. Enter a CSM solution first and then a MAM is one more transition soft that can benefit both. The software for DIVArchive content storage management, from Front Porch Diogital can act as an interface for most MAM applications on the market. The broadcaster can implement a CSM system and then make the decision on how much invest and what level of functionality is needed from a MAM.
Effective media file management starts at the time of ingestion (or digitization), with the association of metadata. This is a job typically done by a MAM solution, and there are many effective MAM applications in the market. Comprehensive metadata includes keywords for traditional indexing, but the new generations of software for MAM can do much more, for example, extract automatically frames in a clip and use these frames to create a series of low-resolution proxies that allow navigation from a workstation. One MAM system can be configured later to take the first frame of each segment and assemble them into a sequence of images that reflect the contents of a clip.
Another alternative is DIVAdirector, from Front Porch, a form cost-effective to perform low-level navigation on internet of archived material. It's not functionally that complete as a MAM solution, but can be used transiently with CSM to help users evaluate their needs, educate themselves and determine what characteristics Additional ones can be helpful.
A final benefit of a storage solution Optimized that uses CSM is the renewed earning potential of all that stored content. Members of the generation iPods have an infinite appetite for programming received through of your MP3 devices, mobile phones and computers. To the recover the old content, this can become new programming. In other words, effective CSMs can easily create new revenue streams and generate opportunities for many organizations. And here, let me emphasize the word organization. Sometime the prohibitive costs of good media storage infrastructure restricted its use only to large broadcasters and conglomerates of media. That's not the case anymore. Today, a CSM solution is a excellent tool for any organization that produces or stores large amounts of media files. For example a regional sports team may have images of games that may be valuable for training or exploration, or even to repack and sell them to their fans or for a website. A municipal court system or a Legislative body may have images that may be useful for legal, historical or educational purposes.
An organization that fails to use its content stored is an organization that is wasting a resource. Remember the old pieces of furniture stored in the attic? Repaired and lacquered can become precious antiques.
