Inside automation
Oct 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Granby Patrick
Your guide to achieving successful systems integration in a cross-platform, multipurpose digital broadcasting environment starts here.
Systems
Systems from single manufacturers may be efficient only for performing the precise tasks for which they have been designed. However, caution needs to be applied because, in the future, the manufacturer may develop its system to benefit the maximum number of customers, which may not suit your own development path.
An option is to build a system from a selection of manufacturers' file-based products — each chosen to suit your application. These products must be integrated to support efficient workflows. Different products have different needs from their files.
An ingest or playout server will have a file structure that is designed to allow the server maximum levels of performance when recording or streaming the clips. This may mean that the video and the audio can be interleaved. It may also mean that an interframe compression is more efficient than an intraframe compression.
An archive system will be primarily concerned with the size of the files and the ease with which they can be managed. An editing system will be more tuned for rapid access to any part of the file, favoring intraframe compression, and allowing the playing of large numbers of separate audio files with the video. This tends to lead to a separate component (video and audio) file structure. Effects systems may store uncompressed video to reduce the effect that multiple generations of compression have on image quality.
Figure 1. Conceptual diagram showing integration process for file-based workflows
Click to enlarge
All of these systems have different file structures for different reasons, but they all need to be integrated. An integration layer will ensure that material can be moved as seamlessly as possible. Ideally, this integration layer will access one product in its native file format, convert the file and deliver to the target product in its native format, all without any interim copies, and as a continuous data stream offering the highest performance.
Moving the file is not enough. The metadata must stay with the file so that the workflow remains efficient. In most cases, the metadata relating to a clip is not stored with the clip itself but in a separate data structure — whether that be a database or simple clip reference file. The integration layer needs to fetch the metadata, translate it and deliver it to the target systems, at the same time as it is delivering the media. (See Figure 1.)
Control
The ability to move media is not useful without a method to control those movements. Like with video routers, the control system may be built into the integration layer application. Alternatively, there may be a need to manage and monitor these movements from a higher level control system that has business and workflow logic built into it. Of course, if both methods exist, any transactions initiated via an external control system should be visible using the manual method as well. In this way, it can act as a backup strategy in the event of a failure.
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