.jpg ) |
News
DAM conference reveals success and failure
Mar 17, 2006 8:00 AM, Strategic Content Management e-newsletter
The IT experts charged with deploying and maintaining digital asset management (DAM) systems at the major broadcast networks and other large media companies say separating the hype from reality is the first step to implementing such systems for the repurposing of assets and the creation of new business models.
At the 12th annual Henry Stewart Digital Asset Management (DAM) Symposium in New York City this week it was clear that the industry is still grappling with issues of file logging standardization and a common metadata description dictionary. The technology to deploy a DAM system is available, but at significant cost if you are not careful.
WGBH, the PBS station in Boston, MA, has been working on its version of an enterprise-wide DAM system since 1993, according to Dave MacCarn, chief technologist and DAM architect for the station. The station spent 15 months alone working on how to input metadata with each logged file and how these large databases and digital clips will be searched and retrieved.
Operating with a capacity of 12TB of storage, WGBH uses DAM software from Artesia Digital Media Group — in tandem with a Harris automation system as well as Grass Valley Profile and Sun Solaris servers — to manage content files and get them to the people that need them most. The station also uses a Sony PetaSite to archive digital files as 50Mb/s MPEG-2 content. There’s also Avid and Apple NLE workstations and Telestream’s transcoding technology in play.
WGBH works closely with Sun Microsystems to develop its DAM systems. The pair has established an I FORCE media lab on-site at the station in Boston where DAM technology is tested and deployed for a wide variety of visitors to see. Commercial and public broadcasters are encouraged to visit and get hands-on demos of several different DAM workflows, simply by making a free appointment.
In light of all this technology, sorting out the business case for funding the DAM system has been the station’s biggest challenge and one for many of the companies presenting case studies at the Henry Stewart DAM Symposium. Executives and upper management at virtually every company in attendance said they want a fast ROI on any DAM system or it won’t get funded.
MacCarn said that in order to avoid wasting time and money, it’s important for stations to develop a workflow that replicates what is already being done and to research the various vendors that supply the required DAM systems. This groundwork is critical before implementing any type of technology platform.
Roughly 850 attendees sat through two days of sessions and industry panel discussions that highlighted the success stories and the failures that DAM customers have experienced thus far. Most of the failures were the direct result of a company implementing technology before everyone in that company had a chance to weigh in on the type of system and user interface that was most critical to their specific tasks.
Without this input, employees tend to avoid using a system that doesn’t make their job easier. If the DAM system in place is not used to its fullest by everyone involved with the production/traffic process, the system becomes a costly hurdle and often gets in the way of a streamlined workflow.
Graham Allan, director, project management, Media Technology Board at The Walt Disney Company, said the global company continues to struggle to find common interfaces and DAM software that everyone is comfortable with. This has impeded the deployment of a company-wide system and instead has led to a wide variety of projects among Disney’s various production and distribution divisions. Allan is launching a new imitative within the company to develop a universal metadata database that everyone will one day use as part of the logging and search and retrieval of digital assets.
Allan said Disney needs a company-wide DAM implementation in order to easily adjust to the new emerging delivery platforms for its content. It’s a message every broadcaster considering a DAM system needs to hear.
Apple launches subscriptions to TV shows and sporting events
Mar 17, 2006 8:00 AM, Strategic Content Management e-newsletter
Adding to its growing list of available content for download to a PC or iPod, Apple Computer has now implemented subscriptions for TV shows and a season pass for network sports.
Apple is now offering two of Comedy Central’s premium programs on a monthly subscription basis through its iTunes music and video store. Also, it will also offer, in conjunction with CBS Sports, the 2006 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament on a season pass basis.
In partnership with Comedy Central owner MTV Networks, Apple is distributing “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report.” Viewers will be able to buy the next month’s series of 16 new episodes via MultiPass for $9.99, or to pay $1.99 per episode.
Eddy Cue, vice president of Apple’s iTunes, told Reuters that MultiPass is not a typical Web subscription service, but one where the viewer retains the downloaded file after the subscription expires.
Last week, Apple and CBS Sports announced that the 2006 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament would be made available on the iTunes Music Store. The condensed games will cost $1.99 each or $19.99 for a season pass, which includes all 63 games.
In addition to the individual games, full-length versions of this year’s semifinals and championship game, as well as compilations of buzzer beaters, upsets and memorable championship games from past NCAA tournaments will also be available on iTunes. The compilations are not part of the season pass and will sell for $1.99 each.
The games will be available to customers the day after they air on CBS and will automatically be added to the download cue.
Datawatch to acquire Clearstory System’s Radiant Document Solutions
Mar 17, 2006 8:00 AM, Strategic Content Management e-newsletter
ClearStory Systems, a provider of digital asset management (DAM) solutions, has agreed to sell its Radiant Document Solutions to Datawatch.
Under the terms of an asset purchase agreement, Datawatch will acquire intellectual property and a portfolio of assets associated with ClearStory’s Radiant Document Solutions, including its Radiant Business Document Server Suite and Radiant MailManager. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals.
Henry F. Nelson, ClearStory president and CEO, said the deal will allow the company to focus on its core digital media businesses. ClearStory’s ActiveMedia product is a digital asset management (DAM) solution for managing media content. It is built on ClearStory’s Enterprise Media Server (EMS) and is available both as an in-house or hosted solution.
For more information, visit www.clearstorysystems.com.
ABC “no longer slave to old business models”
Mar 17, 2006 8:00 AM, Strategic Content Management e-newsletter
Continuing to challenge traditional television distribution models, the ABC television network has revealed that it will soon begin offering many of its top shows on the Internet for free download.
The news came from Walt Disney CEO Robert Iger during the recent Bear Stearns Annual Media Investor Conference in Palm Beach, FL. It was reported by Daily Variety, the entertainment industry trade publication.
Iger revealed few details about the upcoming Web-based service, to be called MyABC, but did say the network will sell new advertising for the service rather than repurpose broadcast spots.
The ABC initiative would go beyond any previous alternative distribution effort by allowing, for the first time, regular Web-based downloads of premium network television programming.
Iger made it clear that maintaining current business relationships isn’t at the top of his agenda. “You have to be willing to put traditional business models and relationships aside in order to reach consumers,” he said. “We will no longer be slave to the old business models because consumers just don’t care about them.”
ABC became a pioneer in alternative program distribution last October when it signed up as the first television network to sell it programs for $1.99 each over Apple Computer’s iTunes.
Iger told the conference audience that Disney has sold more than $3 million downloads through iTunes since then, which is — Daily Variety estimated — about $6 million in gross revenue (of which ABC is believed to get about $4.2 million).
Technology/Applications
Sony to abandon further development of professional disc for data
Mar 17, 2006 8:00 AM, Strategic Content Management e-newsletter
 The PDD is similar in appearance and specs to the disc used for Sony’s XDCam and XDCAM HD optical disc recording system. |
Sony has decided to abandon any further development of its Professional Disc for Data (PDD), the pro version of its Blu-ray optical disc storage technology, the German Web site Heise Online reported last week.
The PDD is similar in appearance and specs to the disc used for Sony’s XDCam camcorder system. The report said that the broadcast version of the disc would not be affected by the decision.
The PDD cartridge disc can store up to 23GB of data. The XDCam disc has 23.3GB capacity, allowing 85 minutes camcorder running time at DVCAM quality or 45 minutes at the Digital Betacam format equivalent.
Sony’s Professional Division in the United States confirmed that the news concerning the Pro data disc would not affect the XDCam version of the disc because they reflect different formats.
The report said Sony’s original plan for the PDD was for the storage capacity and transfer rates to double from generation to generation every two to three years. To achieve this, Sony intended among other steps to use drives with two read and write heads. This approach has come to naught, however, Heise said.
Sony, the report said, will continue to sell its first-generation drives until the end of next year. Support for the devices would be maintained up until 2014. The company has said that the storage media will continue to be available beyond that date.
Sony has been far more aggressive with the consumer version of its Blu-ray disc technology. The first Blu-ray format consumer players are due to hit U.S. retail outlets on May 23. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and MGM Home Entertainment will first release eight Blu-ray titles, followed by another eight in mid-June.
Blu-ray is in a consumer format war against rival HD DVD. Toshiba, a key HD DVD proponent, plans to start rolling out movie titles and disc players this month.
Chinese encryption technology rejected
Mar 17, 2006 8:00 AM, Strategic Content Management e-newsletter
After an international standards organization rejected a Chinese encryption system, its promoters accused rivals of “dirty tricks,” the Associated Press reported.
After its rejection by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), China will continue to promote its WAPI standard and will use it domestically, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
China is promoting WAPI in an effort to reduce reliance on foreign technology and give its companies a competitive edge, the AP reported. ISO members rejected WAPI in favor of the U.S. standard known as 802.11i.
ChinaBWIPS, the official China Broadband Wireless IP standard group, issued a statement last week accusing backers of the American system of “a lot of dirty tricks including deception, misinformation, confusion and reckless charging to lobby against WAPI,” according to the Xinhua report The group did not elaborate on its charges.
China dropped an effort last year to make WAPI its mandatory national standard after the U.S. government complained that it would hamper access to the Chinese market for foreign companies, the AP said. Only eight of 25 ISO members voted in favor of China’s proposal.
The Chinese government claims that WAPI is more secure than 802.11i, developed by a group led by U.S.-based Intel.
RealVideo offers “best codec”
Mar 17, 2006 8:00 AM, Strategic Content Management e-newsletter
A new report evaluating the quality of streaming media codecs has chosen RealVideo as the best and Windows Media as one of the worst.
The findings came from StreamingMedia.com in two research reports, Proprietary Streaming Codecs, 2006 and Flash Codecs, 2006. The first report compares RealVideo and Windows Media with top Flash and H.264 codecs, while the second compares the quality of Flash video codecs and encoding tools.
The reports were written provide an objective counterbalance to the hyperbole coming from both the Flash and H.264 camps, StreamingMedia said. One of the key findings from the Proprietary report, for example, was that the quality of the best Flash and H.264 codecs still trailed RealVideo, often by a significant margin.
Files used to compare the technologies were encoded by Apple, Microsoft, and RealNetworks to ensure optimal quality. The report also compared the quality of prominent encoding tools such as Autodesk Cleaner XL, Canopus ProCoder, and Sorenson Squeeze, finding a significant disparity between the tools.
The Flash report found that On2’s VP6 codec was clearly superior to both Wildform and the Sorenson Spark codec, but that VP6 output quality varied widely between encoding tools. The report advises that producers can achieve optimal results with VP6 by customizing encoding parameters for video content and bit rate.
With some videos, particularly slow-motion talking-head shots, the report said, the Macromedia Flash 8 Video Encoder, using single pass, CBR encoding, produced better quality than either Squeeze or Flix Pro using two pass, VBR encoding.
To research the reports, the report’s author, Jan Ozer, produced a six-minute test file composed of 38 scenes representing typical business, sports, and entertainment videos, along with several animations and still image pans and zooms.
The reports analyzed video quality in up to five configurations — modem, 3GPP, 100 Kb/s, 300Kb/s and 500Kb/s — and compared frame quality, temporal and color quality, and playback smoothness. Buyers can download all videos and still image files used in the analysis, along with a convenient interface for viewing the video files and still images.
The reports help technology decision makers in corporations, media companies and mobile markets choose the best codec and compression tools and those producing streaming media to optimize quality and streamline work flow.
For more information, visit www.streamingmedia.com.
Podcast ad market to hit $300 million
Mar 17, 2006 8:00 AM, Strategic Content Management e-newsletter
Spending on advertising in podcasts will reach $300 million by 2010 — up from an estimated $80 million last year, says a new report from eMarketer.
The U.S. podcast audience would reach 50 million by 2010 — up from 5 million last year, the report predicted. Though not a mass audience, the report found podcasts hit a valuable one.
“Available data show that 18- to 35-year-olds are more aware of podcasting than other age groups, and that iPod ownership in the United States is skewed toward males, as is awareness of the term ‘podcasting,’” the report said. “An audience of tech-savvy males aged 18 to 35 is extremely attractive to many advertisers.”
New Products
Avid delivers AirSpeed 2.0 server
Mar 17, 2006 8:00 AM, Strategic Content Management e-newsletter
 Avid’s AirSpeed 2.0 system enables production of high-quality SD and HD segments with significant speed and reliability. |
Avid Technology has announced the availability of AirSpeed 2.0, an upgraded multi-purpose video ingest and playout server. The system now supports two new formats —uncompressed SD, and the Avid DNxHD format to facilitate HD production from capture to playout.
AirSpeed 2.0 is available in two versions: one that includes front-panel video control and monitoring; and another that is optimized for HD workflows and remote operation, offering four times the storage capacity in place of the front-panel controls and monitor.
The AirSpeed 2.0 system, Avid said, was designed to deliver video ingest and playback server functionality within a streamlined digital nonlinear production workflow. The system features VTR-like functionality with full remote programmability and control and offers interoperability with the Avid Unity family of shared-storage devices and nonlinear editing systems.
In conjunction with the Avid DNxchange system, which automatically encodes HD content from cameras, switches, routers, and decks into the Avid DNxHD format, the AirSpeed 2.0 system supports a range of HD resolutions and frame rates, including 1080i/59.95, 1080i/50 and 720p/59.94 converted to Avid DNxHD data rates of 145Mb/s or 120Mb/s. The AirSpeed 2.0 system also supports standard definition formats such as uncompressed SD, DV25, DV50, IMX30 and IMX 50.
Avid AirSpeed 2.0 is now available in a standard configuration for $18,000, or a version with four times greater storage capacity and without a front-panel controls and monitor for $20,000. Current AirSpeed customers under the Avid Assurance program can upgrade to AirSpeed 2.0 for free on the Avid Download Center.
For more information, visit www.avid.com.
MassLogger Gateway to debut at NAB2006
Mar 17, 2006 8:00 AM, Strategic Content Management e-newsletter
At the NAB convention (booth, # SU1642), Masstech Group will demonstrate its new MassLogger Gateway, used to implement and manage near-line archives. MassLogger Gateway expands the ability of the company’s MassLogger by providing a powerful management and control interface for external devices, such as a DVD library, tape archive or network attached storage (NAS).
MassLogger Gateway also provides an interface to the MassStore media life cycle management and archive, allowing users to integrate logged content into their existing archive infrastructure.
Designed for complex, high-demand environments, MassLogger Gateway allows multiple users to view and share logged content. It features an IT-centric database that automatically manages the transfer of logged material to archival devices while simultaneously allowing access to material from anywhere within the workgroup. Ensuring the continuous logging of all recorded channels, MassLogger Gateway sits in a 2RU chassis with dual redundant power supplies and dual power cords. MassLogger Gateway is also accessible from anywhere on the network with an intuitive Web interface.
For more information, visit www.masstech.com.
Thomson introduces content security and data management system
Mar 17, 2006 8:00 AM, Strategic Content Management e-newsletter
At the NAB2006 convention (booth #SU844), Thomson will unveil NexGuard, its comprehensive digital rights and content management package developed by the company’s Content Security teams in the United States, France and Germany.
The NexGuard suite of tools protects against piracy while tracing and monitoring digital content across the entire supply chain, from production to postproduction and distribution.
NexGuard includes watermarking, encryption, controlled access and forensic data solutions that manage and secure the storage, transfer and viewing of digital content. This content includes production dailies, postproduction elements, digital intermediates, feature films, digital broadcasts, digital cinema releases and DVD screeners. NexGuard also includes a content signature identification service that combats the illegal flow of entertainment titles on the Internet.
Thomson's digital watermarking technology embeds an invisible forensic mark in every frame through a data replacement process. The embedded information is linked to a database that automatically isolates the source of illegal content. In its robustness, capacity to store forensic data and ability to yield implicating information from a small amount of footage, Thomson's watermark exceeds the digital cinema specification requirements set by the Hollywood studio consortium, Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI).
For more information, visit contentsecurity.thomson.net.
ICTV shows personalized video mosaic technology
Mar 17, 2006 8:00 AM, Strategic Content Management e-newsletter
 The ICTV technology enables personal mosaics to be assembled by subscriber, operator or programmer choice or via system response to subscriber viewing habits via any digital set top box. |
ICTV is demonstrating the first subscriber-customizable video mosaic for navigation this week at the CableLabs Winter Conference in Colorado Springs.
ICTV’s mosaic solution, the initial result of its recent merger with Switched Media, enables cable system operators, programmers and integrators to deploy the video industry’s first interactive multichannel mosaics that can be aligned to reflect individual subscribers’ viewing preferences.
In addition to providing live video from and navigation through multiple channels simultaneously, the ICTV technology enables personal mosaics to be assembled by subscriber, operator or programmer choice or via system response to subscriber viewing habits, all on any digital set-top box, the company said.
The demonstration includes compilation of six live video feeds from a large group of channels, navigation and channel selection via the mosaic and insertion of new favorites into the mosaic to meet changes in viewing needs.
ICTV is also demonstrating the capability of blending interactive elements, including targeted advertising, within the mosaic screens.
For more information, visit www.ictv.com.
Volicon offers new media monitoring system
Mar 17, 2006 8:00 AM, Strategic Content Management e-newsletter
 The Observer UNO uses Volicon’s proprietary video processing technology to allow a large number of users simultaneous access to live and archived content on local networks and the Internet. |
Volicon, a provider of video monitoring, recording, archiving, and streaming products, has announced the Observer UNO, a new version of its Observer flagship media monitoring system designed especially for single-channel environments.
Like the traditional Observer, the lower-cost UNO uses Volicon’s proprietary video processing technology to allow a large number of users simultaneous access to live and archived content on local networks and the Internet. Users can log their own and competitors’ broadcasts, as well as retrieve and analyze video clips with metadata, locally or remotely. At 1RU, it takes up a smaller footprint than the traditional Observer and provides 30 (versus 180) maximum days of storage.
Using the Observer UNO, the company said broadcasters can save time in monitoring news and other broadcast content, especially in terms of searching and archiving operations. It automatically records content 24/7, allowing users access on their desktops.
For example, Volicon said the process of searching for, recording, editing and delivering news updates, which used to take hours to complete, can been reduced to minutes. In addition to UNO, Volicon will introduce version 2.0 of the Observer software at NAB2006.
For more information, visit www.volicon.com.
