At IBC2012, Signiant demonstrated technology enabling Signiant users to validate media files against both customer-defined and industry-standard specifications — such as AMWA AS-11 and Digital Production Partnership (DPP) SD and HD formats — prior to transfer. By enforcing asset compliance on the front end of the process, the solution dramatically lowers costs, time delays and rejection rates associated with receipt of improperly formatted files.
The patent-pending technology provides a cloud-based directory of broadcast content specifications and a mechanism for automatically checking files against a chosen specification. By registering their own customized delivery specification or referencing an industry standard, media enterprises can provide a uniform, readily accessible means of asset validation to their entire content delivery ecosystem. Significant throughput improvements at the ingest stage are possible when content provider partners are easily able to ensure compliance prior to submittal.
The new asset validation technology lets Signiant administrators associate a delivery specification template with a file transfer process or workflow. When processing a delivery, the system creates a "metadata fingerprint" of the file and sends it to the cloud for validation against the delivery specification. This minimizes the data transfer necessary to check the file and moves validation out of the client into the cloud. If the file conforms to the assigned specification, then the transfer or automated process is allowed to continue. If it does not comply, a description of noncompliance is returned, and users are allowed to retry.