FierceCable is the pay-TV industry’s daily monitor, giving video providers, vendors and content creators the competitive advantage they need to stay on top of everything in TV production.

We were recently asked to contribute to FierceCable’s latest ebook titled The art of optimizing media asset management. Covering everything from modernizing MAM systems to how users can leverage viewership with data, our ceo Dave Cole is quoted in the ebook which was published this month.

Speaking in the ebook about how data can be used in today’s asset management systems Dave said “analytical data is critical for the future of the MAM and PAM [production asset management] market. It generates an enormous amount of very interesting and very valuable data that needs to be captured. It needs to be analyzed and presented back to both the business owners and also the business drivers.”

Dave also spoke to Kendra Chamberlain – one of the ebook’s authors – about the migration of content production to the digital space and noted that “the net result is that now you have more digital assets to manage, you have to look for modern ways to handle those assets.”

It’s because of this shift to digital that asset management is more important than it’s ever been. Increasingly, it isn’t just the traditional media companies that need ways to better manage assets whether these are video, audio, graphics or even documents. From retailers like Home Depot to government agencies like NASA, IPV’s Curator system has been deployed to help companies better manage assets and create more efficient production workflows.

IPV’s MAM system streams proxies for better use of talent and resources

Cambridge, UK. 19 April 2017 – At the 2017 NAB Show, IPV will be showing several significant improvements to the integrations between its MAM system, Curator, and Adobe Creative Cloud^® software including Adobe^® Premiere^® Pro CC and Adobe After Effects^® CC and the Adobe Team Projects (Beta) collaboration service.

The latest versions of the integrated panels for the Adobe video applications will be demonstrated on booth N5925 and will show how editors and producers benefit from easy access to content and improved asset management. Most importantly, the integrations make it easier for editors and post-production professionals to work with Curator-managed assets, no matter where the assets are stored.

Adobe Team Projects, currently in beta, enables teams in different locations to work together on shared sequences and comps in real time smoothly and securely. With Adobe Team Projects workflows, Adobe Premiere Pro, Prelude and After Effects users can create and work on team projects from any location using local or network-shared assets. Working in a comfortable, familiar home base or studio, makes it easier to keep the focus on the creative elements of their jobs, with their content managed by Curator. Even when original high-resolution content is archived or unavailable, streaming proxy files using Curator’s integrated panels with Adobe Premiere Pro allows editors to continue with their work, without unnecessary delays.

Once editing is complete, users can also ‘remote render’ assets with Curator, applying effects and transitions to source material no matter where it’s stored – even if it’s in another country.

“Our integration with industry-leading software like Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects, including the Team Projects collaboration service, means users of our Curator system are more easily able to move, manage and monetize their assets,” said David Cole, CEO at IPV.

The Adobe-integrated panels also lets users search for and discover assets as well as add live markers to media, check in and out content, and allow the straight-forward overall management of productions, tasks or sequences. The solution makes it easier for multiple editors or effects artists to collaborate on from wherever they are, on whichever edit station. Adobe Team Projects is available now for Adobe Creative Cloud for teams and enterprise customers.

The system will be on display on booth N5925 at the 2017 NAB Show between 24 – 27 April 2017.

Curator MAM system integrated with BlackPearl converged storage system for faster content access

Cambridge, UK. 25 April 2017 – In an announcement that enables Spectra Logic storage system users to more easily manage their stored content, the company (Spectra Logic) has certified IPV as one of its technology partners. IPV’s MAM system Curator is now  directly integrated with the BlackPearl converged storage system, helping content producers and owners address the needs of today’s content production infrastructures.

Having easy, fast access to media in order to create engaging programming has become increasingly important for users creating, broadcasting and publishing content for a number of different platforms in multiple formats. The partnership between IPV and Spectra Logic lets users more effectively manage their media’s growing number of variants and ensure it is stored long-term on the most appropriate storage tier – whether cloud, tape or spinning disc.

The IPV-integrated BlackPearl system can be easily deployed in a number of ways including in the cloud, on-premises or in a hybrid workflow of the two. This means users can migrate away from outdated legacy storage and management systems and design a modern, easy to use solution that works best for them, with a predicted cost model as the system scales.

“Making sure users can benefit from the right storage system underneath their MAM is key to letting our customers make, manage and move their media in the right way,” said Nigel Booth, EVP business development and marketing at IPV. “Being certified as a partner by Spectra Logic, and being able to integrate our Curator system into BlackPearl, lets joint users deliver content from a workflow that better suits today’s media production market.”

By combining IPV Curator and Spectra Logic’s BlackPearl, systems are given a level of built-in intelligence that makes sure stored content is done so on the right storage tier. Using Curator’s contextual metadata and the flexibility of the BlackPearl platform, assets are designated a level of deep storage not just based on their age but their usage and relevance.

This means assets relevant to a breaking story will be available when users need them, media stays online until it’s been delivered and scheduled to the right platform and source material remains accessible while users work on multiple versions of the same media.

“Spectra Logic’s BlackPearl converged storage system uses a cloud architecture model to simplify deployment, use, and management of large data sets,” said Matt Starr, chief technology officer, Spectra Logic. “Integrating our deep storage solution with IPV in this way means that together we can deliver a solution that meets the growing demand for content by audiences.”

The joint solution can be integrated by IPV or through the company’s channel partners. The Curator and BlackPearl systems will be on display on IPV’s booth (N5925) and Spectra Logic’s booth (SL11816) at the 2017 NAB Show between 24 – 27 April 2017.

Cambridge, UK. 3 May 2017 – Media management technology specialist, IPV today announces that the KSE Network Operations Center (KNOC) located in Centennial, CO – which is the production and distribution facility for Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE) network properties – has purchased its Curator MAM system.

The system will initially be used to manage media throughout the organizations post-production processes and will play a key part in the continued tactical and strategic development of the KSE network’s media properties. Installed and integrated by IPV partner StorExcel, Curator will be used by production teams that create content for the Altitude Sports & Entertainment channel which broadcasts live and studio-based programming of the KSE-owned franchises. These include the Denver Nuggets (NBA), Colorado Avalanche (NHL), Colorado Rapids (MLS) and Colorado Mammoth (NLL) as well as regional collegiate and high school sports events.

The deployment of this new media management and storage infrastructure comes as part of a larger digital content initiative aimed at the centralization, indexing and distribution of premium content across numerous KSE media outlets. As the need for media has grown across the KSE organization, IPV offers them flexibility in working with low resolution content, as well as seamless integration into their existing facility.

StorExcel will initially install the new workflow at the KNOC facility. It will sit on a storage workflow comprised of multiple Quantum storage platforms including Xcellis workflow storage and AEL Tape Library powered by StorNext advanced data management software.

“The beauty of this project is that we got to start fresh. This doesn’t come too often but we had minimal legacy systems to work around,” said Lance Hukill, President of StorExcel. “This is a project that we’ve worked closely with IPV and KSE on to make sure we can deliver the speed and easy to use of content management that are expected in today’s sports organizations.”

As well as delivering content to air for Altitude Sports & Entertainment, KNOC also shares and serves media to Pepsi Center Broadcast Services group, who support in game entertainment for the Nuggets, Avalanche and Mammoth as well as for multiple music and entertainment events.

“We knew we needed to install a system that would help us deliver content to multiple users, mostly at the same time, and as fast as possible,” said David Zur, SVP of Operations and Engineering at KSE Media Ventures. “Once we ingest media, we need to be able to log it, attach metadata, store it and access it again extremely quickly. IPV’s robust Curator system makes sure all our assets are uniform in their tagged data so they’re easy to recall. If you can’t find it, you don’t own it.”

“Centralizing and conforming our media so it’s accessible and easy to find is the initial goal of this new installation,” added Brent Kline, Senior Director of Technology at KSE Media Ventures. “The next stage of the technical deployment will see a wider roll out of the systems we’re putting in place – we’ve been very selective of the components for the first phase workflows, specifically so we can grow in the coming years with the systems we’ve chosen today.”

Initially, a small group of 15 users will use Curator to find, manage and access media for the edit of long-form and promotional content. In the next phases of the infrastructure deployment, content will be made more widely available across the entire KSE family of businesses.

The IPV Curator system and associated storage workflow will be installed and operational by the end of May.

Following a successful 2017 NAB Show in Las Vegas, IPV’s Nigel Booth was invited as a guest onto Digital Production BuZZ, the podcast which works to keep listeners in touch with trends and technologies within digital production, post-production and distribution.

The show’s host Larry Jordan wanted to get to know IPV to better understand MAM, systems that are commonly misunderstood or simply not used. In their interview, Nigel describes the Curator system and speaks about the different production infrastructures that it’s perfectly suited to including broadcast – the product’s key driver – enterprise, sports and increasingly reality, or ‘unscripted’ TV.

In a world where more and more products are being turned into services and deployed in ways that don’t rely on hardware, Nigel explains to Larry how Curator’s flexible nature means it can be deployed in several states whether on- or off-premises, in the cloud or as a subscription service to name a few. He also speaks about Curator’s industry-leading proxy workflows as an important element to the system as editors can work with low-res versions of content, to instantly share edits and assets.

“In the context of clients we have such as Hearst […] – they’re registering content through their 32 different locations throughout the US, and proxies are being created locally and are then able to be shared right the way across the enterprise. So if somebody sees the requirement to use a piece of high res content, we will move it in the background seamlessly.”

Curator is also an incredibly scalable solution which can be implemented for anything from just a couple of users up to many users in any number of locations. Nigel explains “we often say that part of the beauty of Curator is it’s an extremely flexible solution but of course part of the problem is, it’s an extremely flexible solution.”

To listen to the interview which aired on May 4 2017 use the media player below. Or to read a full transcript of it head to www.Digitalproductionbuzz.com.

At IBC2017, our CEO Dave Cole sat down with the IABM’s Ben Dales to talk about media asset management, the latest advancements in our Curator platform and our presence at Europe’s leading media, entertainment and technology show.

Dave spoke to Ben about how the flexible and scalable nature of Curator enables creative businesses to make the most from their assets. Whether focused on ingest and acquisition of assets or post-production and management of content, Curator can be deployed in a way to best suit the end user.

As more users recognize the benefits of off-premise deployments, we’re seeing more of our customers shift towards cloud- or hybrid-based MAM systems. Because Curator is built on a suite of microservices, it’s always been easy for us to take advantage of new technology developments, meaning we are already rolling it out in the cloud or in an on/off-premise deployment.

And while cloud was the talk of the town at the show because it benefits users by connecting remote workers and content workflows, it’s really down to what works best for each customer – on-premise, off-premise or hybrid.

Just before IBC2017, I once again joined Larry Jordan on the Digital Production BuZZ podcast. On the show, we spoke about the benefits of deploying MAM in the cloud and how our Curator system can integrate with artificial intelligence (AI) tools for a much richer asset management experience.

Curator is available as an on-premise, cloud or hybrid deployment. At IBC, we demonstrated the cloud-based possibilities of the system on the Microsoft booth, where our integration with Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services demo gained a lot of attention.

With today’s connected production environments, benefiting from the cloud isn’t just about storage and creating a proxy. It’s about streaming content and giving multiple users the ability to interact with all their available assets in a distributed environment.

On the show, I also explained to Larry that by integrating with Microsoft’s AI tools, IPV can easily offer advanced features including voice-to-text and object recognition within the content. This means that it can be analyzed and ingested directly into Curator with additional metadata for richer search and retrieval.

Listen to my full interview with Larry Jordan on Digital Production BuZZ here.

Listen two an excerpt of the interview.

Media management specialist offers flexible deployment models for its unique proxy-based workflows through the Curator platform

Cambridge, UK. October 2, 2017 – Media management technology specialist IPV will present its latest advanced production management and remote editing tools at NAB Show New York. Visitors to booth N1159 will discover how IPV’s in-demand Curator platform can make using the cloud a reality for production and creative services through its unique proxy-based workflows. They will also gain valuable insight into which type of MAM deployment – hosted service, cloud-based platform, on-premises installation or a hybrid of them all – is right for them.

More IPV MAM solutions have been deployed in North America than anywhere else in the world, as forward-thinking organizations that own and produce content recognize the benefits of being able to easily use or re-use media assets in fast turnaround workflows such as sports. This is particularly relevant as the focus shifts from the management of single assets to complete creative services workflows for entire productions, incorporating the required elements such as video graphics and effects.

The Curator platform arrives at NAB Show New York with increased functionality for editors, following recent high-profile integrations with Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects, and Avid. From hosted services to SAAS, subscription, and on-prem & off-prem to the more typical hybrid approach, IPV’s MAM solutions allow editing from the cloud to live production. By registering content from any location proxies, will be created and shared geographically across a distributed workforce. This means that multiple copies of high resolution are avoided and access to assets made available to everyone in the team.

As the amount of content being created continues to grow, so does the need to be able to manage, find and retrieve it easily. New third party cognitive services based on artificial intelligence are set to revolutionise metadata tagging, which was once a labor-intensive task. Available through IPV’s Curator platform, this emerging technology augments the logging and annotation of content as well as the use of controlled and cleaned vocabulary to ultimately make finding content much simpler. These AI advancements will be on show on the IPV booth throughout NAB Show New York.

“North America is our biggest market, and we have many high-profile clients that are using our Curator platform including Hearst, The Golf Channel, Turner, Home Depot, AMPAS, A+E, NASA and Monster Energy, so it’s important that we’re present at a key industry gathering like NAB Show New York,” said Dave Cole, IPV’s CEO. “With the growing amount of assets that broadcasters, sports organizations and enterprises are creating, it’s never been more important to have a streamlined asset management system such as Curator. If a content owner cannot search for and find its valuable assets, then it may as well not have them.”

As well as exhibiting at NAB Show New York, IPV will also host two seminars at the event in the Connected Media|IP Theater. The first is at 2pm on Wednesday October 13, and the second is on Thursday October 14 at 11am.

NAB Show New York takes place at NYC’s Javits Convention Center from Wednesday 18 to Thursday 19 October. IPV’s booth is N1159, which is located on Exhibit Hall Level 3 in Hall 3B.

FierceCable is the pay-TV industry’s daily monitor, giving video providers, vendors and content creators the competitive advantage they need to stay on top of everything in TV production.

We were recently asked to contribute to FierceCable’s latest ebook titled The art of optimizing media asset management. Covering everything from modernizing MAM systems to how users can leverage viewership with data, our ceo Dave Cole is quoted in the ebook which was published this month.

Speaking in the ebook about how data can be used in today’s asset management systems Dave said “analytical data is critical for the future of the MAM and PAM [production asset management] market. It generates an enormous amount of very interesting and very valuable data that needs to be captured. It needs to be analyzed and presented back to both the business owners and also the business drivers.”

Dave also spoke to Kendra Chamberlain – one of the ebook’s authors – about the migration of content production to the digital space and noted that “the net result is that now you have more digital assets to manage, you have to look for modern ways to handle those assets.”

It’s because of this shift to digital that asset management is more important than it’s ever been. Increasingly, it isn’t just the traditional media companies that need ways to better manage assets whether these are video, audio, graphics or even documents. From retailers like Home Depot to government agencies like NASA, IPV’s Curator system has been deployed to help companies better manage assets and create more efficient production workflows.

Customer profile

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) – in addition to recognizing excellence in filmmaking at the Oscars – supports the art and science behind movies. A key part of this is its vast content library and film archive – a collection of priceless content that’s not available anywhere else in the world and preserves the industry’s rich and storied history.

Alongside a huge archive of films – both in digital formats and on traditional filmstock – AMPAS keeps archived footage and programming of the Oscars itself – adding another 50TB of digital files from each years’ awards. The academy is also due to open the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in 2019, another project which will utilize the archive, using historical film content for its exhibitions.

AMPAS’ home – the Pickford Center in Hollywood

Challenges for AMPAS

AMPAS needed a new way to manage all of these assets. It had to put in place a system that ensures easy accessibility in the future by digitizing, logging and attaching metadata to content from 25 separate databases. It needed a way to manage assets that was fast and efficient and could execute certain functions automatically. The system also had to have a hardy metadata workflow for better search and find functionality once digitization was complete.

Solution

AMPAS worked with IPV to develop a system that would let its teams quickly and easily search, find and discover assets throughout its archives. It knew that creating proxies of its assets was the best way to manage its large amount of content. Because IPV is the pioneer of proxy-based workflows, Curator was the perfect choice for the new system.

“The use of proxies in our archive isn’t to be underestimated. We’re managing hundreds of files at once – some might be up to 400Gb,” added Kite. “Making proxies of these files was the best way to create an archive of assets we could easily download, edit and use. It also allows us to reduce additional unnecessary re-processing of these important film assets.”

The system that combines IPV’s Curator and an OpenText application uses proxies to minimize files sizes during file management. This allows the Academy to manage its archive using low-resolution versions of content that take up just 2% of the original file size.

It picks up an asset and an operator decides whether it needs to be preserved. The workflow then automatically creates the proxy and processes the contents’ associated physical metadata which includes things like title, format, length and the year it was produced. The implemented system quickly began the ingest process and manages approximately 500TB of AMPAS’ data.

Curator is also used to add more metadata to the collection of historic film content. This is done by attaching informational tags to content which AMPAS uses to more easily search and find assets once they’ve been inputted into the system. Tags can cover a range of things, from the actors – or objects – that appear in a scene to what color shoes someone was wearing on the red carpet.

Outcomes

Having in-depth metadata like this produces better search functionality so that staff and editors can easily find the best results. For example, 2017 saw Donald Sutherland awarded the Academy Honorary Award at the Oscars so AMPAS’ editorial team needed to create a highlights reel to play during the ceremony. With a collection of digitized assets that are correctly tagged, all an operator needs to do is search his name and every piece of content they own in which Donald Sutherland appears will be presented.

They might then find something they wouldn’t have otherwise thought of and use it to create the most engaging content for audiences possible. At the same time, it speeds up the production process significantly and creates an archive that’s futureproofed.
How AMPAS benefits

• Flexible & API-driven – The implemented system is completely customizable and configurable. The flexibility of the platform meant AMPAS was able to easily integrate it with other management systems.
• Proxy-based workflows – IPV’s proxy-based workflows have helped AMPAS to more easily manage huge files without needing to move high-resolution versions. When implemented, it’s able to reduce file sizes down to 2% of the original.
• Automated functionality – having an open platform meant that AMPAS was able to write specific script that automated certain aspects of the Curator system, helping it save time and resources.
• Conforming multiple formats – One of the main goals of the project was to bring together multiple archives of content. Curator enabled for everything to be conformed, no matter what file format the original took.

Conclusion – pushing the boundaries of the technology

AMPAS’ new system needed to be able to easily manage a large number of disparate assets, often of enormous scale. But it also needed to have multiple elements – a hardy proxy workflow, adaptive software services, the ability to look after multiple formats and to be open for simple integration with a number of other systems. Above all, it needed to provide an intuitive and collaborative user experience for anyone managing content.

Click here to download a PDF version of this case study.

Or for a more in-depth explanation of how AMPAS manages its assets, read the full case study from IPV.

Customer profile

When The Home Depot was founded in 1978, Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank had no idea how revolutionary their new “hardware store” would be. Today it’s the world’s largest home improvement retailer with nearly 400,000 staff and over 2200 stores. Creating and maintaining cohesive communications across the brand is a huge challenge.

To address this, Home Depot Television was set up inside the chain’s Atlanta-based Store Support Center, tasked with the production of video content that acts as a communication tool to help maintain the company’s culture. Content is produced in a studio, delivered via satellite to televisions and streamed to PCs and mobile devices.

The Home Depot Television’s studio facility 

Challenges for The Home Depot

To create and output this content, Home Depot Television operates a full-service production and broadcast facility. When notified that the development of its Harmonic ProExplore archiving system would be ending, the channel’s manager of BTV engineering Bruce Covey wanted to put in place a much more robust archive system to replace it.

At the same time Home Depot Television found itself in the position that many broadcasters do – it needed to do more with less. While content production isn’t Home Depot’s primary business, it still needed a system that was sophisticated enough to produce and distribute a huge amount of video while being easy to use. It also needed to provide a high level of support for the Home Depot Television’s production team.
.

Solution

After learning of several installs of IPV technology in ‘heavy-hitting’ broadcast facilities around the world including CNN, it was clear to Home Depot Television that Curator would do everything it needed, and more. And because the system’s built with an architecture of microservices, Curator can be scaled up or down to match resource and budgetary requirements.

The software framework for the project was created back at IPV headquarters in the UK, where its technical services team worked closely with Home Depot Television to build a Curator system that was configured to exactly meet the channel’s requirements.

It was implemented to meet the company’s initially small-scale requirements and run on three in-house Windows Server VMs where Covey’s team exclusively utilizes Curator’s web-based interface to access the system. Interfaced with a XenData/QualStar LTO storage system, Curator supports multiple microservices for the channel including IIS, IPVXCode, ClipSelect, DeviceDirector, ProcessEngine and AME transcoding.

The IPV Curator system is designed to allow Home Depot Television to find content faster and more efficiently, whether the team wants to pull materials from archive for new programming edits, or redeliver existing video content in new formats. For the fastest management, the IPV system is configured with a proxy view, allowing the teams to watch content without needing to restore high-res files. This means that they can use resources to focus on producing content, rather than wasting time on production tasks.

Curator is configured with a seamless connection to Home Depot Television’s Harmonic MediaGrid storage system which lets the team quickly and easily bring video clips back online – in high or low resolution. It can also be used to create playlists of content for editing and transcoding functions.

How The Home Depot benefits

• Speed of access – deploying Curator lets Home Depot Television speed up production processes, meaning that the same sized team can produce more content
• Third party integration – close integration with storage and archive solutions allows Home Depot Television to more easily manage and recall assets
• Proxy-based workflows – being able to view low-resolution proxy files means production teams can review content without having to restore high resolution files
• Scalable solution – because Curator is built on microservices, Home Depot could implement a small workflow which can grow as its needs to

Conclusion 

Speeding up functions, adding the ability to view proxies and integrating with a storage system has allowed Home Depot Television to create a much more effective overall production process. “The speed and efficiency of the interface allows us to quickly locate, view and restore projects, individual files, or selected sub-clips to our online editing, transcoding and delivery systems,” explains Covey.

IPV works closely with customers, designing systems that are modern, highly configurable and open. It then adds to this with technical and operational support for customers.

Click here to download a PDF version of this case study.

Asset management provider will also demonstrate cloud editing and AI media tadding from its new location in south lower hall 

Cambridge, UK. March 5, 2018 – At the 2018 NAB Show, media technology specialist IPV will be presenting Curator 2.0 – the latest version of its asset management system. It will also showcase its  cloud editing functionality and AI-powered metadata tagging from a new position in the Las Vegas Convention Center’s south lower hall – booth number SL4905.

IPV Curator 2.0

On display at the show will be a new version of IPV’s asset management system, a software that makes it easier to move, manage and monetize media assets. Curator 2.0 will be presented to visitors, demonstrating a multitude of new features like easier version control, thesaurus search-term functionality, and automated subtitling.

With the proliferation of video content across multiple industries and the fast pace that assets are being added, Curator 2.0 provides significant improvements to its installation processes. This means it’s even easier to deploy better asset management workflows inside any kind of configuration for traditional broadcasters, sports teams or leagues, creative agencies, education or houses of worship.

Cloud integration

As more businesses operate internationally, Curator’s ability to be deployed in a cloud-centric workflow will be a highlight at the show as well as the cloud-integrated editing functions available when using tools like Adobe Premiere Pro CC. Anyone managing content using Curator is able to search, find and utilize assets using a dedicated panel inside their Adobe editing window, no matter where media is stored – even if it’s 2000 miles away.

The easily-installed Curator platform can be deployed on-premise, in the cloud, or as part of a hybrid workflow. Because it’s built as a suite of microservices, Curator can be scaled in line with business needs,  and is available through a subscription or software as a service model – one that’s becoming increasingly popular.

Curator’s cloud-deployed integration with the Adobe suite. 

Intelligent tagging 

While the 2018 NAB Show is expected to see many speaking about the place of AI in future production workflows, IPV will demonstrate an AI-enhanced metadata application in Curator that can be deployed today., Curator’s automatic intelligent tagging process lets users more easily associate relevant metadata tags with media without using expensive resources. During ingest, the integrated-AI word-to-text functionality processes media and uses the output to automatically create and attach metadata to assets.

IPV’s technology enables much more than other asset management systems. Instead of simply searching and finding content, its integration with editing tools and ability to be deployed in any workflow allows you to do more with assets. By enhancing entire workflow processes – from ingest to archive, from tagging to editing and finally, publication – Curator paves the way for users to create something engaging.

IPV will be presenting its technical demonstrations at the 2018 NAB Show – on booth SL4905 – from April 9-12. To learn more about what the Curator platform can do for your organization or to book a meeting at the show, head to our NAB booking form.

Media technology specialist IPV, today announces Curator 2.0 – the new package of their asset management software that’s used by the likes of NASA, AMPAS, KSE and Turner Broadcast. Easier to deploy and equipped with a range of enhanced features, the upgraded system will make its debut on IPV’s booth (SL4905) throughout the 2018 NAB Show.

Curator is designed to improve overall production workflows inside any organization, from traditional broadcasters to sports teams and leagues, as well as creative agencies, educational institutions and houses of worship. The new version of the system benefits from a faster installation process due to fewer manual configurations.

It also features added integrations with third-party technology providers like Microsoft Azure as well as Amazon Web Services. New integrations are being added all the time to provide users with much more cost-effective workflows.

One of Curator 2.0’s most innovative technical features is its intelligent automation of subtitles. Integrating with Azure Media Services, the system saves time and expensive resources, giving users the ability to automatically generate subtitles for all their assets. This is especially useful for educational institutions that don’t have limitless resources but need to comply with legislation by providing accessible video content to all viewers.

Easily rolled-out in a cloud-based, local or hybrid installation, Curator 2.0 also features Clip Link Collections which gives users the ability to easily keep track of assets. Using the feature, selected media can be added to a collection, sent to a specified destination or shared with other users. Project Versioning has also been added to Curator’s Adobe integration, improving the management and collaboration within the editing software to ensure every version of a project is automatically stored and giving producers an overview of who created a version, and when.

To give users more control over their metadata, Curator 2.0 also features a new thesaurus search feature in Curator Logger. This means that they can ensure that metadata remains accurate and that they are using the same terminology as their colleagues. Users can now quickly switch between workspaces to view metadata that matches the type of content they’re working on.

IPV will be presenting Curator 2.0 at the 2018 NAB Show – on booth SL4905 – from April 9-12. To learn more about what the Curator platform can do for your organization or to book a meeting at the show, head to the NAB booking page.

Integration with Adobe Premiere Pro CC and After Effects CC brings enhanced post-production processes, even when working remotely

Throughout the 2018 NAB Show, media management software specialist IPV demonstrated enhanced integration with the Adobe® Creative Cloud® video tools. Curator for Adobe is an extension available for use in Adobe Premiere® Pro CC and Adobe After Effects® CC, key components of Adobe Creative Cloud, that lets users benefit from access to their Curator asset management system directly from within their chosen post production software.

Using Curator for Adobe’s video tools, editors can take advantage of Curator’s powerful media asset management and discover functionality. They can stream proxies directly into their Creative Cloud applications where they can also switch between low and high-resolution assets when needed. And during live and near-live operations, Curator Logger gives users immediate access to an asset’s live markers in Adobe Premiere Pro as they’re added to the Curator system.

The latest version of Curator for Adobe’s video tools features new functionality that speed up global content creation, making it as seamless a process as possible. Included is the new Collections feature which takes a group of assets selected in Curator Clip Link and adds them to a Collection so that they can be easily used later as part of an Adobe project. Collections lets users more easily group together content for faster post production workflows. This is especially useful in a sports production context when editing content shot from multiple angles or by an agency when selecting clips that need to be used for a specific brand’s promotion or campaign.

James Varndell, IPV’s product manager

Another key update to Curator is enhanced project versioning functionality that allows Adobe users to easily store and manage multiple versions of an edit instead of only the last one. When submitting a version, editors can add notes to let everyone know who created it, when, and why. This feature is designed to facilitate collaboration, especially when users aren’t co-located, helping editors avoid conflict and duplication of effort. Essentially it also lets producers maintain an overview of where resources are being used.

Also in the updated extension is the possibility to export a composition directly from After Effects CC, locally or remotely, as a job managed by Curator.

This means that you don’t need to be in the same place as your high-resolution content and can export edited programming from remotely-located production facilities.

Talking about the updates to Curator for Adobe, IPV product manager James Varndell commented: “Curator for Adobe is designed to make team collaboration better especially when editors and producers are working independently from production bases. The long term partnership between IPV and Adobe continues to deliver major benefits to production workflows across creative teams, sports industries, enterprises and houses of worship. The new features we’ll be demonstrating at NAB make it easier than ever to find content and bring efficiencies to your production process.”

Customer profile

One of the oldest French-language television channels in Canada, Télévision Francophone de l’Ontario is an independent agency of the provincial government of Ontario. Known today as Groupe Média TFO, the organization has two production studios in its Toronto headquarters and is recognized as the go-to resource for Canadian – and international – audiences seeking high-quality educational and cultural content in French.

The organization’s channel, TFO, is available on multiple Canadian broadcast services and publishes a huge amount of content on its dedicated website, as well as through social media.

TFO’s ‘content factory’ in Ontario, Canada

Challenges for TFO

Today’s consumers are no longer just watching programming on linear services on the main screen in the house, especially kids and younger generations. In order to meet the demands for more content, delivered faster to several platforms at once – whether for broadcast, online or social media – TFO needed to overhaul its production workflows.
The new production infrastructure had to be able to meet the need to capture, edit and output more content,, while at the same time be fast and efficient. TFO wanted to be able to send people out into the field and have content they were shooting on air, or published, within hours. Gone are the days where news sources would simply produce a daily show. Topical stories or current events need to be made available to audiences as soon as possible after they take place. If they’re not, consumers will simply go to another outlet.
Any content or programming also had to be made easily accessible to everyone, whether in-house or freelance directors, producers or journalists. As with any production infrastructure, integration with third-party systems was also key – TFO needed to retain a well-established Louise asset management platform from Pro Consultant Informatique which looks after the channel’s contracts, media rights and schedules. The new production infrastructure needed to be tightly integrated with Louise, as well as TFO’s Adobe Premiere Pro editing system.

Solution

TFO’s technical team worked closely with systems integrator Applied Electronics to develop a new workflow at the core of its production processes. IPV’s Curator system was installed to provide the fundamental production asset management layer. Its main role is to make it easy to manage the flow of content around the entire infrastructure, while also providing seamless integration with the Louise business and Adobe editing systems.

Immediate content editing

To meet the demand for more content, TFO is now able to use Curator to support shooting content on multiple devices. It bolstered its acquisition workflow, which had consisted of Sony P2 camcorders, by adding Canon EOS C300s, as well as iPad shooting kits, which let them capture video, quickly edit clips and deliver it directly to the Curator network using an app from Signiant.

After shooting, content is made available for editing using a frame-accurate Curator Proxy before the ingest is even complete. This means a journalist can start working on their programming immediately, while the story is still new. To support this kind of immediate publishing or editing functionality, TFO went from their original setup of three edit suites to more than 50 – each running a Curator-supported Premiere Pro system.

Proxy-based workflows

The use of proxies is one of the Curator system’s key benefits to an organization like TFO. Packages of programming can be completed at one of their 50 desktop suites by an editor using low resolution proxies and a render farm, which is attached to the network and managed by Curator. This conforms the content and automatically prepares it for distribution.

IPV was the first technology provider to introduce proxy-based workflows to the production industry and is a recognized leader in the technology. In a tiered storage infrastructure, using Curator proxies can save up to 98% of a single tier’s capacity, saving money as well as speeding up finding material, editing and archiving processes.

Seamless editing integration

Curator-managed content is easily made available to editors through an integrated panel within Premiere Pro. Content recently shot and ingested into the system can be streamed into a timeline for editing, and users can easily find assets in Curator for inclusion in the project.

Producers never need to think about delivery formats. Curator manages all of the ‘work in progress’ material on a network cluster of Isilon nodes. Alongside storage, the production and render farm are completely format agnostic.

Content is created in a standardized workflow, then delivered to whatever platform is appropriate. The delivery – transcoding, repacking of the metadata and so on – is handled automatically by Curator, according to TFO’s predefined rules.

Control room content management

As part of its production infrastructure overhaul, TFO also built a new control room for its two production studios. The way it’s been integrated means it can be managed by two operators alongside the detector and PA.

If any assets need playing into a production, the operator can easily call it up from Curator for inclusion. The programming is recorded directly to the server, and graphics and captions are created in Adobe, again all controlled by the Curator system.

By creating studio content in this way using Curator, operators can easily clip up recordings and assemble edit an entire show at the same time as they’re shooting. It allows them to complete programming alongside the studio shoot rather than needing to do it afterwards, making the process from shoot to edit and publish much faster and more efficient.

Outcomes

To cope with their need to deliver more, higher-quality content across multiple platforms, Groupe Media TFO needed to increase their overall level of productivity without having to invest a lot more into personnel or resources. Using IPV’s Curator platform, TFO has been able to implement new ways of working with seamless content movement and interchange across the whole infrastructure.

The production asset management system’s tight integration with Adobe means editors, producers and journalists can start working on content immediately, speeding up the overall editing process.

Within just the first few months of using Curator, TFO’s freelance bill was reduced by 40% while the amount of content produced and distributed has increased by 50%. TFO’s executive producer, Nadine Dupont described the new workflow as ‘genius.’

CTO Éric Minoli added: “the IPV team was active in configuring the technology to work for us, and for helping us make the transition [to a new way of working]. They went through every possibility of what might happen, and what we might need to do.

“We pushed to increase output by 50 to 100%. That was why we had to find a better way of working, and with Applied Electronics and IPV we’ve achieved it.”

Customer profile

Located in Denver, Colorado, the Kreonke Sports Entertainment (KSE) network owns multiple sports franchises including the Denver Nuggets (NBA), Colorado Avalanche (NHL), Colorado Rapids (MLS) and Colorado Mammoth (NLL) as well as the LA Rams (NFL) and Arsenal FC Premier League soccer team. It also owns several regional collegiate and high school sports events and in November 2017, set up Los Angeles Gladiators – an Overwatch esports team that will compete in the OWL. The production facility for the network – KSE Network Operations Center (KNOC) – creates and distributes content for Altitude Sports & Entertainment, a network of channels that broadcasts live and studio-based programming of the Colorado-based KSE-owned entities.

As well as delivering content to air for Altitude, KNOC creates and delivers media to the Broadcast Services Group at the Pepsi Center in downtown Denver, home of the Nuggets, Avalanche and Mammoth. Programming is used as in-venue entertainment for the franchises’ games as well as for multiple music and entertainment events.

The KSE Network Operations Center creates content for the Altitude sports and Entertainment network 

Challenges for AMPAS

As the need for more, higher-quality media has grown across the KSE organization, production teams at KNOC needed a way to more easily access and manage its huge range of media assets and archived footage. In any sports environment, speed is the most important factor so the crew need to be able to log content as it’s ingested, attach metadata so it can be easily found later, and store the content in a way that can be accessed again extremely quickly. Once ingested and stored correctly, multiple editors need to work on content, without delay.

Solution

IPV worked closely with KSE to configure the Curator MAM system to manage the sports network’s assets at KNOC. Seamlessly integrated into its existing workflows, Curator was installed by long-time IPV partner, StorExcel. Curator is used to manage media throughout the centre’s post-production processes and plays a key part in the continued tactical development of the network’s media properties.

Using Curator makes sure that all of KSE’s assets are consistently ingested, correctly stored and tagged with metadata. Curator also gives KSE the flexibility to work with proxies, avoiding having to move and edit with large, cumbersome high resolution files. Once complete, the high-resolution files are brought back online for export and delivery. This use of low resolution proxies speeds up the overall production processes for the network.

The new workflow at the facility is layered on a storage workflow comprised of multiple Quantum storage applications, including Xcellis workflow storage, the StorNext data management platform and QXS disk RAID storage. Initially, a small group of 15 users operated Curator to manage assets for the edit of long-form and promotional content and the next phase will see the infrastructure rolled out availability to users across all the businesses in the KSE family.

KNOC delivers media to the Pepsi Center, home of the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche

Benefits to KSE

• Uniform approach – Curator gives the KNOC facility a level of consistency in its content management, creating more efficient post-production processes
• Proxy-based workflows – As the pioneer of proxies, Curator allows KSE to easily manage large files while reducing expensive storage resources to just 2% of their HD source files
• Phased roll-out – KSE is able to operate its Curator system in line with current needs and easily expand as required
• Third-party integration – Installed by StorExcel, IPV’s Curator system is tightly integrated with KSE’s storage infrastructure from Quantum

KSE, StorExcel and IPV shake on the deal at 2017 NAB Show

Conclusion 

The deployment of KSE’s new media management and storage infrastructure is part of a larger digital content initiative aimed at centralizing the production and delivery of content across KSE’s media outlets. The company was very selective with the components it chose for the first phase of technical deployment so it could operate efficiently today but easily grow in the coming years.

This article originally appeared in the May edition of University Business Magazine – the monthly title that features the latest news, opinion, and event reviews from across the further and higher education sector.

Click here to read it in its originally format. 

Universities all over the world are becoming reliant on the production and use of video assets – whether for marketing collateral, as part of the curriculum or as the enabler for online courses. However, the need to manage media assets and ensure accessibility for all students is just as important as creating lots of content.

Many American universities are currently under pressure to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which stipulates that ‘a public entity shall take appropriate steps to ensure that communications with applicants, participants, members of the public and companions with disabilities are as effective as communications with others’. For content producers, this means that any video content used by a publicly-funded university must have subtitles, to make sure it accessible to students with hearing impairments.

To adhere to requirements, a number of these US colleges are looking at putting in place workflows that automate the creation of subtitles for their content using artificial intelligence (AI). And to keep up with expectations surrounding accessibility, UK institutions should be following this lead.

The solution is intelligent subtitling

From driverless cars to improving customer service, artificial intelligence has been deployed by businesses across the globe. So why shouldn’t education benefit too?

A management system for video content can now be easily integrated with AI to allow for the creation of subtitles quickly and easily for all video content, without the need to use more expensive human resources. Speech-to-text functionality is now available in multiple AI machines and lets universities create two kinds of subtitles automatically. When burnt-in, they’re saved onto the video itself and can’t be removed – a solution that’s ideal for easier delivery and simpler production workflows. Alternatively, they can be written out, saved as a separate subtitle file and added to most online players alongside the content. These can then be toggled on or off and change size depending on what screen’s being used to view the video.

Instead of spending countless hours transcribing subtitles, universities can integrate an asset management solution with AI subtitling to produce, edit and share their video uninterrupted, saving them time and resources.

Adding subtitles intelligently using AI has helped universities in the US become regulation-compliant. Educational institutions in the UK can also benefit by making sure they’re automatically providing the right level of accessibility to students.

Importance of accessibility

As more universities and organisations offer video content online, during lectures or in marketing, the need for universal accessibility becomes greater. The ability to add subtitles to content means students with hearing impairments aren’t left out of the conversation. Intelligent subtitling speech to text allows for a quick win, reducing the need to use expensive human resources for data entry and offering immediate benefits to both content makers and viewers.

This article originally appeared in the NAB edition of the Broadcast Beat Magazine – the publication that covers all aspects of the broadcast industry – content creation, content management and content delivery.

Click here to read it in its original format. 

Any organization producing content needs to move away from looking at media as a collection of single assets that have to be managed to deploying a complete creative service workflow that’s used to manage entire productions.

The explosion in the need for content isn’t limited just to broadcasters and production houses. Now creative agencies, enterprises, sports organizations and houses of worship all need to maximize their return on the investments made into content production. More than ever before companies and organizations need to be able to easily manage and find video, audio, graphics, effects, edits and any associated work-in-progress files.

As a result, the definition of a MAM system has changed – they’re now scalable and flexible, can reduce local storage costs, make content more easily discoverable and enable high-performing search, collaboration and editing processes. The rise of cloud technologies is also happening at the same time so anyone deploying new systems can increasingly embrace this new kind of asset management system.

Cloud-enabled MAMs are configurable networks of powerful services that fully manage workflows instead of just assets. Deployed in the right way, they enable greater production efficiencies, cost savings and collaboration capabilities.

Using the cloud to overcome today’s production headaches

Fast, global networks have given content producers the ability to do much more with production workflows and work with operators in remote locations as if they were in the office next door.

Post production processes are potentially the biggest beneficiaries of this connectivity with content producers able to edit programming no matter where they are. Cloud editing helps solve several production workflow headaches while bringing a multitude of benefits to users.

• Local access – global contribution

When working between remote locations, production teams need to send high-resolution files from where they’ve been ingested to where they need to be edited. This not only takes up valuable time but means editors can’t begin working until transport is complete.

By deploying off-premise MAM services, content producers can quickly access and edit rushes no matter where they are by sending or streaming proxy files from source to edit.

This brings obvious cost and resource savings. Cloud archive and proxies can reduce online storage costs by up to 78%. Having access to high-resolution assets stored a thousand miles away prevents unnecessary duplication of assets.

• Joining up disparate content

Content is not typically linked with work-in-progress projects which means users aren’t always clear when, where or why assets were captured and where it’s already been used. An important part of being able to search and find content easily is knowing exactly how it was produced and what programming it’s been subsequently included in, no matter the location of post-production.

Cloud workflows means users are able to link content to a particular project, information that’s easily viewable by editors in another office. With this in place, users can make better asset management choices – whether to wait to reuse a particular piece of content, archive it or even delete it when it’s no longer needed.

• Accessing a broader talent base

Sometimes the right talent isn’t local. Content producers sometimes struggle to find the right people for the right job and if they do, it can come at a high cost.By giving users the ability to remove boundaries and making content globally accessible, a broader talent pool is easily accessible.

Content creators can choose editors based on whatever criteria they like instead of just geographical location. Enlisting those with the right experience makes genre-led edits much easier. If producing a promo with a particular style for example, an editor who fits that kind of filmmaking can be more easily found.

At the same time, being able to enlist editors anywhere in the world can result in a longer working day. The ability to edit with cloud content creates a 24-hour workflow where an editor on the West Coast can start a project and pass it on to UK-based personnel at the end of the day for a deadline the following morning.

Evaluating the options 

Even though cloud technology adoption continues, it might not be the right approach for everyone. Those rolling out a new or updated MAM system need to evaluate the best options for their workflow, whether that’s an on-premise, cloud or hybrid solution.

Organisations first need to consider where their teams are located and an assessment of how a system will help them collaborate. They should also consider their need to scale as well as which teams will be contributing and using content and how easy it will be to on-board new teams in future.

In an increasing number of use cases, a hybrid solution for asset management is the right answer, enabling implementation into existing production workflows and allowing migration to the cloud in stages. This allows you to adopt cloud technologies as it makes sense for individual needs, budget and infrastructure.

Whether ready for a completely cloud-centric asset management workflow or just beginning the migration towards off-premise infrastructures, MAM systems are no longer about simply moving and managing content. With the right cloud-based infrastructure in place, content producers can create a more cost effective, efficient production workflow.