TXT Polymedia Video Content & Media Asset Management
White Paper
February 2008
Table of Contents
1. 2. 3. Multimedia Content Management: scenario Challenges to operators: the management of production processes TXT Polymedia Video 3.1. Ingestion 3.2. Metadata modelling 3.3. Archiving and search 3.4. Video Editing 3.5. Transcoding Integration with TXT Polymedia Multi-channel Content Management Examples of solutions based on TXT Polymedia Video Technology and architecture Conclusions Bibliography 4 5 6 7 7 8 8 9 10 11 11 13 13
4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
TXT Polymedia® is a trademark of TXT e-solutions SpA. All other company names and their associated products may be the trademarks of their respective owners. - COD. 9300 UK 010208
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1.
Multimedia Content Management: scenario
The transition from analogical to digital technology, characteristic of the video production field over the last decade, has revolutionized the forms and techniques of communication, by allowing the use of video content in a range of situations that would have been inconceivable until just a few years ago. In the analogical world, video was mainly confined to television and cinema, partly due to the need of professional equipment for editing and post-production activities as well as the necessity to use complex transmission and broadcasting equipment; furthermore, even the professional expertise required to manage this complexity was available in limited circles and could be obtained only after years of field experience. The advent of digital technologies has completely reversed this situation: nowadays, video content management is within the reach of anyone having a personal computer; furthermore, digital convergence has allowed video contents distribution on television (e.g. through digital television, be it satellite or terrestrial), on computers and even on mobile telephones. Such a wealth of situations has stemmed the birth of new cultural phenomena, such as the proliferation of self-produced videos shared over the Internet through social networks web sites like YouTube or My Space, has enabled the creation of new forms of digital video distribution over IP networks like Joost or Bubblegum and it has also caused important changes in the production processes and in the business models of TV operators, telecommunication companies, web portals and content providers. The availability of digital contents, the large-scale adoption of IP protocol and the ever-increasing availability of transmission bandwidth has also allowed, for instance, many information web portals, sometimes connected to important newspapers, to enrich their on-line news, featuring texts and images, with video news and with a wide video library accessible on demand by web users. The New York Times, Il Corriere della Sera, Il Sole 24 Ore, El Pais, Le Figaro and Die Welt are but a few examples of newspapers with a website providing complete video news sections. Mobile telecommunication operators, following the introduction of UMTS technology and now of HSDPA, have had the chance to provide their users with video contents, typically covering news and entertainment, that have represented an important element to compensate the fall in revenues from voice services. The recent introduction of DVB-H and DMB technologies has also allowed the mobile terminal to be used as a small television-set that faithfully follows its own user. H3G Italy is an example of a mobile telephony operator which has entirely embraced the DVB-H technology by providing one of the first commercial broadcasting services throughout the Italian territory, to coincide with the 2006 FIFA World Cup; in addition to those matches, H3G re-broadcasts the main national TV channels and also has a self-produced programming. Besides, H3G moved from a telecommunication operator into a Media Company. Similar patterns are followed by other mobile operators in many European countries. Likewise, fixed-line telecommunication operators are increasingly using the broadband network for the distribution of video contents. For instance, Telecom Italia has redesigned its RossoAlice website to give its broadband users the possibility to watch movies on demand, live concerts, live broadcasting of reality shows such as The Big Brother, video news and sit-comedies created for RossoAlice users, all through their PCs. Telecom Italia has also launched an IPTV service, Alice Home TV, for watching movies on demand and the main national TV channels on a TV set. The latter offering is in direct competition with another IPTV service offered in Italy by Fastweb, a triple-play operator that also offers access to RAI (the Italian public broadcaster) archives, through its own IPTV service. In the above-mentioned cases, the adoption of new digital technologies has enabled the launch of new video distribution services with the creation of new sources of revenues. Vice versa, the
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traditional broadcasters, typically free-to-air and with a revenue model mainly based on advertising, have suffered the most from the proliferation of new forms of entertainment made possible by digital video technologies. The proliferation of new video distribution channels has actually led to a decrease in the amount of time the viewer dedicates to free-to-air television that has inevitably led to a drop in revenues from advertising. Therefore, broadcasters have been forced to face the drop in audience by enabling the distribution of their video contents on new distribution channels (e.g. the redistribution of TV channels through DVB-H or IPTV services) and sometimes by opening their archives through web portals. Furthermore, the new scenario not only gives consumers control of what and how they consume content, but also integrates community, participation and interactivity into the media experience. New digital advertising models are emerging on the many different channels, i.e. internet, mobile devices, video games, and on public displays.
2.
Challenges to operators: the management of production processes
The increase in the methods of video contents distribution made possible by new technologies offers new opportunities to end-user on one hand, but on the other, it leads to new complexities in the production processes that must be fully understood and managed by operators. In a broadcasting model like television in which the operator – user communication is unidirectional, from “one to many”, wherein the user is only a passive subject in the communication process, the production process is based on the following steps: • • • Video content production by broadcasters or its acquisition from external content providers; Content organization in a linear programming schedule identical for all users; Broadcasting and distribution.
Product Planning
Content Production/ Acquisition
Linear Programme Development
Broadcasting & Distribution
Access
Figure 1 - Broadcasting Production Model
With the introduction of new methods of video content distribution, the production process necessarily becomes more complex and must address new issues, such as: • the availability of a typically bi-directional communication network like the internet turns the operator – user communication increasingly into a one-to-one exchange, like in the videos on demand; in this situation, it is imperative not only to handle content distribution but also to process users’ requests and the billing processes; the user becomes an active element in the communication process, especially when interactive services are available or when the user can take part in the programme scheduling with his/her own videos; with his/her own videos; the video content production and publication is strictly connected to the publication of editorial contents of a different nature (texts, images, etc.) like in the case of broadband web portals; finally, the possibility, if not the necessity, to redistribute the same video content on different distribution channels (Web, IPTV, DVB-H, DTT, etc.) involves a significant endeavour for
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operators to package and format their own products for the specific channel. The production model typical of a service of video content distribution for new media can be summarized as follows:
DVBH Formatting
DVBH Distribution
Access
Product Planning
Content Production/ Acquisition
Ingestion
Classification
Elementary Assets Processing
Publishing Product Aggregation
IPTV Formatting
IPTV Distribution
Access
...
Broadband Formatting Broadband Distribution Access
Figure 2 - “New Media” Production Model
In the production model, conventionally called New Media, the stage of video assets preparation is followed by their digitalisation and acquisition within the archive representing the core element of the production system. Then, the archivists will classify the acquired elements in order to have them accessible later on. In a New Media context, a complete editorial product typically comprises video assets but also a dditional information; for instance, a movie may include an editorial card containing information about the cast, the director, the plot and ultimately comments directly from the audience itself, as well as short video trailers in different formats. The elementary components of an editorial product must be individually developed and then aggregated within a complete product. The elementary components should be re-used also in different future contexts, if possible. Finally, the editorial product must be packaged in the format required by each distribution channel; this can simply consist in changing the resolution and/or the bit-rate of the video file or, in some cases, even by re-organizing the content presentation in order to exploit the features of every specific channel. For instance, when the editorial product is going to be distributed both on a TV screen and on a PC, two devices with very different characteristics, it may be required to design two different navigation models based on the same elementary assets. It is clear that the operators cannot financially stand independent production processes for each distribution channel but, rather, they have to put in place a cheap, effective and reliable workflow allowing re-using the existing contents on all the distribution channels. In this endeavour to rationalize the production processes, the selection of software tools specifically designed for this purpose becomes a key element to guarantee the financial sustainability and effectiveness of the service.
3.
TXT Polymedia Video
TXT Polymedia Video is an integrated Content & Media Asset Management product that covers all the lifecycle stages of multimedia contents (ingestion, metadata definition, indexing, archiving, editing, transcoding, protection and delivery), allowing the production, the publication and the distribution of
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editorial products for a variety of distribution channels such as: broadband web portals, video mobile telephony services (UMTS, DVB-H) and IPTV services. TXT Polymedia Video has been designed for broadcasters, telecommunication companies, web portal managers and content providers who need to implement safe, cheap and effective production processes for the production and distribution of multimedia contents on multiple channels. In the following sections, the main functionalities of the TXT product are summarized.
3.1
Ingestion
TXT Polymedia Video includes a module for planning the acquisition of audio-video contents from live feeds, VTR and IP networks via FTP or NFS. An administration console permits to set, manage and monitor the state of all the acquisition processes.
Figure 3 - Acquisition planning interface
The ingestion engine by means of configuration of the associated encoding/transcoding workflows can manage the simultaneous acquisition of a video asset in high quality as well as in other low quality formats. More in general, a video asset features a number of metadata and one or more video files representing different encodings of the same video asset; among these, there is always a WMV encoding internally used by the system for previewing and editing functions. The acquisition process of live video feeds exploits the functions provided by acquisition cards such as Optibase.
3.2
Metadata modelling
Through the Polymedia Modelling application, a visual tool part of the Polymedia Video product, it is possible to freely define the set of metadata associated to audio-video contents. Thus, Polymedia Video can support both proprietary metadata schema and standard schema such as, for instance, the CableLabs
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metadata specification. Therefore, the audio-video metadata contents structure can be easily adapted to the specific needs of any application environment; for instance, it is possible to enrich a video asset with additional elements such as texts, images, classification trees, relations with other videos or other contents available in the Polymedia archive. For every video asset acquired, the system automatically extracts key frames and a number of technical metadata. The further metadata associated to a video asset can be filled automatically by the system assuming that such data are received from external content providers as XML documents or in other formats, or they can be filled afterwards by an archivist through the Polymedia Publisher tool included in the Polymedia Video product. Thus, a video asset representing a movie can be associated in the Polymedia archive with the relevant technical metadata as well as with marketing and promotional material such as synopsis, video trailer, cover image etc.
3.3
Archiving and search
Polymedia Video provides full-text search functionalities for searching within the assets archive. Asset metadata can be used as searching filters. For every video asset returned from a search you can immediately view a low-quality preview of it.
Figure 4 - Polymedia video editing interface
3.4
Video Editing
Polymedia Video includes a basic web-based video cutting function; this natively integrated editing tool supports EDL generation and server side conforming. More complex editing functions are provided by integration with external post-production video editing products such as Sony Vegas.
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Figure 5. Polymedia native video editing interface
3.5
Transcoding
Polymedia Video includes a video transcoding service that can be activated by any Polymedia workflows; it enables the transcoding of a video asset to any of the formats supported by the Polymedia Video product. The transcoding workflows are obtained as part of the Polymedia Feeds Handler architecture which is used to manage acquisition, transformation and delivery processes.
Figure 6. Transcoding Workflows configuration interface
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By proper configuration of the Polymedia workflows, it is possible to set up workflows in which different video content encodings are obtained either in the acquisition stage or after any UI driven actions or, again, at the publication stage. Acquisition/transcoding/delivery workflows can be visually configured out of a set of about forty predefined modules supporting the transcoding of the most common video formats such as: Mpeg1, Mpeg2, Mpeg4 (H264), WMV, 3GP or Flash Video. Furthermore, Polymedia Video includes a SDK for extending the set of modules that can be used in workflows.
4.
Integration with TXT Polymedia Multi-channel Content Management
The Media Asset Management functions provided by TXT Polymedia Video described in the previous sections (ingestion, indexing, archiving, editing and transcoding) are closely integrated with the functions of multi-channel publication already available in the TXT Polymedia Multi-channel Content Management product [1]. Such native integration allows for the easy development of complete production processes for the management of multimedia publishing products, entirely within the same product and the same user interfaces. TXT Polymedia Video shares a number of features with the multi-channel publishing product, which make it unique in the market offering: • • Flexibility in the definition of editorial workflows. You can freely set the editorial workflows by defining user groups, their roles, access rights, as well as approval/revision workflows; Easy integration with external applications and data sources. Polymedia provides an acquisition and delivery module (Feed Handling Module) in which acquisition/delivery workflows are entirely configurable through a visual interface; Flexibility in metadata schemes definition. Through a visual environment (Polymedia Modelling), you can freely define the metadata schemes associated to each type of asset. All the metadata are kept within the product in the form of XML documents; Flexibility in definition and management of aggregations of heterogeneous types of content. Again through a visual tool (Polymedia Modelling), you can define aggregated content types consisting of multiple multimedia elements (audio-video assets, images, etc.), editorial contents and other kinds of documents (e.g. PDF or MS Word files), all of them managed by means of the Polymedia product; Availability of a web-based publishing tool, easily and promptly usable even by staff without an in-depth technical training. Polymedia provides the Polymedia Publisher tool through which you can search in the database, create new content items, modify existing content items and manage their multi-channel publication; everything in full compliance with the workflows previously set out; Full support to multi-channel publication both of video elements and of other types of content. Polymedia, through the Feed Handling module, permits the transformation of contents in different presentation formats, either by means of video transcoding processes or by means of XSL-T transformations. Furthermore, it permits to interface specialized delivery environments, such as Teletext systems or object carousel generators for digital television.
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5.
Examples of solutions based on TXT Polymedia Video
The content and media asset management functions provided by TXT Polymedia Video have been used by broadcasters, publishers and telecom operators to build advanced solutions for management of audio-video contents. The main examples of such solutions that have been already deployed in production environment are the following: Video On Demand solutions TXT Polymedia Video has been used to build end-to-end services for the distribution of movies and TV series over broadband IP and mobile networks. The solution based on TXT Polymedia Video supports video encoding, DRM protection, catalogue management, geo-localization, e-commerce and payment functions, tracking & reporting functions, recommendation and community functions. An example of a video-ondemand website based on the TXT solutions is VideoJukeBox (www.videojukebox.it). The solution is also available in White Label form and can be fully outsourced to TXT Web Farm - with minimum effort and investment. Media Asset Management for IPTV TXT Polymedia Video has been used as the Media Asset Management product in two commercial IPTV systems available in Italy. It supports video management processes from ingestion to delivery of video assets to content delivery networks. End-to-End Catch-up TV Solutions TXT Polymedia Video has been used to develop Polymedia TV Recorder, an end-to-end catch-up TV application recording Italian private and public broadcasters’ TV channels. The selected audio/video contents are then streamed to the user’s PC, simply provided with a browser and an internet connection. Polymedia TV Recorder is also offered as Software as a Service to TV and radio operators, publishers, communication and advertising agencies. Internet TV solutions Internet TV solutions built on top of TXT Polymedia Video permits to manage video channels, both linear and on demand, distributed over broadband networks. They support multiple video formats (e.g. Windows Media Video or Flash Video), streaming and download. Internet TV solutions can also be delivered in ASP mode by TXT. The Internet TV solution provided by TXT has been adopted by several publishers and broadcasters for enhancing their on-line presence. User Generated Contents solutions TXT Polymedia Video has been used to build and manage innovative User Generated Contents applications – covering UGC collection, modertion and publishing.User generated content can be collected in the different video formats from live webcams, mobile phones, video calls, or emails; they are sent in real-time to the Polymedia system where they are transcoded in a target video format, moderated by an editorial team, classified and authorized for publication on different channels (web, TV, mobile, etc.).Polymedia-based User Generated Contents solutions have been used by broadcasters to enhance user participation in their TV programs.
6.
Technology and architecture
TXT Polymedia Video is built around an integration and communication bus used to coordinate the communication between the different software modules featured in the product. The communication bus
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is based on JMS open technology. TXT Polymedia Video is developed in Java, except for some functions such as ingestion and video editing functionalities that, for the sake of efficiency, have been developed in C++. TXT Polymedia Video fully supports XML/XSL standards. Oracle, MS SQL Server and IBM DB2 are supported databases. A graphic representation of TXT Polymedia Video product’s logical architecture is represented in the following diagram:
POLYMEDIA WEB CLIENTS Polymedia Publisher Ingestion Control Feed & Ingestion Monitor Polymedia Administration
HTTP
POLYMEDIA DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT Polymedia Modeller Layout Manager
POLYMEDIA INGESTION SERVER Ingestion Card MPEG Generator Windows Media Generator Frame Extractor
POLYMEDIA SERVER Ingestion Scheduler Event Manager Workflow Manager Publishing Services Search and Retrieval Data Access
Live Feeds VTR TCP/IP
Content Repository
Metadata Repository
JMS COMMUNICATION BUS
FEED SHELL Event Queue CONTENT INGESTION & DELIVERY
Notifications
MEDIA SERVICES Event Queue Cut Transcode Index Metadata Extract Frame Extract
Notifications
Figure 7. TXT Polymedia Video Logical Architecture
TXT Polymedia Video allows the deployment of video manipulation services (indexing, editing and transcoding) in a completely distributed architecture, with a dynamic management of service-related queues and priorities. Both real-time delivery processes and planned activities are thus supported in the same software platform. TXT Polymedia Video integration architecture allows the easy integration with external systems, such as: • • • IT backend: information exchange related to video contents, contracts management systems and Traffic Management; DRM: Polymedia can interface with the most common contents protection technologies; CDN: Polymedia can interface with content delivery network, streaming servers and playout servers for video distribution. Polymedia support, through a library of over 40 elements con figurable through a graphic interface, the following protocols and technologies: FTP, HTTP, SOAP, JMS, XML, RSS.
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TXT Polymedia supports HW/SW scalable architectures, from single servers to systems distributed by processing loads balancing and high reliability.
7.
Conclusions
TXT Polymedia Video is a product combining the functions of Media Asset Management systems (i.e. ingestion, metadata definition, indexing, editing, transcoding, DRM protection and delivery) with the multi-channel publishing functions already available in the TXT Polymedia Multichannel Content Management System. TXT Polymedia Video can therefore cover all the lifecycle of multimedia contents, allowing the creation and the publication of complex editorial products for a variety of distribution channels, such as: broadband web portals, video mobile telephony services (UMTS, DVB-H), IPTV and broadcast services. TXT Polymedia Video has been designed for broadcasters, telecommunication companies, web portals and content providers who want to use new distribution modalities for multimedia contents through safe, cheap and effective production processes. Examples of solutions based on the TXT Polymedia Video are: video-on-demand services, media asset management for IPTV services, management of Internet TV services, management of on-line advertising interactive contents supported by new business models, and user generated multimedia contents services.
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Bibliography
[1] Introduction to TXT Polymedia Multi-channel Content Management - White Paper - July 2006, TXT Polymedia SpA.
TXT Polymedia Video - Milan (Italy)
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