Media Workflow Management

Media files and metadata can arrive into your digital asset management workflow in many different ways and shapes depending on your area of business. Media files from on-set in a post-production workflow, broadcast masters, media to be prepared for internet distribution internally or externally are just some examples of many digital media workflows today. 
 

At the content acquisition stage, Media Asset Management (MAM) is responsible for copying and indexing media into the target storage location for processing. 
 

The VidiCore Server Agent (VSA) is an agent locally installed for ingesting media and associated meta-data into the Vidispine media workflow using a VidiCore media management backend. The Agent consists of two media services, a Transcoder and a Storage Handler, enabling you to manage and transcode local files, as well as transfer files to and from your cloud storage. In this process, you can opt to transcode your media locally before uploading or upload the original media file as-is. Associated meta-data will be ingested according to a pre-defined ingest job defined into the VidiCore database.
 
Media may enter the media workflow through other gateways, such as users adding media directly into projects in a Non-Linear Editor (NLE) such as Adobe Premiere Pro.

Media files and metadata almost always need some processing into a house format (a non-standard format used in your internal systems) to be available and accessible in your digital media workflow. Master files might be too big for browsing and therefore need to be transcoded into smaller and more light-weighted proxy files, while maintaining the necessary metadata for later conform. Or external metadata needs to be associated with your media files – it all depends on your area of business.
 

It is not uncommon that metadata needs to conform into a house format for metadata in the same way as media files.
 

In VidiNet, the Vidispine cloud-based media services platform, you will access high-performance and scalable media processing services such as the VidiCoder and AWS Elemental Media Convert for transcoding media into your digital media workflow while maintaining the necessary metadata relation in the Vidispine database.
 

While human QC operators are skilled in finding many kinds of visible and audible defects during playback inspection, this approach does not scale well with large numbers of files and formats. They will only have enough time to “spot check” each file, viewing a few minutes at the start, middle, and end of the video. Human inspection is also inherently subjective.
 

Assisted QC in the media asset management workflow mitigates many of these problems. VidiNet enables the addition of automated, AI-enabled QC processes to enhance - not replace - the work of the QC operator, providing comprehensive quality and compliance checks. Media can be checked as it is created and updated throughout the workflow, at ingest, during and after post-production, as well as after preparing the final delivery package.
 

Automated QC can decode and check each frame of a video much faster than the normal playback speed. It can continuously run for 24 hours per day, thus allowing larger volumes of media to undergo quality assurance checks. Non-visible, such as metadata errors, are also easily detected. 
 

The result is that the QC operator can spend more of his/her time fixing the errors rather than trying to find them.
 

NLE – Non-Linear Editor (Avid MediaComposer, Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro)
 

Editing video and audio is the creative center point in the digital media workflow. Some asset management workflow, especially in feature film products require low res resolution versions of the original media – for later confirming the same edits to the original clips based on metadata. A Media Asset Management system can store and update editing projects based on the editor’s edits. 
 

Typically, projects are edited in an NLE (Non-Linear Editor) such as Adobe Premiere Pro. In some cases, these fully-featured applications offer far more functionality and complexity than is required - for example when storyboarding a news report or creating a simple clip to publish quickly on social media. As such, simpler applications that require less user experience and focus more on “storytelling” than craft editing, such as VidiEditor, can be used.
 

VidiEditor is a simple browser-based video production solution for anyone who needs to quickly and easily create short- to medium-form content. It can be integrated into enterprise environments, including broadcast workflows, or dynamically scale with cloud-based SaaS deployments on the VidiNet platform.
 

Where there is a significant amount of editing and/or multiple editors working together on projects, Production Asset Management, such as EditMate, can complement Media Asset Management Workflow by enabling collaboration and simplifying editor tasks.
 

Quality control is an important process at many points of the media workflow. Not only to identify defects that can be seen or heard by the end viewer, but also to make sure it's up to internal standards and to uphold regulatory compliance of what can, and can’t, be published - for example, rules regarding flashing lights that may cause epilepsy attacks, loud sound levels that may damage hearing, or how much skin that is allowed to be shown in TV-shows in specific countries.


Distribution of media can be either an internal requirement or a distribution workflow for targeting your customers and viewers. Either way, the media itself needs to be prepared for the best viewing experience. This process involves the preparation of both your media content and metadata data.
 

The media files themselves need to be transcoded for distribution to standard target devices such as web browsers or smart devices such as Chromecast, Apple TV, and similar. This target group for distribution is commonly referred to as OTT (over the top) and will require the media to be transcoded into a ladder of different bitrate profiles to fit the currently available bandwidth and the device’s decode capability.
 

Equally important is, of course, the metadata management in the distribution processes were descriptive (title, abstract, author), structural (technical metadata) and administrative metadata (rights and preservation metadata) are correctly updated and applied depending on distribution target.
 

In VidiNet, you will find scalable and cloud-native transcoding and packaging services available such as VidiCoder, AWS Elemental MediaConvert, and Bitmovin to ensure the most robust media processing distribution capabilities for your digital media distribution workflow.
 

A more traditional form of distribution to typical streaming providers, broadcasters, and cinema is, of course, also part of this distribution workflow.
 

No matter the target, you will need the necessary information to automate this process as much as possible to maintain efficiency by avoiding the human factors as a single point of failure.
 

The VidiCore service in VidiNet includes the necessary API building blocks to connect to your existing Video CMS.
 

Our vision is to be the most innovative and widely used platform for managing media from digital to the audience.
 

While not depicted in the above visual, there is one last, often unseen, component of a digital media workflow management platform; the glue that holds all of the building blocks together - workflow orchestration. 
 

It refers to configuring, managing, and coordinating different computer applications, services, and tasks with human tasks automatically - media workflow automation. Orchestration is different from automation. Where automation is about automating a single task to make a business more efficient and productive, orchestration works as a media workflow automation and automates the whole process, which may contain several different systems.
 

For instance, workflow orchestration can automate the complete quality control process. Once a QC has been performed and an error has been identified, workflow orchestration evaluates the severity of the error and takes appropriate actions to fix it. The media is sent for correction to either an automated process or human operator, and at the same time notifies relevant people about all actions taken.
 

VidiFlow from Vidispine is a new generation, interoperability and orchestration layer for media enterprises. It provides a stable, secure, scalable, and high-density “operating system” connecting the dots of the VidiCore object repository, VidiNet media services, and a broad range of 3rd party components. VidiFlow allows you to orchestrate all systems and processes using standardized BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) workflow modeling and execution. It’s highly customizable and supports a BYOS (Build Your Own System) approach through open and robust APIs and SDKs.