The Need for Workflow Integration
by Geoff Stedman
Vice President of Marketing,
Omneon Video Networks

Television broadcast and production facilities continue to face a seemingly never-ending demand to produce more content, with higher quality, and yet do so faster and at lower costs than ever before. The business pressures to improve productivity and efficiency are very real, particularly as worldwide audiences become more segmented and niche-oriented. Competition for viewers continues to increase, and broadcasters need technology to help them deliver their brand of high value content as efficiently and cost effectively as possible.

Over the past few years, we have certainly seen a major transition in the way in which media is acquired, processed, stored and delivered. Today, the notion of a server-based environment working with digital media files is quite standard. But while many facilities have implemented new technologies for creating and working with media files, many of these same technologies have also led to new challenges. For example, the files created by one system are not necessarily compatible with the files used by another. The metadata to manage one type of file is not consistent with the data needed to manage another. The increased utilization of non-linear, file-based systems allowed for certain processes to be improved, but with the result of creating a non-integrated workflow. Today, more than ever, today's facilities are defined by "digital islands", and a workflow that struggles to cope with the interchange difficulties in moving media from one island to the next.

In an effort to increase overall productivity, facilities are taking a fresh look at their workflows and are identifying areas where new technologies can be used to integrate multiple functions and streamline operations. But new technologies are not by themselves necessarily the answer. What matters is how technology gets implemented and exposed to a user.

Flexible Platforms

Today's environments, both from a technology standpoint and from a business perspective, demand systems that offer the flexibility to adapt to changing standards while protecting investments. Take the emergence of high definition. Every broadcaster has to consider HD capabilities in any technology purchase, and even if they are not yet implementing HD, they want to know that any new system can handle HD when the time comes, and in any of the multiple formats that may be needed.

This isn't about whether codec technology is software or hardware; it's about whether a system architecture is advanced enough to give customers the flexibility to easily add HD when needed and protect whatever investment they may have already made in SD.

Common Formats

As workflows become more file-based, the ability to easily transfer media files from one system to another without costly or time-consuming translation steps is critical. MXF was our industry's response to this need, and many broadcasters are demanding more extensive support for MXF from their vendors. Fully integrated workflows will require systems that treat MXF as a native file format, accessible via open, standard protocols.

Active Storage

The tremendous growth in the creation and use of digital media files requires a smart approach to storing and managing these assets. Wanting to avoid the pitfalls associated with trying to manage multiple separate "digital islands", more and more broadcasters are looking at centralizing their digital media storage. And with storage technologies advancing to a point where bandwidth and capacity are no longer bottlenecks, these platforms are able to offer a level of workflow integration that previously was not possible. The combination of off the shelf storage components with grid or cluster technologies is setting new price/performance points and creates systems capable of much more than just storing bits.

The broadcast business is undergoing a number of fundamental changes, from SD to HD, from realtime to non-realtime, from streams to files. Broadcasters need vendors who are committed, not to point products, but to solutions that are designed to bring true workflow integration. Open, accessible and active.

Hi Everybody!

Hi, and welcome to TechTalk – the column where we discuss technical details of Omneon systems.

Today, we’re going to cover one of the less frequently considered issues in adopting an HD workflow – the topic of Aspect Ratio Conversion, or ARC (sorry about the pun in the title!)

As I’m sure you know Omneon systems can have the ability to play SD and HD material “back to back” on the same timeline. The Omneon 4100 Series HD MultiPorts have 2 outputs per channel, one of which outputs an HD version of the timeline, the other outputting an SD version of the same timeline. Internal up and down converters are used to generate HD versions of the SD clips (for use on the HD output), and SD versions of the HD clips (for use on the SD output).

Simply converting the video is only part of the equation, though. Not only do you need to up and down convert the material, you also need to change its aspect ratio, turning 4x3 SD material into 16x9 or 14x9 HD, and vice versa. Figure 1 shows the likely ARC scenarios when performing SD to HD upconversion. In this diagram, we are assuming that 4x3 material is coming in either as 4x3, as a 14x9 letterboxed image (again contained in a 4x3 screen), as a 16x9 letterboxed image, or anamophically compressed. These are shown in the left hand column of the figure. To the right of those input formats are the possible ARC configurations. Similarly, Figure 2 shows the possible ARC configurations for down conversion of HD into SD streams.

Figure #1 ARC Scenarios for SD - HD upconversion

Figure #2 ARC Scenarios for SD - HD downconversion

Clearly, you have a myriad of choices when configuring the ARC settings, and in most cases, manufacturers have a “set and forget” approach to setting that up, assuming that all SD material will come in with the same aspect ratio, and that all HD material will come in at the same aspect ratio (16x9, for example)

At Omneon, we feel that this simple approach is too crude to be useful for many of our customers. Many customers have no control over the source format of the material they are going to play, so it makes sense that you should be able to store into the clip itself the ARC setting that should be used for this specific clip. Using this methodology, it is possible to play 4x3 and 14x9 SD material back to back, and the upconversion/ARC hardware will automatically perform as expected. This ARC information is added during the initial QA of the clip via a 3rd party interface, or using the latest version of the Omneon TrackTool, which offers exactly this functionality.

But even this level of sophistication isn’t enough. In some cases, customers desire that system automation be able to control the ARC functionality at the time of playout. This gives users the maximum control over their playout operations – not only can the automation system control the ARC, but it can also report this information back to the station’s traffic systems, for billing, rights control and conformance purposes. Individual outputs can have different ARC settings for the same clip, which is useful when you are repurposing content for use in multiple delivery mechanisms. This phenomenal level of control is achieved via some new API calls, which are included in v4.6 Spectrum system software (or later).

As you can see, a great deal of consideration needs to be given to your ARC requirements when implementing an HD workflow. Omneon continues to be at the forefront of technology, offering a hierarchy of ARC control: API control (from automation), will over-ride clip based ARC. If neither API or clip based ARC control is present, the system will resort to using the default which has been set for the output in question – a level of control which is unmatched in any other server.

What does this mean to you, the customer? Better control and consistency in your on air product. You can be confident that ARC will happen in the manner you require with a minimum of human interaction.

See you next time, on another issue of Tech Talk

Televisión Metropolitana Canal 22:
Setting a Foundation for Tapeless Operations

Televisión Metropolitana Canal 22, the official television channel of the Mexican National Council for Culture and the Arts, employs an Omneon Spectrum™ media server system in its Mexico City facility for commercial, promo, network ID and program playout. In addition to providing a foundation for tapeless operations, the server system allows Canal 22 to streamline its master control workflow, synchronize essential portions of its national and international channel feeds, and improve interaction between playout and production.

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