The Omneon ProBrowse system provides a solution for the creation and viewing of low-resolution versions (proxies) of full-resolution material contained within Omneon systems.
The Omneon ProBrowse proxy system efficiently creates, organizes and serves low resolution "browse" copies of stored high-resolution media and enables users across an organization to view content right from the desktop. Designed to improve content management workflows, ProBrowse easily creates and quickly makes accessible low-resolution media for previews, clip selections, research and approvals.
Tightly integrated with Omneon MediaGrid, Spectrum and MediaDeck systems, ProBrowse can manage browse material and create proxies from any video format, wrapper or bit rate supported by Omneon video servers.
As broadcasters and production facilities transition to file-based workflows the need to easily view digital content stored within multiple systems has increased. Broad access to huge, growing libraries of high-bit-rate media is not practical, as it places unwanted demands on video servers and overwhelms standard IT networks. ProBrowse solves this problem by providing access to low-resolution versions of media right from the desktop.
The Omneon ProBrowse system works seamlessly to provide a view of content stored on Omneon systems from any networked desktop computer. Because ProBrowse automatically generates proxies, facilities can browse proxies of content acquired using any ingest process, including baseband, transport streams and FTP. With ProBrowse, writers and editors can access proxies during ingest and accurately mark in and out points to create subclips of their media. All decisions are synchronized back to the high-res content immediately. Audio scrub capabilities allow in and out points to be pinpointed via audio events in addition to visual cues.
Using ProBrowse, end users can create a shot selection list using proxy content and generate an Edit Decision List (EDL) that can be exported directly to nonlinear editors. Using hot keys, users can quickly navigate content, mark desired shots and add them to the EDL. When working with Final Cut Pro, this EDL can automatically populate the video bin and timeline of the project. Real-time preview assures users that they have the right shots before saving and exporting.
The Omneon ProBrowse platform supports proxy generation from all major video formats and bit rates stored in Omneon systems using either QuickTime® or MXF. ProBrowse can be deployed across multiple Omneon systems making it the perfect solution for enterprise-wide media viewing. Content can be viewed with either read-only or full access ProBrowse Desktop clients, or any standard desktop media player (including QuickTime Media Player and Windows™ Media Player). Proxy storage is flexible, too, using storage within the ProBrowse server or storing proxies on Omneon MediaGrid: customers can choose the set-up that best fits their workflow.
Included with every ProBrowse system is the Omneon ProBrowse Desktop application, a comprehensive software package for media information management. The ProBrowse Desktop includes tools to create picons (picture icons), add user-definable metadata, and mark in and out points or create EDLs. All this functionality is available directly on the desktop of any networked PC.
With Omneon MediaGrid, Spectrum and ProBrowse, broadcasters can leverage the productivity and flexibility of their media assets across their entire organization. ProBrowse can even detect copies or derivatives of clips distributed among the various Omneon systems in a facility, and display them in a single window for media management purposes.
The ProBrowse system is comprised of three core components.
ProBrowse Server is the heart of the ProBrowse system, providing central management and configuration for the application. Proxies can optionally be stored on ProBrowse Server or the Omneon MediaGrid active storage system. ProBrowse Server is responsible for managing and distributing proxy creation tasks to ProBrowse Generators.
ProBrowse Generators are used to generate the low resolution proxies of high resolution content, as directed by the Omneon ProBrowse Server. Each ProBrowse Generator is capable of creating proxies from two simultaneous SD streams or one HD stream. Proxies are created from either incoming streams from Spectrum media servers or files placed on Omneon MediaGrid or Spectrum. The resulting proxy can be accessed while growing providing low latency access to media in quick-turn environments such as news and sports. Additional ProBrowse Generators can be added to existing systems in order to scale the number of channels needed.
ProBrowse Desktop is the software application for installation on users' PCs. While standard media players can be used to play content, ProBrowse Desktop provides enhanced functionality such as shot listing, sub clipping, metadata insertion and clip grouping. Content is also visually represented using picons for each clip, making finding and recognizing a clip much simpler.
