Public Doc

DETAILED SOLUTION

Creative Area, a web media management system, is based on a main Etere media management system that along years has provided MTV Italia with a suitable and more productive workflow which perfectly integrates all its broadcasting modules.
Creative Area is a web service developed to enhance information exchange between the various MTV Italia departments (i.e. production managers, commercial managers, live studios etc), enabling operators to easily access stored contents to consult data, view and download low resolution versions of contents, create and upload new contents.
Creative Area has been custom-tailored developed to improve MTV’s Media Asset Management, it
is able to index, transform and distribute a huge amount of a wide range of multimedia files
managed by the production department such as graphics, video, audio, documents, compressed
files, etc; all these materials are transferred using a highly secure FTP protocol based on
permissions defined either by user and by locations.
Creative Area has been installed in a secure intranet network and it can be reached only by
authorized users and locations. Once accessed, it offers a wide range of features such in a way
that a comprehensive web-management of assets is delivered to the final user; the main
characteristics of this solution are listed below:
- Creation of asset forms, including insertion of metadata, upload of files and linking to existing assets,
- Multiple forms management under a hierarchical structure,
- Easy searching, browse and management of assets thanks to a user-friendly interface,
- Video preview and streaming,
- Automatic creation and display of thumbnails,
- Upload and download of a wide range of multimedia files,
- Presence of a Light-Box which allows users to save their favourite (most commonly used)forms, so they can be immediately accessed in future,
- Easily creation of promoting videos intended to be broadcasted,
- Full multi-network support enhanced with a on real-time monitoring,
- Creation of Projects, which are a group of assets with a similar characteristics or purposes,
- Assets can be saved as different versions, allowing in this way versioning of contents,
- SMPTE metadata management with a further multilingual support,
- SIAE support, so it will be possible to specify important SIAE data for all contents.
The implementation of Creative Area has significantly improved the management of MTV's
multimedia contents repository, allowing remote interaction between the station and both, its
departments and providers, creating in this way a more efficient and versatile MAM system.
Furthermore, assets, in order to be correctly managed via web have been classified in six
categories according to both its nature and function:
1) Channel Identity: MTV brand related elements,
2) Show Package: Images or videos such as logos, openings, closings, etc,
3) Promos: Elements that promotes shows or events,
4) Promo element: Additional graphics elements used to manufacture promos,
5) Generic UP3RD: Graphic elements usually positioned in the upper left or right corner of the screen,
6) MAM: The default type, it indicates that an asset is a generic content. As mentioned before, a wide range of multimedia formats is allowed by Creative Area for upload,
files intended to be uploaded on the system must meet the standards defined by the station, that is:
- Preview (WMV): Low resolution video files (384x288),
- Thumbnail (JPEG): Images generated automatically during a preview,
- Main archive (BMC, MXF, etc): High resolution video (720 x 576), as well as MP3, PDF, RAR, ZIP, etc. - Promo (Any format): Special video files which properties are determined by the station,
that is, Alignment reference=ZRP 1, Signal Timing=625/50 PAL, Aspect Ratio=4:3, etc.
The Creative Area application is perfectly integrated to the general system, and works in
conjunction to all other Etere modules such as Etere Scheduling, Etere Ingest, Etere MAM, etc. This web service offers the possibility to control via workflow and remotely crucial process as
ingestion, assets upload, quality control and metadata insertion, all with a frame accurate precision using browse for promotions and to deliver completed packages for playout.
And a final but very important point, Creative Area guarantees data communication between the
various MTV offices because as Etere, it is fully based on the Microsoft SQL technology, which
brings a simple remote access to the same system at any time.

ACHIEVED BENEFITS

MTV Italy, with the installation of Creative Area and its further integration to a comprehensive Etere system, has reached an optimal level of organization of media contents, which permits the station to carry out the various process involved in the overall broadcasting workflow, under a modular environment that facilitates the distribution of operations across its various either local and remote departments.
The features achieved by MTV Italia with the precedent implementation of an Etere system are
innumerable, amongst them the most remarkable ones are:
- Automated process due to the use of a cutting-edge workflow technology,
- Increased archiving capacity and streamlined access velocity,
- Frame-accuracy transcoding of video contents,
- Full Multilanguage metadata support,
- Automatic transferring of scheduled contents,
- Boosted control over invoicing of commercial assets. - Centralized maintenance of the overall system, specific goals achieved by MTV Italia with the expansion of its main system (Etere) to a tapeless web environment (Creative Area) under a tight-integrated approach are listed below:
- Remote capabilities to access contents and monitor their status,
- Improved communication between the station and its local and remote departments,
- Secure access to media contents not only from internal departments, but also from external agencies,
- Ability to distribute contents over the internet as both streaming and download on demand,
- The download feature allows an efficient distribution of contents,
- Uploaded contents are immediately indexed with sufficient metadata to allow a comprehensive management,
- Created contents are automatically managed within the system via workflow,
- An unlimited number of additional contents can be created
- Time for receiving contents has been drastically reduced, and the capacity to receive them has been increased.
As a conclusion, we can state MTV now counts with an enterprise content management system
able to interact over internet with external entities, streamlining a wide array of tasks in a unified production environment and achieving a much more accessible management of contents.