LOS ANGELES—There is no shortage of entertainment today, yet consumers always seem to want more. As content providers create and package content for live and on-demand viewing at an unprecedented rate, they face new challenges – from handling sizable data-rich media files to managing cybersecurity threats.
To this end, secure digital media processing and post production workflows like those we develop at IDC have never been more crucial. On average, we process and deliver more than 20,000 files globally each month, using custom workflows built on tools like AJA Diskover Media Edition.
IDC launched in New York in 1984 and, in 2019, strategically expanded to Los Angeles, where I’m currently based.Being an end-to-end post facility, we handle massive volumes of media processing for projects that run the gamut from film and episodic series to other content and services. AJA Diskover Media Edition software has been integral to helping automate and streamline our media processing business since, for most projects, our job is to find any issues with files in post and fix the content before it reaches the client.
Accelerated Workflows
As client projects arrive, they go through a series of standard steps. First, we need to know where project files live and what they contain. We use AJA Diskover Media Edition and MediaPulse to help determine a file’s path until a person is needed to develop profiles, create files, or complete QC. As we receive files, the technologies clue us into the folder where they will land, and we create proxies. Successful proxies are automatically sent to another folder and second proxies are made, but if any proxies fail, the system stops.
To accelerate the workflow, our team also creates profiles for each file that we can access from our Telestream Vantage System, in addition to using the Colorfront Transkoder. Depending on the file locations, our workflow might generate an automated cloud backup for disaster recovery. AJA Diskover Media Edition then helps our producers confirm files have arrived, signal to the team that it’s time to move the files and alert the team when it’s completed.
It’s been an excellent addition to our media processing workflow with built-in automation tools and ties to MediaPulse. The software also automatically indexes our file systems every half hour and makes file scanning quick and straightforward.
ElasticSearch Backend
Automating these processes has helped give our customer service reps the data insights they need to better serve clients. The ElasticSearch backend in AJA Diskover Media Edition lets us look for just about anything, from tags to file names or parts of file names—our team doesn’t have to bug the client constantly about file locations. Plus, we can access and review all the file metadata we could ever need in one central location—from the audio configuration to run time, bit depth, frame rate, and more.
It’s quite the contrast to our previous setup, which required a lot of manual labor and back and forth to find the necessary info. The software also scans our cloud for disaster recovery, so our client service reps can search the cloud index, and easily find an asset they might need to pull back down from the cloud.
Automating our workflow where possible in such a way has become increasingly crucial in recent years, as more companies are leaning on us for remote editorial sessions and spot checks. In terms of operation, having an efficient, secure infrastructure built on technology like AJA Diskover Media Edition allows us to take on more work, and focus on the aspects of the job we love most, vs. wasting time and energy tracking down file information and extracting the necessary info. l
For more information about AJA Diskover Media Edition, visit
www.aja.com/aja-diskover-media-edition.
