2007 EBU Training VRT Newsroom interoperability

Ensuring interoperability: “la grande besogne”grande besogne”

EBU visit to VRT integrated newsroomg

Johan Hoffman - 13 December 2007

The Digital Media Factory

1 B k d1 Background

2 Objectives and principles

3 Architecture

4 P d j t4 Program and projects

5 Experience

6 Results and future steps

Background

VRT has adapted its organisation to a new enterprise strategy, which will help it being successful in the context ofp g

– increased competitive pressure– fast evolving technology, both on producer and consumer sides– changing consumer behaviour– changing consumer behaviour– increased and new opportunities (new media, HD, …)– a changing market environment

VRT is aligning its media production on the corporate strategy, implying– increased pressure on cost– reduced production timesp– more repurposing of content– integrated and cross-medial production

Th d t t i f i th t dThe news department is a forerunner in these trends.

Needs and requirements

In order to reach its objectives, VRT needs new digital production methods.pWithin radio and television production, the media are already digital…

– With the advantages of higher quality, enhanced possibilities.

But storage, transport and copying of content is essentially like it was in the analogue worldlike it was in the analogue world.

– Physical handling and transport of tapes

We need a fully integrated file-based workflow.Technology innovation makes this possible.

The Digital Media Factory

1 B k d1 Background

2 Objectives and principles

3 Architecture

4 P d j t4 Program and projects

5 Experience

6 Results and future steps

DMF objectives

Moving from tapes, CD’s, cassettes to files stored and conserved on a central system.y

At the same time supporting all existing craft work processes.

Easier creation, maintenance and communication of essence-related t d t th h t th d timetadata throughout the production process.

Introducing new, more efficient or less time consuming workflows.

Supporting easy repurposing reuse and distribution of content acrossSupporting easy repurposing, reuse and distribution of content across media (radio, television, online).

Cost efficient and future-proof technology investment– Move to standardized technology where possible (e.g. file servers,

network)

Guiding principles

Full file based production from start to finish.– Raw material starts its life as a file (e.g. in a file based camera)( g )– Or, it is ingested and converted to a file as the very first step (in

case of reuse of legacy tape based archive material)

Support for cross medial reuse and repurposing throughoutSupport for cross-medial reuse and repurposing throughout all production stages.

Fully integrated workflowFully integrated workflow.– Automated transfer of essence and metadata through all

production stepsF ll t h l t f th d ti kfl– Full technology support for the production workflow

Scope of the DMF

Ingest– Automated feed ingest– Tape ingest– Legacy archive tape mass ingestg y p g– File-based camera ingest

Newsroom computer systemMedia asset management

C t l di t t– Central media asset management– Integration of legacy archive management system

Editing– Craft audio editing

C f id di i– Craft video editing– News editing for internet and new media publication

Play-out– Radio play-out with automation– Tv play-out with automation and planning system integration– Internet publishing

Essence and meta-data integrationSupporting infrastructureSupporting infrastructure

– Network and large-scale file servers

The Digital Media Factory

1 B k d1 Background

2 Objectives and principles

3 Architecture

4 P d j t4 Program and projects

5 Experience

6 Results and future steps

Architecture principles

The DMF consists of a central system for media storage and media asset management, and a number of craft work centrescentres.Craft work centres and central media management are “best of breed”.

– No single vendor shopping– Best tool for the job

W k t d t l di t l lWork centres and central media management are loosely integrated and can operate autonomously.

– Halt propagation of technical incidents– Emergency workflows available

Integration is key.W t di f t t j t b h f t l– We want a media factory, not just a bunch of tools.

The news production environment: overview

Newsroom computer system

Video edit Online edit Audio edit

Central storage and asset management

Archive managementArchive management

Archived Search in archive management and make available

Finished material

After editing, put back in central asset management for further processing or for other users / usage

Archived material

Search in archive management and make available from / through central asset management

Raw materialAlways enters both systems, tagged with metadata to facilitate retrieval

Architecture

Architecture: video ingestVTR and feed ingestVTR and feed ingest with scheduling automation

Double ingest (Avid and central MAM)

Bulk ingest facility for legacy news archive P2 file based camera file

)

ingest.P2 file based camera file ingest

Architecture

Central MAM and storage infrastructurestorage infrastructure

Central storage architecture

Target 50 streamsTarget 200 streams

Cluster for mass-storage (archive)

Video browse material (news production,

)

High-res material for news production (incl.

GMII

Cluster5x4CPU

Supernet II

Cluster3x2CPU

Cluster4x4CPU

Cluster3x2CPU

TSM2x2CPU

TSM1x2CPU

TSM1x2CPU

TSM2x2CPU

Tape robot:

archive)

Audio library

feeds).

SANswitch

SANswitch

SANswitch

SANswitch

Tape robot:• near line archive• + reserve copy on tape (vaulting)

T SATA mirror FC mirrorSATA single FC iT TTTaperobot

SATA mirror40 TBAudio

Other essence

FC mirror62,5 TB

News FeedsNews archive

FC mirror22,5 TBBrowse

SATA single165 TBWork

FC mirrorSATA mirrorSATA single

Taperobot

Taperobot

Taperobot

Backup robot controlled by TSM Backup robot

controlled by TSMStaging contains all architectural

MCBEMission Critical Best Effort

MCRTMission Critical Real Time

BUBEBusiness as usual Best Effort

Stagingy all architectural

components (but scaled down)

Architecture

Integration layer based on ESBon ESB

ESB-based integration

Enterprise Service Bus

Business Process

M di tiMediationor process GBOGBOASBOApp A ASBO App B

mediation mediation

GBO = Generic Business ObjectASBO = Application Specific Business ObjectMediation = transformation, routing, validation and processing of messages

P/Meta is used as the central data model

ESB layered architecture

Future

Current

Architecture

Play-out and end-control

Één één PV/BU-Canvas Thema 1-2

Canvas Canvas PV/BU.-één Thema 3-4

Play-out and end control

DDC2DDC1

EVS1a

DBS1

EVS2a

DBS2

EVS1a EVS2a

2330 2330 DevicesDevicesGPI NetworkRS422

MAINGUARD GUARD

MAINGUARD MediaDirector

A i i

VNM

RS422

GUARD/MAIN serverports GUARD/MAIN serverportsGUARD

MAIN MAINMAIN MediaDirectors

GMIIMAIN

EXT EXT.

S / i

MXFMXF

EXT. Feed

EXT. Feed

SD/HD-Routing

Channel 1 Channel 2Thematics

Architecture

The Digital Media Factory

1 B k d1 Background

2 Objectives and principles

3 Architecture

4 P d j t4 Program and projects

5 Experience

6 Results and future steps

Program and projects organisation

One build program– Synchronised with business organisation change program– Bundling the build projects– Creating a framework for the build projects with program-wide

activities– Supplier management– Support organisation– Architecture board– Integrated planning, budget management, risk management– Business process design and translation to technical

specification

Projects– One project per work centre

C t l MAM i t ti t l t i f t t– Central MAM, integration, central storage infrastructure

The Digital Media Factory

1 B k d1 Background

2 Objectives and principles

3 Architecture

4 P d j t4 Program and projects

5 Experience

6 Results and future steps

Experience: MXF

Some maturity problems remain.

MXF is a very (too ?) broad standard allowing many combinations andMXF is a very (too ?) broad standard, allowing many combinations and flavours.

Interoperability on essence level not guaranteed by using MXF.

MXF is necessary, but not sufficient for essence interoperability.

Specific care has to be taken to specify/ensure support for the exactflavour usedflavour used.

Even with the flavour specified, implementations were in many cases not error-free.

At least one expert with a high level of MXF specialised knowledge is needed.

Vendors are willing to improve their implementationsVendors are willing to improve their implementations.

Experience: integration

The integration platform is the key to obtaining a well-performing factory, allowing to align the components and p g y, g g ptheir use on the business process. A common data model is necessary. The design phase of the integrations is time consuming, but the development cycle is relatively short.Th i t ti hit t h ld id tThe integration architecture should provide components isolating weaknesses and immaturities in craft tool implementations.Future DMF extensions will profit strongly from the integration platform.

Experience: storage and networking

Building storage and the supporting network is far from trivialtrivial.

Demands on file storage capacity, guaranteed bandwidth and reliability are highy g

– Technologically within reach of standard (IT-) components.– But they exceed the typical experience of IT infrastructure build

peoplepeople.– Therefore, careful design and test is necessary, as well as

challenging “easy” assumptions.

Storage and networking are projects in their own right.

Experience: user requirements

User requirementsare unclear in the beginning– are unclear in the beginning

– tend to shift as understanding increases.

A good dialogue and cooperation with users is essentialA good dialogue and cooperation with users is essential.– Give clear feedback on what technology can and can’t do.– Organise demo sessions as early as possible.– Involve users in testing.

Experience: effort and complexity

A very high level of effort and involvement from the technology department is necessary over a prolonged gy p y p gperiod of time.

– Other investments are delayed due to lack of people or funding.This takes its toll on people– This takes its toll on people.

Complexity is inevitable, and needs to be managed.– Regular project team meetingsg p j g– Architecture board

During the final phases of the project, the support d t t i h il l d ddepartment is heavily loaded

– High training effort over a short time period.– Intake of the new tools and technology.– Maintaining the old systems until phase-out.

The Digital Media Factory

1 B k d1 Background

2 Objectives and principles

3 Architecture

4 P d j t4 Program and projects

5 Experience

6 Results and future steps

Results and future steps

Since June 25, 2007 news production at VRT is– Fully file-basedFully file based– Cross-medial– Fully integrated

Future:– Extending the platform for general program production (i.e. fiction, studio

productions, …)C i i f ili i d i fil b d h i h– Creating mass ingest facilities and easier file-based exchange with external tools

– Further enhancing integrations:l i d diti t l– planning and editing tools.

– connecting other work centres (e.g. graphics), other media management tools (e.g. photo management).supporting a broader set of repurposing and publication facilities– supporting a broader set of repurposing and publication facilities.

End of presentation