WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.— SMPTE announced today that has joined forces with the Interoperable Master Format (IMF) User Group (UG), a worldwide forum for end-users and implementors of the IMF family of SMPTE Standards.

The IMF User Group was launched in 2016 under the auspices of the Hollywood Professional Association (HPA). HPA Executive Director Phil Kubel notes, "HPA is proud to have been the home of the IMF UG and its important work for the past 9 years. As they take this next natural step, we look forward to seeing the exciting work ahead for the group and our colleagues at SMPTE."

"We are honored to become the home for the IMF User Group and thankful to our colleagues at HPA for all they've done to administer the user group to this point," said SMPTE Executive Director David Grindle. "Community organizations, like IMF UG, are vital to keeping our standards updated with the feedback from those using the systems."

IMF is a family of SMPTE Standards (SMPTE ST 2067) that simplifies the storage of all the audio-visual content needed to create different versions for distribution to multiple territories and platforms in one package. The IMF package itself can be used for B2B content exchange between content owners, post facilities, and distribution platforms. IMF is an essential component of modern, high-scale content fulfillment and has enabled the building of simplified delivery and processing systems for versioning. IMF played a critical role in the transition from tape-based to file-based workflows in television and streaming. It is now the preferred UHD media delivery format for multiple content providers.

The IMF UG brings together content owners, service providers, retailers, and equipment/software vendors to promote the use of IMF. The group hosts member meetings, organizes public events including workshops and plugfests, and publishes best practices. Members have the opportunity to contribute to the long-term roadmap of IMF.

"IMF is a true example of how a standard was developed in one organization, deployed into the industry and then gathered a community of users via the HPA and now SMPTE," said SMPTE President Renard T. Jenkins. "As a longtime member of the UG and SMPTE, I am excited that the user group and the standards community are coming together to continue its growth and further its development."

For more information, or to join the IMF User Group, visit www.imfug.com. Further information about SMPTE is online at smpte.org.

MUNICH—Rohde & Schwarz is releasing a new version (version 6.9.1) of its R&S Clipster mastering system that extends support for Dolby Atmos multichannel surround sound production technology and the latest IMF (ST2067-X) delivery standards.

The new software upgrade is specifically targeted at producers of home entertainment content. It is designed to ensure media content can be mastered and delivered via the widest range of IMF-compliant streaming service providers, says Rohde & Schwarz.

Clipster users can now add all variants of Dolby Atmos files to their edit timeline and can edit them like any other file. IMF packages that feature Dolby Atmos can be created to ensure delivery of quality content, as well as perform real-time QC, including for the immersive audio tracks prior to and after creation of the deliverable.

The latest IMF standards are now supported by Clipster, as is legacy content created using previous IMF standards. These revised IMF standards simplify distribution and archival of IMF content packages by removing previous constraints regarding the required types and number of assets referenced by the Composition Playlists.

For more information, visit www.rohde-schwarz.com.  

NEVADA CITY, Calif.—Telestream has provided updates to its CaptionMaker authoring software and the Vantage Media Processing Platform. The primary goal of these enhancements was to simplify IMF (Interoperable Master Format) file-production and delivery processes for broadcast networks and content distributors.

One of the key updates is that both CaptionMaker and Vantage Timed Text Flip now support IMSC 1.1, the latest version of the SMPTE standard for subtitling and captioning. IMSC is key for preparation of IMF packages, per Telestream, with IMSC 1.1 required for global companies producing content like Netflix.

CaptionMaker can be used to author, edit, encode and repurpose video captions and subtitles, according to Telestream. Vantage can then include these media files in automated workflows for file transformation as needed when creating primary and supplemental IMF packages.

The Vantage IMF Producer can also now automate the creation of IMF packages from Adobe Premiere Pro. IMF Producer automates the creation of all files required in an IMF package from a single output render of an Adobe Premiere Pro timeline. Editors can also create additional sequences, which become supplemental IMF packages with different versions of audio, subtitles, edit points, Dolby Vision HDR metadata and more.

For more information, visit www.telestream.net.  

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers have released several revisions of the Interoperable Master Format (IMF) standards documents that have grown out of IMF Plugfests and feedback from those who use the standard in content versioning, packaging and delivery.

The changes are aimed at ensuring compliant implementations, adding features, resolving conflicts among various provisions and improving consistency for IMF users.

“IMF is maturing as a standard, and revisions to SMPTE IMF standards documents reflect increasing adoption of the standard and learned wisdom through operational practice across the theatrical and broadcast communities,” said Bruce Devlin, SMPTE's standards vice president and founder of Mr MXF Ltd.

“Because SMPTE has instituted more agile tracking of standards usage and issues, more diverse representation in discussion of those issues and a more iterative approach to the revision process, we're able to identify and address needed revisions more effectively than ever. We're confident these new changes to the IMF standards documents will deliver genuine benefits to end users without imposing any significant burden on implementers.”

IMF provides a single, interchangeable master file format and structure for the distribution of content between businesses.

Revisions include:

The revision to Application #2E is the most significant change for IMF users, SMPTE said. It eliminates variability between various essence files, which increases the likelihood that files will work out of the box. SMPTE made no major changes that would impact backward compatibility.

Free downloads of the newly published documents are available from SMPTE.

More information is available on the SMPTE website. 

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.—OwnZones Entertainment Technologies has integrated its OwnZones Connect cloud-native video supply chain platform with Netflix Backlot to enable studios and post-production houses to deliver IMF packages to the over-the-top subscription service via API entirely within the cloud.

The integration, announced in mid-January in a blog posting by OwnZones Chief Production Officer Nick Nelson, seeks to address a pain point commonly faced by companies that use cloud-based supply chain tools: downloading an IMF package locally and re-uploading it to deliver it to a platform.

“Here’s an all-too-common scenario: you’ve already ingested your content into the cloud, made all the required localizations and performed final QC procedures, but when it’s time to deliver your content, it could take you hours upon hours to download and re-upload it to the platform,” wrote Nelson.

With more companies relying on cloud-based tools, the problem will only grow, debilitating workflows, especially those that work with high-resolution content, he wrote.

The integration removes the need to download and re-upload an entire package to Backlot, wrote Nelson. It enables users from the OwnZone Connect interface to select Netflix Backlot as the delivery destination and to send the IMF package directly to Backlot, according to the posting.

This prevents the need to pull down the file locally. “Content can now be stored, managed, localized and delivered without ever having to leave the cloud,” wrote Nelson.

To read the entire blog, visit the OwnZones website.

Tedial, the leading independent MAM technology solutions specialist, will be unveiling significant new features to its cutting-edge, award-winning sports and live events solution, SMARTLIVE, on stand 8.B44 at IBC 2019. The company will also unveil upgrades to its Tedial Version Factory 2019 for the first time in Europe.

SMARTLIVE MULTI SPORT Configurations
New for IBC 2019, SMARTLIVE will feature MULTI SPORT configurations, which allow users to generate automatic highlights or auto-clipping for any genre of sport quickly and easily. Visitors will see a dramatic increase in the number of highlights that SMARTLIVE can generate automatically due to the significant expansion of sports genres. This is a key addition to the list of the solution’s fast-growing capabilities. Totally agnostic to all data feeds, Tedial’s metadata engine makes it simple to add new configurations to the system as and when required.

In addition, SMARTLIVE and Tedial’s Evolution MAM now includes a new module that allows all types of content to be published to any social network in just one click. Enabled by the system’s capability to create social publishing campaigns directly inside the MAM, content includes clips, highlights or historical media etc. This will be demonstrated on the stand throughout the show.

Tedial will also highlight its technology partnership with Speechmatics. By integrating Speechmatics’ industry-leading Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) technology with SMARTLIVE, operators can search for comments made during a sporting match or live event, automatically create file locators and import a file or drop it into a watch folder and manually generate the speech-to-text from the commentary track.

Providing operators with faster access to content, Tedial will showcase its new SMARTLIVE bundled solution that can easily be deployed on top of the customer’s existing production environment. This is key as it provides sports broadcasters with a highly efficient solution that can be up and running very quickly. As well as these new features, Tedial will highlight the financial and operational benefits of operating SMARTLIVE both on premises and in the cloud.

Esther Mesas, CSO/CMO, Tedial explains, “These latest additions enable production teams to significantly increase their efficiency and output without needing to scale up, leaving them more time for creativity, such as personalized stories that enhance the overall viewer experience. SMARTLIVE maximizes efficiency, output and profitability for broadcasters of sports and live events. It also enables overheads to be reduced by cutting costs without having to compromise on the quality of their solution. We look forward to demonstrating these new features and benefits at IBC 2019.”

Tedial Version Factory 2019
The company will also show Tedial Version Factory 2019 upgrades for the first time in Europe. Tedial Version Factory is a single efficient and cost-effective workflow that supports millions of file inputs, transforming them to delivery configurations, ready to be distributed to multiple platforms from a single operator screen. Updates include, managing ‘on-the-fly’ assembly of unique versions, including pre, post and mid-roll insertions; matching contractual distribution requirements for timely deliveries; enabling IMF-compliant low-resolution proxy edits on media and templates, so seasons of episodes can be managed with a single configuration.

Using the company’s Version Factory and HYPER IMF, its end-to-end IMF workflow now supporting 2018 SMPTE IMF standards, Tedial can easily support existing and new platforms, delivering content in the correct format with audio tracks and subtitles in the correct language, as well as any additional components required (artwork/trailers etc.).

As part of Tedial’s Evolution MAM demonstration the company will also show new features to its Evolution aSTORM content management solution, which transparently manages various tiers across departments and locations or in the cloud, for the first time in Europe. aSTORM now includes numerous cost-saving features including, optimizing transfers between sites for reduced transfer costs; and improved tape migration workflows between technologies for increased resource efficiency resulting in lower migration costs. aSTORM also now supports Oracle cloud storage.

“The industry is undergoing a major transformation,” adds Mesas. “We deliver systems that provide a combination of features to optimize operations and content management at all levels on premises or in the cloud to ensure systems work efficiently according to each customer’s changing requirements. Come and see us on stand 8.B44 and find out more.”

Boston, MA — February 7, 2019 - EditShare, a technology leader in intelligent shared storage, QC and media management solutions, today announced that it will showcase its automated quality control solution, QScan and its IMF capabilities at the HPA Tech Retreat Innovation Zone from February 11-15, 2019 at the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa in California.

Powered by the award-winning QUALES AQC engine, QScan employs a unique single-pass analysis process which can be applied at any point during the workflow, making it an ideal automated quality control solution for media professionals across production, post-production and distribution. QScan comes pre-loaded with AQC templates such as IMF testing and AS-11 presets. In addition to support for IMF packages, all QScan models carry compliance certification from the DPP and AMWA which includes support for PSE testing.

IMF for broadcast and online makes it possible to automate the content supply chain, eliminate the unnecessary creation of multiple versions, enable workflow efficiencies and reduce QC and archive storage requirements while maintaining the quality of the original asset. EditShare’s QScan facilitates modern IMF workflows, supporting multiple file formats for the master, different versions and edits, different resolutions and frame rates, aspect ratios, languages, and ultimately distribution to many destinations. It automatically detects the existence of the corresponding XML files (CPL, PKL, OPL, AssetMap, Volume Index) reading the contents and providing information about the structure of the entire IMF package (IMPs) to ensure compliance for delivery saving facilities an enormous amount of time while opening doors to new avenues of revenue.

To learn more about the business benefits of IMF read EditShare’s Howard Twine's paper on the Business Benefits of IMF, co-developed with the DPP at qscan.editshare.com/technical/imf-delivery

For more information on QScan, please visit qscan.editshare.com.

About EditShare

EditShare is a technology leader in networked shared storage and tapeless, end-to-end workflow solutions for the post-production, TV and film industries. Our groundbreaking products improve efficiency and workflow collaboration every step of the way. They include video capture and playout servers, high-performance EFS central shared storage, AQC, archiving and backup software, media asset management, and Lightworks – the world’s first three-platform (Windows/OS X/Linux) professional non-linear video editing application.

©2019 EditShare LLC. All rights reserved. EditShare® is a registered trademark of EditShare.

Press Contact

Alex Molina

Zazil Media Group

(e) alex@zazilmediagroup.com

(p) +1 (617) 834-9600

LONDON—The Digital Production Partnership (DPP) last week announced a new SMPTE technical specification building the Interoperable Master Format (IMF) that promises to make it possible to automate the content supply chain, enable new workflow efficiencies and reduce QC and archive storage.

The technical specification, SMPTE TSP 2121:2018 IMF Application DPP (ProRes), will do so while maintaining the quality of the original asset, DPP said.

The new spec, the first "SMPTE Technical Specification" (TSP) to be created, will support mastering and international exchange of content. TSPs are designed to constrain standards to new workflows and international interoperability, SMPTE said.

[Read: IMF: Unleashing The Benefits Of File-Based Content]

“Specifications are part of SMPTE’s new future” said SMPTE Standards Vice President Bruce Devlin. “With IMF Application DPP (ProRes) we are starting a new chapter in SMPTE’s activities to encourage global interoperability, and to foster the emergence of new and stable technologies.”

DPP worked with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) and the IMF User Group to create the spec.

DPP will launch a compliance testing program for IMF for broadcast and online tools. The goal is to assure buyers and sellers that DPP-tested tools and IMF packages will be interoperable and can be exchanged around the world, according to DPP.

Release of the technical specification comes on the heels of on the release of “The Business Benefits of IMF” pamphlet for DPP members from the broadcast, supplier and distributor communities.

The new technical specification is available online.

Basingstoke, UK — June 19, 2018 - EditShare a technology leader in intelligent shared storage, QC and media management solutions, announced today that the latest EditShare QScan Automated Quality Control family (AQC) of products, powered by the award-winning QUALES QC engine, now supports automated QC of IMF (Interoperable Master Format) packages. “The new QScan IMF release is yet another milestone on EditShare’s journey to provide users with next-generation solutions that meet the needs of today’s global production supply chain,” comments Howard Twine, director of software strategy, EditShare. “Although IMF is not a new concept, its broader industry adoption is on the horizon. Our new QScan IMF capabilities will play a key role in ensuring users that compliance delivery can be met with the utmost confidence and simplicity, demystifying complex emerging high-dynamic range technology and workflows.” In addition to support for IMF packages, all QScan models carry compliance certification from the DPP and AMWA which includes support for PSE testing.

IMF smooths the path for those modern post-production workflows requiring multiple file formats for the master, different versions and edits, different resolutions and frame rates, aspect ratios, languages, and ultimately distribution to many destinations. QScan aids in the IMF QC workflow by detecting the existence of the corresponding XML files (CPL, PKL, OPL, AssetMap, Volume Index) reading the contents and providing information about the structure of the entire IMF package (IMPs). Twine elaborates, “It is particularly interesting the way QScan shows the information of these XML files. QScan provides a timeline view of the CPL where all essence files are described, thus helping the user better understand the structure of the whole IMP. This approach educates while simplifying the entire process.”

QScan IMF Timeline

QScan will detect when any errors are present in the XML files and perform all audio and video checks on the essence files as well. Twine concludes, “An IMF bundle is complex and there are many parts to it that can go wrong, causing problems further up the production or delivery process. QScan provides EditShare customers with the ability to rapidly and automatically spot structural errors within this bundle. In most cases, these types of errors cannot be spotted easily by a human operator and cause real problems for the production.”

About EditShare QScan Family of Products

The QScan AQC product line simplifies compliance and delivery requirements with robust quality check capabilities that leverage a patent pending QScan Single-Pass Analysis process which can be applied at any point during the workflow. The intuitive UI offers simple-to-use features and easy-to-read reporting results, making it easy to expand AQC use across the operation. QScan allows users to combine different test templates and with QScan Single Pass Analysis, maximizing efficiency for qualifying essence and container elements.

QScan One – A robust full-featured entry level AQC solution that processes one file at time. Ideal for small post facilities requiring the facility to check the integrity of files on an on-going basis but that don't need to check large volumes of media concurrently.

QScan Pro – A full-featured professional AQC solution that processes four files at a time. Designed for mid sized post facilities, with different departments such as audio, grading, VFX, and editing. Each department can set up parameters to test their files, with up to 4 files being tested simultaneously.

QScan Max – Fully scalable multi-node enterprise AQC solution with each node allowing for processing four concurrent files at a time. Ideal for VOD, OTT and Telco companies, the Max revision has limitless scalability allowing a large operator to test hundreds of files concurrently.

See new QScan release at BroadcastAsia2018

Attendees to the BroadcastAsia2018 can book a private demonstration to see the new QScan IMF capabilities along with other EditShare award-winning solutions (stand 6J5-01) at: sales.asia@editshare.co.uk

About EditShare

EditShare is a technology leader in networked shared storage and tapeless, end-to-end workflow solutions for the post-production, TV, and film industries. Our ground-breaking products improve efficiency and workflow collaboration every step of the way. They include video capture and playout servers, high-performance central shared storage, archiving and backup software, media asset management, and Lightworks – the world’s first 3-platform (Windows/OS X/Linux) professional non-linear video editing application.

©2018 EditShare LLC. All rights reserved. EditShare is a registered trademark of EditShare.

Press Contact

Nick Govoni
Zazil Media Group
(e) nick@zazilmediagroup.com
(p) +1 (978) 866 7354

MUNICH, GERMANY—The Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers has partnered with a research institute of public broadcasters from Germany, Austria and Switzerland to conduct an Interoperable Master Format plugfest to test whether or not vendors can create and play interoperable IMF packages.

SMPTE and the Institut für Rundfunktechnik (IRT) have scheduled the plugfest for May 29 in Munich. It will be conducted as a meeting of the SMPTE Media Packaging and Interchange Technology Committee (TC-35PM) Plugfest Drafting Group.

SMPTE will conduct another IMF plugfest Oct. 18-19 in the Los Angeles area. That event will occur in the days leading up to SMPTE 2018 Annual Technical Conference & Exhibition, Oct. 22-25, at the Westin Bonaventure in Los Angeles.

The SMPTE-IRT plugfest, the first such collaborative IMF test, will bring together various international content providers, distributors, broadcasters and vendors.

For the plugfest, devices from multiple vendors will be used to create IMF packages using agreed-upon test vectors and supplied source material for various IMF applications. Packages created on the device of one vendor will be tested on all other participating devices to verify whether they can be processed correctly to produce the same results.

As issues are identified, solutions will be proposed that can be used to inform IMF users and to clarify or update the existing SMPTE IMF standard.

Prior to the SMPTE-IRT plugfest, a virtual plugfest will be held to give participants the chance to work with the source material in their labs.

To date, more than 16 organizations have registered to participate.

Those who wish to register to participate should visit the plugfest website.

In yet another series of industry firsts, OWNZONES Media Network, the OTT EntTech company, is leading the charge to revolutionize cloud-based distribution of content by consistently introducing cost and time saving measures for its clients.

In the world of digital distribution, the biggest challenge for studios and rights holders is prepping content to comply with today’s digital format distribution standards. Until now, sending the content to such platforms as Netflix, Amazon and Hulu has been extremely inefficient and incredibly costly. Taking a disruptive stance, OWNZONES has now cracked the code by unveiling ProRes IMF support to its Post Production suite of features in the cloud for IMF (Interoperable Master Format).

“Today’s legacy industry platforms are offering antiquated processes that are too expensive and time consuming,” said Dan Goman, CEO of OWNZONES. “We are radically disrupting the marketplace by creating new ways to distribute content without it continuing to break the bank. After years of research with a talented tech team at OWNZONES, we are pleased to be far ahead of all other companies offering digital distribution. We continue to roll out new innovations on a consistent basis, offering our clients bleeding-edge, yet cost-efficient, solutions to the growing challenge of keeping up with rapidly expanding OTT industry global platform needs.”

With today’s announcement, two new features – Cloud ProRes Previewer & ProRes Based IMF Packaging – will become a first for the industry as they bring a post-production solution for ProRes video editing of IMF packages in the cloud. Now customers with entire libraries of content mastered in ProRes format can leverage the power of IMF without incurring massive conversion costs. Customers will continue to have the option to convert to J2K-based IMF packages, if needed.

By utilizing the OWNZONES Connect™ cloud solution, which incorporates OWNZONES’ proprietary parallel scaling technology, ProRes files are simply “wrapped” in IMF-specific packaging, ready for distribution. The process happens entirely in the cloud, in record time and at a fraction of potential competing solutions.

The new cloud-based ProRes features, the first introduction of its kind, will be part of the offering behind OWNZONES Connect™, a state-of-the-art digital supply chain in the cloud.

“We recognize that there’s a majority of the industry that uses ProRes as their mastering format, and converting it to a different format creates a lot of challenges,” said Aaron Sloman, Chief Technology Officer at OWNZONES. “By using our new features, companies that are ProRes based can move to IMF without the re-transcoding of their files, which can be very costly and time consuming, especially for large media libraries.”

Sloman added: “ProRes video storage and localized versioning long needed a component-based standard among the studios and media companies, and our new product launch accomplishes this as well. Using IMF as the standard, the industry becomes more efficient. We have already seen demand from our customers who realize the cost savings and are confident they won’t lose quality and time, especially for large media libraries.”

As the post-production processing continues to migrate to the cloud, OWNZONES is taking a leadership position in introducing many cloud-based features with its proprietary platform, OWNZONES Connect™. With years of research invested in the platform, OWNZONES Connect™ is designed to conform and distribute digital content in the most efficient and streamlined way possible to all devices. It also acts as a post house in the cloud with state-of-the-art features in editing, conversion and encoding, motion graphics, sound mixing and editing.

More specifically, OWNZONES Connect™ features an array of capabilities that work in conjunction with each other to create the ultimate post house in the cloud for IMF. This includes the Cloud IMF transcoder, the Native Cloud CPL Builder, Cloud-based CPL Source Previewer, Cloud-based IMF Playback, Supplemental Packager and Elastic Parallel Transcoding.

OWNZONES is a pioneering technological force that’s transforming the over-the-top (OTT) industry with groundbreaking innovations, from digital supply chain solutions to unique, customizable video apps. Their solutions help media companies and services deliver high-quality video content to their consumers globally, at scale and at a fraction of the standard cost. OWNZONES’ philosophy is to always go beyond the current market needs and prepare for tomorrow’s transformational technologies. With this mindset, their proprietary technology enables clients to transform, deliver and monetize their video content libraries like never before.

For more information please visit www.ownzones.com.

The development and adoption of the SMPTE-based IMF (Interoperable Master Format) continues to thrive within the Media & Entertainment (M&E) industry. The reasons for this are many, but primarily because IMF more easily and readily facilitates the management and processing of multiple content versions that need to be created for distribution across global channels.

The file-based framework (SMPTE ST 2067-2) of IMF, derived from the DCP (Digital Cinema Package) packing standard, includes essence containers, audio and timed text essence formats, basic descriptive metadata and complex playlists. High definition, SDR images, and JPEG 2000 image coding is supported, making it ideal for studios, post production facilities, the manufacturing community and, as a delivery format to OTT services.

Each content version is embodied in a composition of finished work that is logically pieced together with localized audio/video/text elements to develop region-specific masters for video streaming service/linear broadcast platforms. For instance, an advertisement may require three different versions – one for television broadcast, one for airline showings, and a third in a different language. In each version, the composition playlist (CPL) defines its playback timeline. Standards like IMF additionally play a key role in ensuring that storage and networks are used optimally to allow a seamless workflow for these multi-versioned, often large audio and visual works.

COMPATIBLE TECHNOLOGY

Technology solutions that support the file-based format workflow also play a key role in IMF’s growing rate of adoption. Included among those are hybrid cloud architecture and IMF-compatible solutions such as media players. The player enables collaboration and decision making in the workflow without having to access the original IMF package each time a CPL is played back, thereby easing content transfer loads and optimizing storage consumption across streaming locations. Meanwhile, hybrid cloud architecture has been instrumental in offering cost savings (by decreasing capital expenses and shifting costs to lower operating expenses), auto-scalable storage, and end-to-end automation of media asset monetization workflows. A hybrid architecture also helps ensure security because the content resides on-premise, while the applications run on the cloud.

[Read: IMF: Unleashing The Benefits Of File-Based Content]

IMF packages may reside in the Cloud (i.e. Amazon/Azure), remote locations or customer premises and may be composed using any of the desktop CPL editing solutions such as Clipster, Color Font, Gray Meta, and Netflix CPL Editor, among others. IMF-compatible players can accommodate these many variations and provide the ability to preview, playback, review, and distribute a CPL with all its essences, including video, audio, and captions, over streaming proxies. IMF players can additionally ingest complete and supplemental IMF packages and perform functions including search, playback, upload and download complete or partial packages or updates, as well as perform distribution of IMF packages or rendered and transcoded output (video files rather than packages).

BEHIND THE SCENES

The vast richness that streaming offers comes with a complexity that requires added efficiency in the workflow, and M&E organizations are responding to this by transitioning their libraries to the IMF standard. Furthermore, with 4k and 8k fast becoming a reality, the need to improve the cost effectiveness of handling such large files becomes even more imperative.

An IMF based Cloud player is designed to solve many of these issues on several levels. For instance, IMF has the ability to define new masters by preparing a playlist using logical references of the underlying content. Since a number of downstream use cases are expected to be executed from the MAM, an IMF player supports these activities with preview/playback and review/distribute of the compositions playlists using streaming proxies. Playback is frame accurate with all the playlist elements (audio/video/subtitles/captions) over streaming proxies. Additionally, packaging and delivery of IMF compositions is generally supported in the distributed workflow capabilities of an Enterprise Resource Planner such as Prime Focus Technologies’ CLEAR Media ERP.

Other benefits realized when utilizing an IMF player in the workflow include fewer content copies; centralized streaming over CDNs (content distribution networks) by content owners; additional solutions to help monetize centrally streamed content, originating from several different video streaming service platforms; centralized rights management for video streaming serve platforms by content owners; and improved control over piracy.

The development of IMF players and their integration into Media Asset Management platforms will prove to be exceptionally valuable in the coming years – a true asset to content creators. 

LAS VEGAS—At the 2018 NAB Show Dalet introduced Dalet Galaxy five, a new version of the company’s media asset management and workflow orchestration platform that adds new frameworks for AI and social media, plus hybrid workflow and collaboration enhancements.

For artificial intelligence, Dalet Galaxy five connects, orchestrates and fine-tunes purpose-driven combinations of AI models, enabling media organizations to build intelligent workflows that assist users with recommendations, facilitate collaboration with smart matching, and use predictive analytics for better provisioning and automated decision-making. Dalet Content Discovery, the first application to leverage this new AI framework uses data generated by cognitive services, combined with existing metadata, to build smart content recommendations for editorial and creative teams. Deployed as part of the Dalet Unified News Operations and Sports Production solution, Dalet Content Discovery leverages automatic content tagging, topic extraction and key phrase searches, orchestrating a combination of Auto Indexing and Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology.

The Dalet Social Media framework enables newsrooms to treat social media as an integrated part of their overall news operation. Journalists can harvest, analyze, produce and deliver fast-paced news on social media platforms alongside traditional outlets. The story-centric workflow offers familiar indicators such as number of views, likes, shares, as well as audience comments and threads. Visual engagement data lets journalists know how their posts are performing with their audience and discover new angles audiences are expecting. With analytical tools and dynamic content at their fingertips, journalists can quickly evolve posts into deeper stories or segue into a new angle. New capabilities include social media popularity indicators, Twitter harvester, scheduling and approval of social posts, expanded emoji library, contextual graphics and subtitles.

For hybrid workflows and operations, Dalet Galaxy five introduces new integrations with AWS infrastructure services, enabling hybrid scalable architectures that help minimize content handling costs and introduce more mobility in the user experience while enhancing the security of content. Hybrid workflow capabilities include Archive in the Cloud, External Content Review, Multi-Site Federation & Content Sharing, and Disaster Recovery.

The new version of the Dalet Workflow Engine included in Dalet Galaxy five offers enhanced task management, high availability and new API services that simplify the integration with third-party systems. Recently added capabilities include top-down view of group tasks and shared task lists as well as task time tracking and data aggregation for reporting and analysis.

Dalet Galaxy five adds component workflows that eliminates intermediate processes in the media supply chain, allowing users to produce, manage and distribute content at the component level, which helps facilitate complex and mass content volume workflows such as multiplatform news production and international programs preparation, localization and versioning.

[Read: Quantum Xcellis Scale-Out NAS Now Compatible For Dalet MAM]

The model is particularly adapted to new families of standards such as the Interoperable Mastering Format or IMF. Dalet Galaxy five’s Dalet Webspace manage end-to-end component-based IMF workflows from acquisition to production, versioning, packaging and distribution. This includes receiving IMF packages, referencing IMF assets in a central repository, leveraging IMF metadata, both technical and editorial, to search on all assets and data; generating proxies for preview of track files and CPLs in Dalet WebSpace; visualizing assets relationships (track files and CPLs, CPLs and OPLs), automating the creation of new versions, connecting CPLs using EIDR (Entertainment Identifier Registry) and ISAN (International Standard Audiovisual Number) ids.

New collaborative enhancements for Dalet five include Media Bins that for flexible media sharing; Dalet On-the-Go, which brings programs management tools to mobile devices, and new Dalet Chat capabilities that allow users to work by thread and embed assets such as graphics, audio and video files. For editing Dalet Webspace features a story-boarder for cut editing anywhere; the Dalet OneCut built-in desktop editor has new editing tracks, new transitions and effects, and the Dalet Xtend integration with Adobe Premiere Pro CC expands to support Adobe Projects as well as the Dalet CG-on-the-Timeline model.

Expanding production control automation capabilities, Dalet Galaxy five offers a new version of Dalet On-Air, featuring new automation events macros for control of studio devices such as lighting, audio and camera position but also deep integration of these automation events with the full orchestration layer of the platform.

For business intelligence, a new version of the Dalet Report Center features new set of data extractions and data model that supports analysis and reporting on a new set of business indicators. 

To promote more efficient, global file interchange, the Digital Production Partnership Ltd (DPP) just released The Business Benefits of IMF, a guide to understanding the financial and operational benefits of Interoperable Master Format (IMF).

“The global market for quality content has brought enormous opportunity for media companies, by creating demand for different versions of master material. But that also brings great cost and complexity,” says DPP Managing Director, Mark Harrison. “That’s the problem that IMF solves: it enables faster, cheaper and higher quality versioning. It brings huge financial and operational benefits.”

The guide not only covers the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) IMF standard for premium content, it also explains the new IMF for Broadcast and Online specification. According to the DPP, the new standard they’re developing with SMPTE saves significant time and money by enabling automation of the content supply chain, eliminating unnecessary versioning, enabling workflow efficiencies, and reducing QC and archive storage requirements, without sacrificing quality.

Produced with DPP Member EditShare, provider of the QScan Automated Quality Control family of products, The Business Benefits of IMF explains how IMF works, the problems it solves, the benefits it brings, as well as how best to implement the IMF for Broadcast and Online specification. 

According to Howard Twine, Director of Software Strategy, EditShare, "IMF represents a new level of efficiency within our industry. .. Our QScan range of Automated Quality Control products will help deliver this kind of efficiency to any media workflow. Users will be able to roll out technologies like IMF in a much more agile and less disruptive way."

[Read: SMPTE, DPP Partner On IMF For Broadcast And Online]

Once SMPTE publishes the new IMF for Broadcast & Online specification, the DPP will launch a compliance testing program designed to give media professionals confidence that DPP tested tools and IMF packages are interoperable and can be exchanged internationally.

As the media industry moves towards a future dominated by large, super resolution files, inter-connected workflows, and multiple cloud solutions, DPP announced that its next guide will be Home Truths No.12: Cloud Exchange, followed by a DPP at Home May 2018 workshop.

The Business Benefits of IMF is downloadable as a PDF booklet for DPP members, and also as a presentation deck with handout notes to support the DPP’s broadcaster, supplier and distributor members in the adoption of IMF for Broadcast & Online. 

Dalet, a leading provider of solutions and services for broadcasters and content professionals, extends the Interoperable Master Format (IMF) capabilities and collaborative workflows within the new Dalet Galaxy five solution. Shown at NAB 2018 on booth SL8010, the Dalet Galaxy five component-based approach to IMF provides an exceptional user experience for maximum efficiency – simplifying IMF production and delivery workflows with visually intuitive graphical tools and automation.

“The overall change in moving from traditional workflow to Dalet’s IMF component-based approach is more than a technical uplift, it's a change in the business value model,” states Matthieu Fasani, product manager, Dalet. “All too often a facility can be perceived as a provider of tapes and files that satisfy individual creative projects, but the real goal here is to move into a position of being able to fulfil a continuous business need by providing a technical back office and, potentially, a store-front for fulfilling the national and international distribution requirements. Dalet enables this by demystifying the complexity of IMF, industrializing the process with a component-based approach that is incredibly flexible and quick to adopt across organizations.”

Dalet has been pioneering component-based workflows and the IMF workflow industrialization with Dalet Galaxy, its flagship MAM and Workflow Orchestration platform, creating real business opportunities for global distribution. “In a traditional workflow you need to re-render your entire project several times throughout its lifecycle including every version you need to distribute,” explains Arnaud Elnecave, vice president, marketing, Dalet. “The Dalet Galaxy five data model and toolset supports comprehensive component-based workflows. This means you never render, you change only the specific elements that need to be modified or added supplements within a project or collection, eliminating the need to duplicate media files. This is a much more flexible approach that offers significant savings on time and resources for production and delivery. This will become more and more critical for efficient program versioning and distribution workflows where various essences are produced, transformed, arranged, packaged and exchanged repeatedly between media properties.”

NAB attendees can book a private briefing here to learn more about Dalet Galaxy five IMF and other component-based workflows.

New IMF Workflow Features of Dalet Galaxy five

New features, introduced with Dalet Galaxy five and shown at NAB 2018, include native IMF support and a Video Timeline view to speed approvals and production:

• Native support for IMF assets, such as the Composition Play List (CPL) and the Output Profile List (OPL), comes as default alongside objects like video, audio or images when you open Dalet Galaxy
  
• Generating proxies for preview of track files and CPLs in Dalet WebSpace
  
• Visualizing asset relationships (between track files and CPLs, CPLs and OPLs, and between CPLs belonging to the same title)
  
• Automating the creation of new versions by leveraging the Workflow Orchestration platform capabilities
  
• Automatically connecting CPLs using EIDR (Entertainment Identifier Registry) and ISAN (International Standard Audiovisual Number) identifiers
  
• Orchestrating the rendering of compositions and the generation of new IMPs manually or automatically based on configurable business rules

A Great User Experience

“The IMF standard brings huge benefits at several key steps of the media supply and distribution chain but at the cost of some complexity. In order for users to leverage all of its benefits, IMF workflows need to be intuitive and easy to manage,” adds Fasani. “That’s exactly what Dalet Galaxy five is introducing. The way the Dalet user experience exposes IMF assets for manipulation is so unique, it will change the way people perceive and understand IMF. In just one or two days you can set up sophisticated workflows to receive IMF packages, review the content, trigger export to Netflix or any distributor you wish, and simplify end-to-end IMF workflows for all of your team. We are replacing complexity with usability.”

Dalet Galaxy five introduces a new set of tools within Dalet WebSpace specifically designed for preview, review and approval of all objects of an IMF package, including the CPL, with a glance at the Video Timeline available on any web client. There is no need for an extensive mastering tool. Simply import the package content into Galaxy, automatically generate proxies and extend collaborative review and approval workflows.

The Bundle Object groups all the components that belong to the same title under one umbrella. Inside the Bundle Editor, users will find the lifecycle of component-based workflows presented in a simple, visual layout:

• The Media Tab lists all the component track files (video, audio, subtitles/captions
  
• The Production Tab lists all the CPLs/OPLs, which describe how components have been assembled and should be transformed to an output deliverable
  
• The Version Tab exposes the renderings of CPLs/OPLs into final deliverables for consumption by end-users (AS-11 for linear playout, HLS/DASH for OTT distribution)
  
• The Packages Tab tracks how individual components have been received/delivered and allows to generate new packages by simple drag-and-drop operations.
  

Extensive Third-Party Integration

Dalet works with the IMF eco-system of vendors (mastering tools from Marquise Technologies, Rohde & Schwarz and ColorFront; QC tools from Netflix Photon, Interra Systems and IRT) to ensure robust end-to-end IMF workflows, including receiving IMF packages, referencing IMF assets in a central repository and leveraging IMF metadata, both technical and editorial, to automate processes at scale and expose the relevant information to the appropriate users.

Learn more about IMF and Dalet Component-Based Workflows

Click here to visit the dedicated webpage.

Learn More About IMF and Dalet component-based workflows at Dalet Pulse

Join 250+ media and technology executives at Dalet Pulse to discover latest innovations from Dalet and technology partners. Dalet Pulse will take place on April 8th at the SLS Hotel in Las Vegas. To register, please click here.

Schedule a Private Press Briefing with Dalet at NAB 2018

Members of the NAB registered press are invited to request a private press briefing with Dalet at NAB 2018. For more information, please contact Alex Molina at alex@zazilmediagroup.com.

About Dalet Digital Media Systems

Dalet solutions and services enable media organizations to create, manage and distribute content faster and more efficiently, fully maximizing the value of assets. Dalet products are built on three distinct platforms that, when combined, form versatile business solutions that power end-to-end workflows for news, sports, program preparation, production, archive and radio. Individually, Dalet platforms and products offer targeted applications with key capabilities to address critical media workflow functions such as ingest, QC, edit, transcode and multiplatform distribution.

The foundation for Dalet productivity-enhancing workflow solutions, Dalet Galaxy is the enterprise Media Asset Management (MAM) & Orchestration platform that unifies the content chain by managing assets, metadata, workflows and processes across multiple and diverse production and distribution systems. Specially tailored for news and media workflows, this unique technology platform helps broadcasters and media professionals increase productivity while providing operational and business visibility.

Dalet AmberFin is the high-quality, scalable transcoding platform with fully integrated ingest, mastering, QC and review functionalities, enabling facilities to make great pictures in a scalable, reliable and interoperable way. Addressing the demanding needs of studio production, multi-camera ingest, sports logging and highlights production, the innovative Dalet Brio video server platform combines density and cost-effectiveness with high reliability. Adopted by leading broadcasters, Dalet Cube is a suite of applications to create, manage and deliver graphics in a newsroom scenario.

Dalet supports customers from the initial planning stages to well beyond project execution. Our global presence includes 17 offices strategically located throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, North America and South America, and a network of more than 60 professional partners serving 87 countries worldwide. This collective experience and knowledge enables our customers to realize potential increases in productivity, efficiency and value of their assets.

The comprehensive Dalet Care program ensures deployments remain up and running with 24/7 support 365 days a year.

Dalet systems are used around the world by many thousands of individual users at hundreds of TV and Radio content producers, including public broadcasters (ABS-CBN, BBC, CBC, DR, FMM, France TV, RAI, RFI, Russia Today, RT Malaysia, VOA), commercial networks and operators (Canal+, FOX, eTV, MBC Dubai, MediaCorp, Mediaset, Orange, Time Warner Cable, Warner Bros, Sirius XM Radio), and government organizations (Canadian House of Commons, Australian Parliament and UK Parliament).

Dalet is traded on the NYSE-EURONEXT stock exchange (Eurolist C): ISIN: FR0011026749, Bloomberg DLT:FP, Reuters: DALE.PA.

Dalet® is a registered trademark of Dalet Digital Media Systems. All other products and trademarks mentioned herein belong to their respective owners.

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—In an attempt to define a prototype SMPTE Specifications process, SMPTE and Digital Production Partnership recently collaborated on a pilot project. Together, SMPTE and DPP have delivered the first draft SMPTE Specification, which focuses on the use of Interoperable Master Format, or SMPTE ST 2067, for broadcast and online applications.

The documents, which were presented during the recent HPA Tech Retreat, were written with input by DPP, SMPTE, the North American Broadcasters Association and the European Broadcasting Union, as well as industry manufacturers and end users. The draft is now out for public comment.

The draft specification addresses constraints for IMF for broadcast and online applications, including MXF Track Files, composition playlists, output profile lists and IMF packages. The specification will reference other activities, such as the EBU.io/qc project for carrying quality-control metadata and EBU-TT, as well as optional methods for carrying EBU-STL subtitles in Europe and CTA-608/CTA-708 captions in North America.

[SMPTE Looks Beyond Hollywood]

The specification was built on the IMF standard and will help enable broadcasters to use IMF workflows with their existing content archives and facilitate the realization of file-based interoperability on a large scale.

The prototype SMPTE Specifications process will be exercised with these documents with the process being documented and reviewed by the SMPTE Board of Governors before being offered to the industry as a specification service to all. Once finalized, the new SMPTE documents will join other SMPTE technical publications, including standards.

The draft documents are available here. 

LONDON and WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. —Two major production technology organizations are teaming up to brew a new flavor of the Interoperable Master Format otherwise referred to as “IMF,” in time for next year’s NAB Show.

“The final publication of the IMF specification is expected to take place before the 2018 NAB Show,” stated the announcement distributed by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. SMPTE, along with the Digital Production Partnership, intends to create the new standard.

“Working with SMPTE, the North American Broadcasters Association, the European Broadcasting Union, manufacturers, and end users across the media industry, we plan to create a specification that brings the benefits of IMF more fully into the broadcast and online realm,” said Mark Harrison, DPP managing director, in the SMPTE release.

IMF is described in the SMPTE standard ST 2067, (standards documents are housed in the IEEE Digital Library). In a nutshell, IMF is a method for transmogrifying a master file into various versions for delivery to many platforms. The current version is more geared toward studios and less toward broadcasting because of the codecs it does and does not support. Netflix, for example, uses IMF because it licenses content from multiple studios. (See, “IMF: A Prescription for Versionitis,” Netflix Tech Blog,” March 7, 2016 and “IMF: Unleashing the Benefits of File-Based Content,” TV Technology, Feb. 15, 2017.).

The fragmentation of display platforms is driving the initiative for broadcasting, according Andy Wilson, head of business development for DPP in a statement from the London-based tech consortium formed by the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.

“Broadcasters are looking to target new audiences and territories and monetize their program assets over a much longer period of time,” he said. “But while they are doing that they also need to maintain quality. So the need to keep high-quality files for re-versioning for new broadcast and online deliveries is more important than ever.”

SMPTE said this new version will “deliver a technical specification for IMF in broadcast and online applications as a breakdown of different elements—video and audio packages, composition playlists, and output profile lists—with references to all relevant SMPTE standards.”

The final draft proposals will proceed “in conjunction with a series of plugfests and product tests,” SMPTE said. When it’s done, it will be made available to manufacturers for creating compatible readers, writers and analyzers. 

DPP said the partnership with SMPTE builds on its own analysis of business requirements for creating a global IMF standard with input from NABA and EBU in particular. The partnership is said to be the “first step in a wider move by SMPTE to take a new approach to standards and specifications, and will initially pilot the delivery of the IMF broadcast specification.”

SMPTE Executive Director Barbara Lange said the effort to extend IMF “comes in response to the changing media landscape where content delivery to multiple territories is increasingly the norm.”

Bruce Devlin is the SMPTE governor for the U.K. Region as well as “Mr. MXF” for his pioneering co-invention of the Material Exchange Format, a type of file wrapper that can be used in the IMF architecture. (Refer again to the Netflix blog.) Devlin said the SMPTE-DPP work will drill down into “specific television metadata needs—from the inclusion of third-party QC reports to the metadata for compressed surround audio—of using IMF in TV applications."

Howard Lukk, SMPTE director of Engineering and Standards, said the partnership with DPP breaks new ground for SMPTE.

“This project will establish a streamlined specification framework that complements our wide range of other due-process engineering documents such as standards,” he said.

ARLINGTON, VA.—Interoperability in the file-based world has been an ongoing issue for media companies both large and small. In its campaign to launch digital cinema over the past decade and move away from reels to file-based systems, Hollywood studios—along with manufacturers and rights holders—attempted to resolve the problem of media production and distribution by collaborating with SMPTE to develop the Interoperable Master Format (IMF). The first iteration of this standard, known as IMF v1.0 was released in 2011, with v1.1 now in its final draft.

Hollywood has long been a global industry, but the capabilities of digital technology—including the increasing use of content localization—have made it even more so. With IMF, these processes are made easier, more cost-effective and more widespread. IMF was the subject of a recent workshop hosted by PBS in Arlington, Va., and sponsored by MediaAnswers and Tedial, a Spanish-based developer of advanced media asset management systems.

MXF: ‘15 YEARS OF CHAOS’

François Abbe, president of mesclado

When media companies first transitioned from the tape-based world to file-based, a standard was needed to manage the production process from editing to distribution; hence the birth of the Media eXchange Format (MXF) approximately 15 years ago. But the initial promise of MXF never really materialized, according to François Abbe, president of mesclado, a French-based IT architecture and consultancy firm. “We got the worst of the tape world and the worst of the IT world,” and because MXF resulted in a plethora of proprietary formats, it “brought 10-15 years of chaos,” he said. “And we’re still debugging it.”

The industry needed a new methodology that would provide a universal mastering standard for all media industry players, provide lower storage and distribution costs and allow the media to be distributed on an increasing array of platforms.

Unlike MXF, IMF is component-based, offering a two level design: the Core, which is considered the “wrapper” for the digital file, and Applications, which are format-specific. The current applications—all supporting the JPEG2000 codec—include Application 2, which supports HD (1920x1080) and SDR. Application 2E—an extension of Application 2—supports HDR, wide color gamut and image resolutions up to 8K and is currently being updated. Other applications are also being considered, with the latest, Application 5, covering color grading.

IMF’s Core, also known as the OPL (output playlist) wrapper is based on the AMWA AS-02 spec and is considered the “technical”—or in layman’s terms the “delivery instructions”—of the standard, while the CPL (compositional playlist) is the editorial or “recipe” component (formerly known as the EDL). A CPL can have only one application. MXF files within the Core are known as “tracks” which are defined separately as audio, video and data.

THE ‘RECIPE’

To simplify the technical aspects, Abbe used the analogy of spaghetti and meatballs, where the shopping list of ingredients (tomatoes, pasta, parmesan cheese, etc.), is considered the OPL. “The OPL is going to tell you whether it’s canned tomatoes and meatballs or fresh or dehydrated,” he said, while the CPL is how one makes the spaghetti and meatballs. “The OPL is the size of the meatballs, the CPL is how you make the meatballs,” he said, adding “if you want gluten-free or have a vegan friend for dinner, that would involve a change in the CPL.”

As mentioned before, content localization is one of the main drivers of the IMF standardization. The increasing use of VOD and OTT bring with it an explosion of new versions, along with a wider variety of languages, and differing cultural norms in countries worldwide—where one person’s naked shoulder may be defined as nudity in another. IMF provides an easier method to create different versions, using the Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) within the XML file.

The UUID is the key to the IMF workflow; “without it we are dead,” Abbe said.

Since it is based on the JPEG2000 codec—which handles fairly large file sizes—IMF is of minimal use to broadcasters in its present iteration. While attempts have been made to add other codecs which broadcasters use, including Sony’s XAVC, Panasonic’s AVC-Ultra and Avid’s DNxHD, the thinking in the Hollywood community is that such attempts would hinder the forward progress of IMF, according to Abbe, who added that the BBC’s announcement at IBC that it planned to use Apple’s ProRes as the codec of choice for its IMF files was met with some consternation.

However, according to workshop attendee Renard Jenkins, vice president of operations for PBS, broadcasters should be following the standardization process of IMF as it is expected to extend beyond cinema in the future.

Renard Jenkins

“PBS has been participating in the IMF user group and SMPTE IMF working group for over a year and half,” he said. “We see IMF as a potential means to streamline our preparation and delivery process to digital delivery destinations (D3s). As the standard continues to mature and include more broadcast elements this has the potential to be of great use to distributors like PBS throughout our entire media supply chain.”

Jay Batista, general manager, North American Operations for Tedial—an early adopter of IMF—discussed the company’s philosophy behind its MediaSet platform, which streamlines the management of media assets. “We are an open standards-based company,” he said. “Our designs are meant to interoperable.”

The IMF Roadshow also stops in New York today and wraps up in Los Angeles on Friday, Feb. 17. 

MONUMENT, COLO.—MediAnswers' crash course in IMF is heading back out onto the road in 2017 after what has been described as a successful first run in 2016. MediAnswers, along with partners Mesclado, Tedial, Diversified, and specific sponsors at the program’s stops, is providing a one-day seminar designed to get participants up to speed on what IMF is and how it can help users to thrive in the new realm of file-based workflows.

“IMF: Unleashing the Benefits of File-Based Content” is an interactive experience that looks to provide an overall standing of the IMF standard; a focus on specific aspects of IMF; and a focus on the business and technical fundamentals required to use the IMF standard. MediAnswers says that course participants will gain an understanding of the basics of interoperability and versioning problems using IMF.

The one-day seminar will make three stops across the U.S. during from Feb. 14-17. Its first stop will be in Washington D.C. on Feb. 14 and will be hosted by PBS. It will then travel to New York on Feb. 15 for a session hosted by ANA. The tour will then wrap up with a program in Los Angeles hosted by Fox on Feb. 17.

Registration for a full-day seminar is $299 per person, or $285 for SMPTE or ACIE members. Deadline for registration is a week before each seminar.

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—If learning more about the Interoperable Master Format family of standards is on your list of New Year’s resolutions, SMPTE has you covered. SMPTE has announced the newest addition to its slate of SMPTE Virtual Classroom offerings, launching “IMF Essentials: What You Need to Know” in January. The goal of the class will be to provide media mastering and services professionals an understanding of how this component-based high-fidelity format addresses the proliferation of content versions needed to service distribution channels worldwide.

Pierre-Anthony Lemieux

The course was developed by and will be facilitated by Bruce Devlin, SMPTE governor for the U.K. region, and Pierre-Anthony Lemieux, chair of the SMPTE technology committee for media packaging and interchange and lead editor of the IMF standard. Devlin and Lemieux will guide participants through the details of IMF standards. Participants will learn how to build a delivery specification based on an existing IMF application specification and how the many layers of IMF contribute to optimized IMF applications and workflow.

The first course will take place on Jan. 23, 2017, and run for five weeks. Up to 20 people will be able to register for the course. For information on how to register, visit www.smpte.org/courses.

NUREMBURG, GERMANY—Today’s post-production professionals have many questions they must ask themselves before accepting a job: Can I process the production file format to ingest the content and additional metadata into my tool chain? How many different workflows do I have to implement to create the manifold delivery formats and to satisfy customer demands for the viewing experiences they expect, be it on the big, small or multi-screens? What other post houses do I have to involve for processing the content right way? Do I have to fine-tune the coding parameters for all different file and streaming formats? In summary, professionals are faced with hundreds of different file formats and options.

A workflow solution is in sight: The Interoperable Master Format (IMF).

You may wonder why the addition of a (n+1)th file format is a solution. Let’s start at the beginning to flesh out why.

With the advent of digital technologies, the number of formats used increased exponentially. In the past, when content was produced, just one master tape or one master film copy was created. These masters were the source for a low number of different distribution channels, essentially just 35 mm film cinema and classical TV broadcast. Today, production is much more complex.

Let’s break this down by stages of the workflow to give a clear view on why production is so much more complex.

The first step is ingestion. Production companies can select from a variety of different digital cameras, with each camera manufacturer delivering its own content source format. These capturing technologies are constantly evolving with new digital sensors with different color, bit depth and noise characteristics, thus necessitating the creation of even more source formats.

The second step is post-production. Digital technology itself allows more processing steps for color grading, compositing, versioning and special effects. Consequently, the number of involved post-production service companies increases, and data exchange amongst these facilities must occur frequently.

The final step is distribution. Consumer device manufacturers create their own, unique digital TV displays, smartphones or tablets to allow the best viewing experience. Devices with better reproduction technologies, higher dynamic ranges and color reproduction fidelity are on the rise. Similar to camera source formats, each of these viewing device requires its own target-specific distribution format, be it for broadcast, cinema or streaming.

This creates what seems like an endless amount of different workflows, working with a vast sea of file formats to process content from camera A to display device B, then involving production company C by using file-transfer, streaming formats, broadcast formats or cinema formats. Agreeing on, exchanging and delivering the right file format is a very complex process, wasting time and resources.

Based on these issues, the Hollywood studios initiated an effort to develop a common master exchange format for post-production: the IMF. The Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) developed the first proposal of this format in 2011, and SMPTE started its standardization immediately after. The big advantage of this format is that it is vendor neutral. It covers all the requirements of becoming a true universal master exchange format, regardless of device, distribution channel or special effects used.

The IMF contains the highest image and sound quality necessary for creating all distributions formats. It defines parameters for coding or pan and scan areas for converting into specific distribution formats by using a specification called Output Profile List (OPL). Depending on the target distribution channel and viewing device, parameters are defined by type of file format, codec used, bitrate or subtitling. Therefore, the generation of files for multi-format delivery can be automated. Manual interaction is limited to quality control.

To encourage acceptance of the IMF, a similar approach was used as with the development of the Digital Cinema Package (DCP), the worldwide standard for distribution of movies to digital cinemas. First a generally accepted file format using well-known components like MXF, JPEG2000 or XML was defined. The parameters were constrained to only include the absolutely necessary requirements and not overloaded with high flexibility, which is never used. This reduces implementation errors and results in good conformance with the standard. And last but not least, interoperability tests were executed to eliminate ambiguities and to assure error-free data exchange between different vendors.

The IMF is well on the way to replace all other exchange formats and streamline workflows. In the future, we will see the IMF evolve to continue enabling post-production professionals to seamlessly provide the viewing experiences today’s consumers have come to demand and expect through the distribution channel of their choice. This includes future adaptations for 4K, 8K, archive applications, high dynamic range (HDR) and high frame rates (HFR). With the IMF, all of the potential for immersive digital media and cinema experiences, be it brought by camera technology, special effects, or display devices, will be realized.

Dr. Foessel is Head of Department Moving Picture Technologies for Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS. 

BRISTOL, ENGLAND—Interoperable Master Format metadata is now part of the checklist for both the Vidchecker and Vidchecker-post automated quality control software, announced Vidcheck.

Developed around the SMPTE ST 2067-2 standard, a single IMF package can contain video, audio, graphics, closed caption and metadata elements, says Howard Twine, Vidcheck COO; those files can be stored in the IMF files as separate assets and combined when required. IMF has progressed to Application 2e (SMPTE 2067-21), which supports images with 4K resolution plus high dynamic range.

Twine says that with Vidchecker’s new features, the system can check all IMF data and detect potential operational issues. Problems detected in either the program essence or metadata container are displayed on the user interface.

Vidchecker is designed for checking and repairing file-based video, audio and related metadata before and after distribution. Vidchecker-post is a specialized version of Vidchecker aimed for post-production companies, content distributors and smaller broadcasters.

MONTPELLIER, FRANCE—MediAnswers and Mesclado have announced the first dates in a series of planned seminars on Interoperable Master Format across North America. The one-day seminars will first kick-off in Toronto before heading to New York.

IMF aims to create a single, standardized, master file for distribution of content. The seminar from MediaAnswers and Mesclado will look to bring attendees up to date on IMF and how it can help users and organizations.

The seminar will be held in Toronto on March 10. It will then travel to New York on March 15.

To find out more information, or to register, click here.

As the new year dawns, if the purpose of an editor is to take raw chaos (source material) in the left hand and produce creatively crafted meaning (finished masters) out of the right, we are in for a major paradigm change. And its name is Interoperable Master Format or “IMF.”

Some mega hit films such as Disney’s “Frozen” need to be released in as many as 35,000 different deliverable formats. The impetus behind the IMF initiative is the massive data requirements needed to produce all the different formats the international and multiplatform marketplace demands for a major broadcast or theatrical release.

Several people have told me a film such as Walt Disney Studios’ mega hit “Frozen” needs to be released in as many as 35,000 different deliverable formats, so the days when an editor could simply swap out a language track to create a foreign version are long gone. That is one reason Netflix, a pioneer in 4K distribution to the home, requires all UHD or 4K productions be submitted to them as IMF files.

ESSENTIALS ONLY
Stripped down to its essentials, an XML-based IMF file contains all of the elements that comprise a given project including source video, production audio, subtitles, vfx and anything else that will appear on the screen along with all of their associated metadata. Then a Composition Playlist (CPL) tells the system how to put it all together, and an Output Profile List (OPL) specifies how it is to be played out.

Arjun Ramamurthy, vice president of technology at 20th Century Fox, was involved with the development of IMF from the beginning in 2009 when the Hollywood studios asked the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) at the University of Southern California to create a standardized set of requirements for advanced mastering.

“The preliminary specification was handed off to SMPTE in 2011, and they then broke the project into ad hoc groups to finish the work,” said Ramamurthy. “Fundamentally, it makes a lot of sense for content owners. The biggest questions are, ‘where do we introduce it into the production flow?’ and ‘how do we create a standard that the industry will universally accept?’ After all, duplicating masters for each different version may be cumbersome, but it is a train on the track that is working and it can sometimes be hard to make an aircraft carrier turn around quickly.”

Within SMPTE, Pierre-Anthony Lemieux chairs technology committee 31FS, which is directly related to IMF, and where he is responsible for editing the IMF standard, (he also serves as a partner at Sandflow Consulting).

“The initial version was standardized in 2013, and anyone can download them from the SMPTE site,” Lemieux said. “The first revision or IMF 1.1, the last step before publication, should be ready early this year. It includes support for high dynamic range, higher frame rates (120 fps), wider color gamut and international subtitles.”

In December, Archimedia Technologies released a major upgrade to it Iris software suite that lets users collectively view IMF projects through the cloud from a Windows or Mac platform totally through software. Although when the drive for IMF started, there were only six production entities in the United States that were distributing internationally, Lemieux said the success of digital cinema has accelerated the need for its worldwide acceptance.

“What was originally intended for internal studio operation has now become a format of interest to multiple entities,” he said. “IMF is the only format that fits the need for truly international distribution. There are other attempts, such as AS-O2, but it has not kept up to date with the times and lacks, for example, high dynamic range. IMF is a close cousin to digital cinema, and benefits from all the development that has gone into specifying DCI [Digital Cinema Initiative] files.”

Sony has been involved with IMF since its inception at ETC. Bill Baggelaar, senior vice president of technology, production and post production technologies, Sony Pictures Entertainment, said that in the linear tape era there was no truly open videotape format.

“All the tape formats were proprietary,” he said, “so when we conceived of IMF we wanted a long-term view that meant its open format would still be relevant many years in the future. Its genesis lies in the conventional Edit Decision List [EDL], but that was only concerned with the source side. The real value of IMF is all the metadata it brings with it to create the output of the production.”

IMF MASTERING
Wanting to have as many of their home theater releases available in UHD as soon as possible in anticipation of eventual market demand, Baggelaar said Sony worked closely with Rohde & Schwarz, (previously DVS), whose Clipster mastering system has been at the forefront of creating IMF files for major Hollywood productions.

Introduced in 2003, Clipster became renowned for producing digital intermediates, and as Stephen Birdsong, product manager, post production solutions at Rohde & Schwarz DVS, said, this has evolved into IMF mastering. At the 2015 IBC Show, the company launched Clipster generation 6, a new hardware platform including a JPEG2000 video accelerator, according to Birdsong. “Most importantly, it can transform any color format into an IMF with Rec. 2020 color space specifications, far more than HD’s Rec. 709, along with HDR, and high frame rate,” he said.

But to make collaborative viewing of IMF files feasible from the four corners of the world, a shared viewing system is greatly needed. Fortunately, last month, Archimedia Technologies released a major upgrade to it Iris software suite that lets you collectively view IMF projects through the cloud from a Windows or Mac platform totally through software.

“This upgrade to Iris makes it the world’s first software media player for IMF complex files,” said Mark Gray, CEO of Archimedia Technology. “This includes file consistency through template matching, live caption extraction and display, and automated sidecar information transfer that can include program guides or external information related to the media file.”

Having the ability to play all of that in real time through a desktop software application, and keep it all absolutely frame accurate no matter in what part of the globe it is being viewed, will expand the viability of IMF as both a distribution and review format.

“Our Iris Desktop software suite comes in two flavors,” Gray said. “One is an Iris Reference Appliance that is available with its own hardware that is intended for hightech quality control suites. The other is called Iris Pro for the non-technical user with all of the viewing and annotating capabilities of its larger brother.”

Considering that a full 4K digital master for a complex feature release can easily take to 15 TB of data, we can all hope for the rapid standardization and universal adoption of IMF mastering files.

Jay Ankeney is a freelance editor and post-production consultant based in Los Angeles. Write him atJayAnkeney@mac.com.