Moves Media applications, in development and use for 11 years now, can be combined not only to bring content from all over the world into the media enterprise, but also to automatically redistribute it within the network to different locations and even to proprietary systems like video servers.

The product family consists of applications to replicate data via WAN or LAN connections, an IP based mailbox system for highly secure, bi-directional file exchange and software for the load balanced transport of data within one or between different systems. All of them are freely combinable, centrally administered, and allow full background operation. Moves Media applications are executing their tasks almost invisibly for the editorial staff and come with intelligent features like powerful metadata handling, on-the-fly transcoding or automatic database registration. Nevertheless all these applications are based on standard IT infrastructure integrating seamlessly into existing broadcast environments. 

New in the Moves Media portfolio is an AtomFactory bundle which allows seamless MXF based integration of Apple’s Final Cut Pro editors into production and playout environments and DigaFTP, an application to import media data from an FTP server.

Not only does Moves Media help to automate content distribution, real-life calculations have shown that the cost saving for satellite transmission was thousands of Euro’s a year. That way the investment paid for itself within less than a year.

Moves Media technology has been in regular operation in major broadcasting networks like Germany’s ARD or Radio Free Europe with more than 20 language services for many years now. At ARD the audio and video file transfer with more than thousands of files per day is completely operated by Moves Media applications. Recently NRK used Moves Media solutions for their covering of the Olympic Games in Beijing. More than 200 employees in Oslo and Beijing were maintaining 16 feeds with about 20 stories in FTP transfer daily and 700 hours of TV content. Moves Media technology was responsible for transferring content to Oslo as well as for the redistribution within NRK, e.g. to their Internet portal NETT-TV which provided additional 2.300 hours of web streams. All in all NRK transcodes about 200.000 files per year, fully automated in the background and without distracting the journalists and editors from their important tasks.

A subset of Hydrogen Media Accelerator (HMA) designed specifically for Final Cut Pro, AtomFactory not only provides edit-while-ingest and playout-while-fusing capability but solves many integration problems. Even in production environments with twenty or more NLEs and additional central processes like ingest from a video server, AtomFactory is the perfect solution. The HMA central services HMA Ingest, HMA Send, and HMA Fusion are employed to share tasks and to intelligently manage resources such as bandwidth management and workstation availability.

HMA Ingest, installed centrally on a server, allows every member of the workgroup to ingest incoming material without having an additional application installed. In that case, only HMA Send and the QuickTime to MXF conversion are installed on every workstation while MXF to QuickTime is operated externally. HMA Send optimizes the traffic between client and server to release the server.

In combination with HMA Fusion, it is even possible to offload the MXF generation to a central system. In such a scenario only the modified parts of the project are sent from Final Cut Pro to this server which is ideal for those broadcasters who receive material in MXF but prefer production in the native QuickTime format. Additionally, many daily tasks can be automated through AtomFactory’s scripting functionality. Whether exporting to third-party systems, archiving, uploading via FTP, or generating backup copies, a few lines of code are enough to push a follow-up action automatically.

There are other helpful and elaborate features: Once the producer has edited his QuickTime project and is ready to export it, he often faces an impossible choice between a seemingly endless list of folders all with cryptic names. AtomFactory reduces the choice to a manageable number of folders with a clear structure with understandable titles. That way, a folder with a follow-up task, for example, can be clearly named as “Send to Playout.” AtomFactory is also configurable with a sequence preset, thus avoiding working with incorrect sequence settings by mistake.

Especially designed for the use in DigaSystem environments are the new bundles to integrate HMA/AtomFactory into the DigaSystem. Supported by DigaTransfer System the bundles allow bidirectional file exchange between Final Cut Pro and DAVID Systems’ content management system including the typical AtomFactory features like edit-while-ingest or playout-while-fusion.

Final Cut Pro and QuickTime are trademarks of Apple, Inc. – all rights reserved.

New: Database Manager version 4 preview – featuring enhanced multimedia and customization functionality, CartWall support, collection element (see below), enhanced metadata handling, improved newsroom integration.

New: Collection element – integrated in DBM v4, table-spanning, referencing basket to collect contributions with similar topics.

The newly developed Collection Element helps to keep track of the large number of elements stored in the various database tables. It contains comprehensive references to similar or identical topics but has a unique database ID and its own set of metadata. That way it can be used like a normal entry. Copying of database entries, as usual with other techniques, is no longer necessary.

Content Distribution – DAVID Systems’ highly efficient “Moves Media” applications for the global exchange of media data

New: DigaTransfer System version 2 – featuring “speaking file names”, improved import routines for 3rd party systems, transfer status notification and update to .net 2

New: DigaMailbox IP version 2 – featuring networked, bi-directional file exchange, e.g. for correspondent offices, enhanced download functionality incl. download from depot or from other clients, integration of Media Component Library to transcode video files on-the-fly

Media Production – DAVID Systems’ combined digital production system for radio, TV, and Internet content

New: DigaToolbar – a customizable dashboard with optimized chat system integrating DBM entries to accelerate team news production; also to launch other applications and keep users aware of important system events… [more info available]

New: StoryEditor – a universal pre-production tool for radio newsroom integration combining text and audio in a single application; multi-user production; direct export to BCS scheduler… [more info available]

New: DigaFTP – a service for the transfer of files into DigaSystem CMS, control of simple FTP server functions by third-party systems, enables direct docking without polling… [more info available]

Radio Broadcasting – DAVID Systems’ radio OnAir automation including rich media and surround sound playout

New: Multiplayer version 3 – new audio engine, featuring 16 playout channels, ASIO-2 support, video and graphics playout

Hydrogen Products and Central Services – DAVID Systems’ powerful middleware tools, transcoding framework and archive solutions

New: Media Component Library (MCL) – new comprehensive media framework, based on plug-ins, centrally administrable transcoding and render service, continuous read-while-write support, automated background processing… [more info available]

New: LoRes Manager – featuring automatic generation of low-res copies, database alignment to indentify missing low-res copies, error reporting, configurable low-res formats… [more info available]

New: Hydrogen-DigaSystem bundles – Hydrogen Media Accelerator/Atom Factory bundled with DigaTransfer System to integrate Final Cut Pro or other NLEs in the DigaSystem workflow

New: Hydrogen Lifecycle Management – backbone information system to glue together all components of modern media workflows including most different 3rd party systems and environments, works as one, co-operating system with a common set of information infrastructure from acquisition to archive… [more info available]

DigaFTP uses a standard FTP interface. It extracts metadata out of file names - through FTP site commands or file analysis - and creates a DBM database entry during the transfer process.  Grow­ing files are supported as well. The application is fully integrated into DAVID Systems’ Station Automation Framework (SAF) and allows parallel opera­tion of multiple functions.  One instance is always assigned to one database table, independent of the number of transfers in process.

[Click to see DigaFTP screenshot]

LoRes Manager controls the automatic generation of low-res copies. The transcoding itself is done by the DigaTransfer System. This task sharing results in a highly scalable system because all that is required when the system load is nearing capacity is to simply increase the number of TransferWorkers. The feature list includes monitoring of a table with automatic generation of missing low-res copies, error reporting or database alignment with consistency check. The low-res format can be any format available through the respective conversion library.

[Click to see LoResManager screenshot]

DAVID Systems’ applications and technologies also integrate seamlessly into many tapeless workflows and allow transferring data and metadata to the central servers and archives - another advantage utilized by many of the ARD broadcasters.

BAFT allows researching, pre-listening and entry ordering from the different data pools via IP connections.  Files are transferred including the metadata and accompanying data like graphics or text (if available).  Examples of these pools are the Music Promotion Network with all new publications from the music industry, digital sampling of archives, and the exchange of programs via broadband such as radio plays and features. The ARD TV audio pool provides radio editors and journalists with top-quality downloadable audio material from ARD TV productions for trailers and reviews.

Another system, the EBU Euroradio Concert Exchange, transfers concert recordings from a station to the ARD EBU-Sternpunkt from where they are distributed to one or more ARD regional sites.  Additionally, the recording is stored in a data pool for researching, pre-listening and ordering by other editors.  Because of the enormous file sizes, these recordings are transferred overnight when more bandwidth is available.

The tapeless IP and network based exchange of audio and video data saves costs and significantly increases speed.  The combination of WAN, LAN and IP transfer tools also integrates the foreign correspondent offices all over the world.  For some of the ARD regional studios, DAVID Systems’ Moves Media applications also integrate different databases, video servers and archives.

The editorial staff is using a common content management system provided by DAVID Systems. Featuring integration with Axia, BroadcastServer and TurboPlayer are responsible for playout and scheduling.

Overcoming the 4 GB barrier is one of the key features of the RF64 format.  But downloading such enormous files at current Internet download rates is impractical, so a tool that can generate those files is tremendously important.

RF64 Generator is a utility that allows developers and system suppliers to easily create RF64 reference files in all standard sample rates (44.1, 48, 88.2 and 96kHz) and resolutions (16 and 24 bit) by compiling sampled audio portions stored within the application.  The files contain an audio signal with speaker positions and a dynamic number for positioning purposes.

DAVID Systems wants to help the broadcasting community take advantage of RF64 and therefore offers the use of RF64 Generator free of charge.  To download the application, click here

The complete EBU specification can be found here:

DAVID Systems, a Munich-based product and technology provider, is supporting the “Memories of Forced Labor” project by providing a zero-cost systems solution for the digitization, editing, management, and playout of the collected audiovisual sources. “Memories of Forced Labor” is a joint project of the German government’s “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” foundation, Freie Universität Berlin, and the German Historical Museum in Berlin.

The archive contains 1,200 audio recordings and 800 video recordings of interviews with contemporary witnesses, and will provide online access for education and research to 600 life stories by Nazi regime victims from 27 different countries (www.erinnerungen-an-zwangsarbeit.org). The aim of the project is to aid the preservation of individual memories, and to encourage further societal, educational, and academic engagement in the lives of forced laborers. DigaSystem supports the project by providing a technological basis for the digitization, editing, and management of the audiovisual sources.

Professional Workflow from Ingest to Playout

Project workers at CeDiS / Center for Digital Systems (Freie Universität Berlin) are currently digitizing the interviews, which were collected on a variety of tape formats by the German Historical Museum. “In order for the sources to be accessible to a wide range of digital formats in the future, we are importing the audio and video data at a very high quality using our high-performance workstations. From there, they are automatically replicated to a file server,” explains Michael Burkhardt, DAVID Systems Project Manager.

Also during the ingest stage, the metadata from the project’s MySQL database is linked to the corresponding audio and video files. “This greatly simplifies the archiving and management of the media,” says Dr. Nicolas Apostolopoulos, Head of CeDiS. “The DAVID Systems solution is perfect for us – it lets us automatically optimize our source files for the different access formats. The system is both uncomplicated and flexible.”

Following up on an earlier cooperation in the radio area, ARD also decided to opt for D.A.V.I.D. for digital file transfer in the TV field. The Munich-based video experts provided the broadcasting stations with the software for the replication systems based on standard IT components. In the meantime, the video file transfer system has officially started regular operations for the entire ARD network.

All connected broadcasting stations work with a head end for sending and receiving video data files coded in the standard Material Exchange Format (MXF), each with an additional file containing descriptive meta data. D.A.V.I.D. also provides solutions for converting proprietary file formats into MXF and for transcoding incoming foreign formats into those used by the respective broadcasting station as needed. The ARD owned ATM network serves as infrastructure for the actual data transfers. Faster than realtime, individual contributions or entire broadcasts can be transferred between two (point to point) or multiple (point to multipoint) broadcasting stations, or via the ARD hub using the TCP/IP protocol. This works irrespective of whether or not the sending and receiving stations use different file formats internally for production and/or playout.

In conjunction, the common transport format MXF agreed upon by ARD and IRT and the video file transfer system developed by D.A.V.I.D. offer a host of benefits for the daily production work. Video footage can be requested and sent as if it was e-mail-without any scheduling by line offices as previously required. Moreover, the system also enables completely tapeless workflow once the broadcasting station is adequately equipped. All key technical and content-related data concerning the video footage as well as its sender and addressee are supplied as meta data in a separate file enabling broadcasting stations to automate a range of processing stages, thereby saving costs. Without requiring further manual intervention, the application transcodes or archives video reports, enters meta data into a station's data base, initiated forwarding to a regional TV studio, or returns an e-mail notice of receipt to the sender, and more.

"We are very excited to have completed this technologically ambitious project successfully, working with ARD and IRT," states Ulrich Helm, Sales Director of D.A.V.I.D. GmbH. "As with radio, our system enables ARD to implement completely file-based and tapeless, end-to-end workflows in the video area as well. This wouldn't have been possible without the visionary power and a high level of personal dedication of the entire project team und the broadcasting stations involved. Today, the large number of transfers not only illustrates the benefits of video footage file transfers but is also an indication for the high degree of acceptance with users," Helm declares.

Like the other German-language radio stations of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, DRS 4 uses D.A.V.I.D.’s BroadcastServer (BCS) software with its highly customizable modules for scheduling and play-out.  The requirements for operational security – particularly in demanding situations – were of upmost importance to the planning team.  By using TurboPlayer, the BCS on-air client, with its independent control panels and thoroughly configurable GUIs, even a large number of simultaneous steps can be processed and monitored efficiently.  Moreover the BCS concept gives broadcasters a wide variety of security and backup scenarios.  The BCS is backed-up by the Buddy Server which automatically and seamlessly takes over the play-out in the event of a breakdown.

DRS is the German-language radio service of the public Swiss Broadcasting Corporation.  In November 2002, the youth channel “Virus” converted completely to the DigaSystem.  Since Summer 2003, the channels DRS 1, DRS 2 and DRS 3 have converted as well.  DRS has an organization-wide enterprise licence with D.A.V.I.D. into which DRS 4 has now been integrated.  The Italian and Romansh-language programs are also working with the DigaSystem.  In addition to the two on-air studios, D.A.V.I.D. has also provided the content management system and all editing workstations.