Grass Valley Aurora Browse User Manual v.6.5

Aurora Browse
MEDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT APPLICATION
User Guide
SOFTWARE VERSION 6.5
071-8636-01 OCTOBER 2008
Copyright Copyright © 2008 Grass Valley, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.
Disclaimer Product options and specifications subject to change without notice. The information in this
manual is furnished for informational use only, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a commitment by Grass Valley, Inc. Grass Valley, Inc. assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inacc uracies that may appear in this publication.
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Trademarks and Logos
Revision Status
Use, duplication, or disclosure by the United States Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.277-7013 or in subparagraph c(1) and (2) of the Commercial Computer Software Restricted Rights clause at FAR 52.227-19, as applicable. Manufacturer is Grass Valley, Inc., P.O. Box 59900, Nevada City, California 95959-7900 U.S.A.
Grass Valley, K2, Aurora, Summit, Dyno, Infinity, Turbo, M-Series, Profile, Profile XP, NetCentral, NewsBrowse, NewsEdit, NewsQ, NewsShare, NewsQ P ro, and Media Manager are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Grass Valley, Inc. in the United St ate s and/ or other countries. Grass Valley, Inc. products are covered by U.S. and foreign patents, issued and pending. Additional information regarding Grass Valley, Inc. trademarks and other proprietary rights may be found at www.thomsongrassvalley.com.
Other trademarks and logos used in this document are either registered trademarks or trademarks of the manufacturers or vendors of the associated products, such as Microsoft® Windows® operating system, Windows Media® play er, Internet Explorer® internet browser, and SQL Server™. QuickTime and the QuickTime logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., used under license therefrom.
Rev Date Description
October 24, 2008 Initial release of the Aurora Browse User Guide. Part number
071-8636-01.
2 Aurora Browse User Manual 24 October 2008

Contents

Chapter 1: BrowseOverview....................................................5
Contents
What is Aurora Browse?...........................................................................................6
Components of Aurora Browse.................................................................................6
Logging in to the Aurora Browse client.....................................................................7
Overview of the Aurora Browse window....................................................................7
Customizing the Aurora Browse window...................................................................9
About MediaFrame status.......................................................................................10
About Transfer Manager..........................................................................................10
Transfer options............................................................................................11
About roles..............................................................................................................11
Chapter 2: Search...................................................................13
Quick Reference: searching for assets....................................................................14
Shortcuts to assets, locations, or searches............................................................15
Searching for an asset by name.............................................................................16
Searching for an exact phrase................................................................................16
Searching with wildcards........................................................................................17
Search icon reference table....................................................................................17
Saving a search......................................................................................................18
About searching with filters.....................................................................................19
About favorite filters................................................................................................19
Creating a filter........................................................................................................20
Filter icon reference table........................................................................................21
About searching metadata fields.............................................................................21
Searching with Boolean operators (AND, OR, AND NOT)......................................22
Searching for numbers............................................................................................23
About noise words: words ignored in a search.......................................................23
Searching with noise words....................................................................................24
Chapter 3: Edit........................................................................25
About the clip player................................................................................................26
Playing an asset......................................................................................................28
Trimming assets......................................................................................................28
Managing proxies....................................................................................................28
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Contents
About the storyboard...............................................................................................29
Using the storyboard...............................................................................................29
Chapter 4: ManagingAssetsFolders......................................31
Creating a new folder..............................................................................................32
Deleting an asset or a folder...................................................................................32
Deleting one asset from the archive........................................................................32
Renaming an asset or a folder................................................................................33
Copying an asset....................................................................................................33
Chapter 5: Metadata................................................................35
About metadata.......................................................................................................36
About general metadata..........................................................................................36
Adding General Information....................................................................................37
Adding keywords.....................................................................................................38
Adding auto-mark keywords.........................................................................39
Adding keyframes...................................................................................................40
Deleting keywords...................................................................................................40
Exporting keywords as a K2 playlist........................................................................40
Managing custom metadata fields..........................................................................40
Using custom metadata fields.................................................................................41
Printing metadata....................................................................................................41
Chapter 6: Transfer.................................................................43
About archiving assets............................................................................................44
Archiving or transferring an asset...........................................................................44
Restoring an archived asset...................................................................................45
Partially restoring an asset...........................................................................46
Appendix A: Keyboard Shortcuts..........................................47
Browse keyboard shortcuts.....................................................................................48
Glossary...................................................................................................51
4 Aurora Browse User Manual 24 October 2008
Chapter 1

Browse Overview

This section contains the following topics:
What is Aurora Browse?
Components of Aurora Browse
Logging in to the Aurora Browse client
Overview of the Aurora Browse window
Customizing the Aurora Browse window
About MediaFrame status
About Transfer Manager
About roles
24 October 2008 Aurora Browse User Manual 5
BrowseOverview

What is Aurora Browse?

Related Links
Aurora Browse processes an incoming feed and simultaneously encodes it into two formats: a low-resolution format stored locally on the Network Attached Storage (NAS) unit, and a high-resolution format stored on the K2 server.
Aurora Browse creates video thumbnails and storyboards. From your PC, you can mark in-points and out-points using the low-resolution media. Aurora Browse also provides a rich metadata search engine that allows you to search for assets using various criteria. Aurora Browse can also monitor the K2 serv er to create low-resolution les that do not exist, and stream live feeds.
From the Aurora Browse application you can archive and restore high-resolution media. Archived media is still visible from the Aurora Browse application.
Logging in to the Aurora Browse client on page 7 Customizing the Aurora Browse window on page 9 About roles on page 11

Components of Aurora Browse

Aurora Browse is a distributed application that runs on multiple, specialized servers.
While installations may differ in that some servers may either be absent or duplicated, a basic Aurora Browse system consists of the following:
Aurora Browse Client
MediaFrame Server
Network Attached Storage (NAS)
Advanced Encoder (Aurora Proxy Encoder)
DescriptionAurora Browse component
The users component of the Aurora Browse system is on your own PC. It accesses the Aurora Browse server.
The central component of the Aurora Bro wse system is the Aurora Browse server. It manages the other system components, manages the metadata database, and runs the web server to support the Aurora Browse client on your PC.
The NAS unit stores the low-resolution video clips and video thumbnails.
The Advanced Encoder, also known as the Aurora Proxy Encoder, creates proxy versions of high-resolution video assets that already exist or are actively being recorded on a video server, processes proxy content and extracts thumbnail images to be used for proxy identication, extracts dynamic scene detection images for storyboard creation, and renders low bitrate proxy content. The Advanced Encoder processes entirely in the digital domain.
6 Aurora Browse User Manual 24 October 2008
BrowseOverview
DescriptionAurora Browse component
SmartBin Encoder
Related Links
The SmartBin Encoder is a variant of the Advanced Encoder, used for non-winking systems (non-shared storage) in a high-resolution NAS instead of a SAN.
Logging in to the Aurora Browse client on page 7 Customizing the Aurora Browse window on page 9 About roles on page 11

Logging in to the Aurora Browse client

Y ou can log into the Aurora Browse client from your PC. You no longer need to access Aurora Browse via a web-based application.
Before you log in to the Aurora Browse client, make sure your administrator has set up an account on the MediaFrame server with your username and required roles.
If you PC is congured to use a web proxy and this proxy isnt available, Aurora Browse cant connect to its server . Since using a web proxy af fects performance, Grass Valley recommends not using a web proxy with Aurora Browse.
1. To log in to the application on the Start menu under Programs.
2. Select Grass Valley Aurora Browse | Aurora Browse. Aurora Browse veries your settings before the application displays on your PC.
The Aurora Browse application displays.
NOTE: If your administrator upgrades to a later Aurora Browse client version, a dialog box displays asking you if you want to upgrade the version on your PC. You can continue on with other tasks while the upgrade is in process. You can also check for updates by selecting Check for Updates from the Help menu.
Related Links
About roles on page 11 About MediaFrame status on page 10 About Transfer Manager on page 10 Components of Aurora Browse on page 6 What is Aurora Browse? on page 6 Overview of the Aurora Browse window on page 7 Customizing the Aurora Browse window on page 9 About roles on page 11

Overview of the Aurora Browse window

The menus in Aurora Bro wse are all conte xt dependent; if you right-click on different views you can see different options depending on your location.
24 October 2008 Aurora Browse User Manual 7
BrowseOverview
If you are using the default workspace, then the Aurora Browse windo w contains three main panes, or views.
DescriptionView
Asset Navigator view
Asset List view
Asset Details view
Contains the Search, Explore, and Collections tab. Use the Search tab to browse logical or physical assets, the Explore tab to navigate the MDIs and their folders for physical assets, and the Collections tab to group assets together.
Lists all the assets found as a result of a search. The default limit is 50 assets, but you can increase the limit up to 500 assets returned from a search.
Describes the selected asset in detail, including the metadata, associations, and if -- if the pane is full size -­all the clip player controls and the storyboard.
Tip: You can designate a location as a favorite. This creates a shortcut folder in the Explore tab. Favorites can be local only or global so that all the users on your network can access them.
8 Aurora Browse User Manual 24 October 2008
NOTE: A red dot next to an MDI indicates there is no communication with the MDI, and a green dot indicates the server is communicating with the MDI. If a red X is displayed against the MDI, the server is communicating with the MDI but the MDI is experiencing a problem.
Related Links
Logging in to the Aurora Browse client on page 7 Customizing the Aurora Browse window on page 9 About roles on page 11

Customizing the Aurora Browse window

Aurora Browse can be customized to suit your individual needs.
You can choose which columns to display in the Asset List view or in Transfer Manager. The Asset List, Asset Navigator and Asset Details views are all dockable and resizable.
Some examples of how you can change the Browse layout include:
BrowseOverview
Triggering the autohide feature to hide a view click on the thumbtack icon in the upper right-hand corner of the view. A tab with the view’s name on it appears on the side of the workspace. If you move the mouse to another view, the autohidden view disappears. Moving the mouse over the tab causes the autohidden view to appear. Clicking again on the thumbtack icon returns the view to its original location.
Hiding a view right click on the blue title bar of a view and select Hide. To bring the view back, select Window from the File menu. An unchecked view is hidden. Clicking on the view returns it to its original location.
Detaching a viewright click on the blue title bar of the view and select Floating. The view is now separate from the other Browse views. Double-clicking on the blue title bar returns the view to its original location.
Moving a view to a different location drag the blue title bar of a view. Double clicking on the blue title bar restores the view to its original location.
Changing the columns displayed in the Asset List vie w or in T ransfer Manager right-click on one of the column names and select which columns to view.
Viewing thumbnails in the Asset List view click the Search tab and right-click in the Asset List view. The thumbnails option displays.
Sorting the list click on the column you want to sort by.
Change the display to thumbnail view right-click on a column name.
You can save your changes in a workspace (Window | Workspace | Save Workspace).
You can also delete a workspace or return to the default workspace.
Related Links
Logging in to the Aurora Browse client on page 7 About MediaFrame status on page 10 About Transfer Manager on page 10 Components of Aurora Browse on page 6 What is Aurora Browse? on page 6
24 October 2008 Aurora Browse User Manual 9
BrowseOverview

About MediaFrame status

Overview of the Aurora Browse window on page 7
The MediaFrame Status tabs, located under the Tools menu, provide about the status of Browse, your user settings, licensing, and version information.
All this information can be saved to a log and used to help troubleshoot any issues that might arise.
DescriptionMediaFrame
component
Status & Log
Related Links
Logging in to the Aurora Browse client on page 7 Customizing the Aurora Browse window on page 9 About roles on page 11

About Transfer Manager

Transfer Manager tracks the status of all the transfers made in your Aurora Browse system.
Lists the current status of all the interfaces between the Aurora Browse server and the Aurora Browse client application on your PC. For more information on Transfer Manager, select Tools | Transfer Manager from the main menu. Detailed information on how to congure the other MediaFrame components can be found in the Aurora Browse Installation and Conguration Guide. Green dot: connected Grey dot: not in use Red dot: error Amber dot: warning
Lists all the roles you have been licensed forLicensing Lists all your individual and global settingsUser Settings Lists the versions of all the different componentsVersions Lists the version of the Browse client applicationAbout
Some ways you can customize Transfer Manager include:
Filtering the list of transfer jobs
Specifying which columns you want displayed
Using the drop-down lists to view only transfers in specific states or queues, or
transfers made by specic users
The Reset button lets you reload the contents of Transfer Manager.
Related Links
Logging in to the Aurora Browse client on page 7
10 Aurora Browse User Manual 24 October 2008
Customizing the Aurora Browse window on page 9 About roles on page 11

Transfer options

When you transfer an asset, a dialog box displays with transfer options. You can edit or delete these transfer options from the main menu, under Tools.

About roles

Roles allow you to view and use different parts of the Aurora Browse program.
Your administrator will determine which roles you require.
BrowseOverview
delete custom metadata elds
video assets
delete, rename, or copy an archive and subfolders
metadata
proxies
Archive Role
XArchive
Browse Edit role
Browse logging role
Browse View role
Encoder role
XEncode
Media Manager role
XAdd or
1
X
XCreate,
XXEdit
2
X
Restore role
XXXXXXBrowse for
Transfer role
XXXXXXExploreMDI devices for video assets
XXLD editing
1
If you have the Media Manager role and need to archive, you must have the archive role as well.
2
f you have the Media Manager role and need to create proxies, you must have the encoder role as well.
24 October 2008 Aurora Browse User Manual 11
BrowseOverview
restore archive
Only for SGL (Flashnet MDI)
Restore archive
video assets Transfer
assets from one online MDI device to another
Related Links
Logging in to the Aurora Browse client on page 7 Logging in to the Aurora Browse client on page 7 About MediaFrame status on page 10 About Transfer Manager on page 10 Components of Aurora Browse on page 6 What is Aurora Browse? on page 6 Overview of the Aurora Browse window on page 7
Archive Role
Browse Edit role
Browse logging role
Browse View role
Encoder role
Media Manager role
XPartially
3
4
Restore role
XX
XXXXXXSearch for
Transfer role
XX
3
If you have the Media Manager role and need to restore, you must have the archive role as well.
4
If you have the Media Manager role and need to transfer an asset, you must have the transfer role as well.
12 Aurora Browse User Manual 24 October 2008
Chapter 2

Search

This section contains the following topics:
Quick Reference: searching for assets
Shortcuts to assets, locations, or searches
Searching for an asset by name
Searching for an exact phrase
Searching with wildcards
Search icon reference table
Saving a search
About searching with lters
About favorite lters
Creating a lter
Filter icon reference table
About searching metadata elds
Searching with Boolean operators (AND, OR, AND NOT)
Searching for numbers
About noise words: words ignored in a search
Searching with noise words
24 October 2008 Aurora Browse User Manual 13
Search

Quick Reference: searching for assets

Follow these steps:To search:
For logical assets
For physical assets device searches return physical assets. If a red X is displayed against the MDI,
Using specic
such as searching for les created before a certain date.
Using only specic metadata elds
In the Asset Navigator view, under Advanced settings, select the Search in drop-down eld. Specify the MediaFrame database and press the Search button. MediaFrame database searches return logical assets that contain metadata and links to any physical assets including high-resolution media and proxy video.
In the Asset Navigator view, under Advanced settings, select the Search in drop-down eld. Specify the MDI device and press the Search button. MDI
the system is communicating with the MDI but the MDI is experiencing a problem. A red dot indicates there is no communication with the MDI, and a green dot indicates the server is communicating with the MDI.
Create a lter and use it to search: In the Asset Navigator view, click the down arrow next to Advanced Settings. The Advanced Settings dialog box displays. Click the Add Filter icon and select the Property and Comparison criteria fromcriteria, the drop-down lists. Click OK to add the newly created lter to the acti ve lter list. Press the Search button.
Notes: You can create an unlimited number of lters and save them as part of a search. You can use lters as independent search criteria or use them together with a text search. If more than one lter is dened, an AND operator is implied between them.
Under Advanced Settings, select the MediaFrame database or an MDI device. In the Fields drop-down list, check the eld or elds to search on and press the Search button.
Using text or numbers in the name of the asset
Using text or numbers in the metadata elds of the asset
Related Links
Enter the search criteria in the Asset Name te xt eld and press the Search button.
Notes: Do not use wildcards or quotation marks in the Asset Name text eld. Do not enter more than one word unless you are searching for an exact match of the multiple words and spaces.
Enter the search criteria in the Asset Metadata text eld and press the Search button.
Notes: You can use wildcards or quotation marks in the Asset Metadata text eld. If you enter more than one word or phrase, the OR operator is implied unless you specify otherwise.
Searching with noise words on page 24 Searching with Boolean operators (AND, OR, AND NOT) on page 22 Searching for numbers on page 23 Searching for an asset by name on page 16 Searching with wildcards on page 17
14 Aurora Browse User Manual 24 October 2008
Searching for an exact phrase on page 16 Saving a search on page 18 Creating a lter on page 20 About favorite lters on page 19 About searching with lters on page 19 About noise words: words ignored in a search on page 23 About searching metadata elds on page 21

Shortcuts to assets, locations, or searches

Follow these steps:To do this
task:
Search
Create a collection for
used assets can make it private or shared, temporary or permanent. T emporary collections
Create a shortcut to
used assets Notes: Putting an asset into a collection does not move the asset; it creates a
Create a shortcut to a
used folder when you want to archive an asset to that folder. Global changes are saved
Find a saved search or return to the default search
Select the Collections tab. Select File | New Collections or press Ctrl + N. Enter the collection information and click OK. Notes: You can create collections for logical or physical assets. When you create a collection, youfrequently
are deleted when you close your Browse session. In the list of assets, right-click on the asset you want to add to your collection.
Select Add to collection and specify the collection or create a ne w collection. To view the asset, click the Collections tab and click on your collection.frequently
reference that points to the original asset. Therefore, deleting a collection does not affect the assets that were inside the collection bin. If you see a red X next to an asset reference, Browse was unable to retrie ve information about that asset. The asset might have been deleted.
Select the Explore tab and navigate to the folder you want to create a shortcut for. Right-click on the folder and select Add to Favorites or Add to Global Favorites. Notes: Creating a shortcut to a frequently used folder is also helpfulfrequently
to the server when you close down your Browse session. Other users need to open a new Browse session before they can see the changes.
Click the drop-down arrow below Asset Navigator (immediately below the File menu) and select the search you want to use.
Find the location of a physical asset physical asset name and select Synchronize. The Explore tab appears in the
Related Links
If you have a logical asset with a physical asset associated with it, and you want to quickly nd which MDI device holds this asset: Right click on the
Asset Navigator view with the folder highlighted.
Searching with noise words on page 24 Searching with Boolean operators (AND, OR, AND NOT) on page 22 Searching for numbers on page 23
24 October 2008 Aurora Browse User Manual 15
Search
Searching for an asset by name on page 16 Searching with wildcards on page 17 Searching for an exact phrase on page 16 Saving a search on page 18 Creating a lter on page 20 About favorite lters on page 19 About searching with lters on page 19 About noise words: words ignored in a search on page 23 About searching metadata elds on page 21

Searching for an asset by name

Do not enter more than one word in the Asset Name text eld unless you w ant to nd both words exactly as typed with spaces.
NOTE: The Asset Name eld does not recognize quotation marks.
To search for an asset by name, enter text or numbers in the Asset Name text eld and click the Search button.
Results are returned from assets that contain the search term in the name of the asset, even if it is a fragment of the name.
Related Links
About favorite lters on page 19 About searching with lters on page 19 About noise words: words ignored in a search on page 23 About searching metadata elds on page 21 Shortcuts to assets, locations, or searches on page 15 Quick Reference: searching for assets on page 14 Filter icon reference table on page 21 Search icon reference table on page 17

Searching for an exact phrase

How you search for an exact phrase depends on whether you’re entering the search term in the Asset Name or the Asset Metadata text eld.
NOTE: The Asset Name eld does not recognize quotation marks.
If you search within the Asset Metadata text eld, enter the phrase in quotation marks.
If you search within the Asset Name text eld, enter the exact phrase.
Related Links
About favorite lters on page 19
16 Aurora Browse User Manual 24 October 2008
About searching with lters on page 19 About noise words: words ignored in a search on page 23 About searching metadata elds on page 21 Shortcuts to assets, locations, or searches on page 15 Quick Reference: searching for assets on page 14 Filter icon reference table on page 21 Search icon reference table on page 17

Searching with wildcards

Wildcard searches can be performed in the Asset Metadata eld.You can only use an asterisk at the end of a term, not in the beginning or middle.
If you want to search using a beginning fragment of a term, use the wildcard asterisk symbol (*) in the Asset Metadata text eld.
Using an asterisk after a term returns any asset that contains the term, followed by a space or by more text, in any of the text elds.
Search
NOTE: To search using a fragment that is found in the middle or the end of a word in the asset metadata, add a lter under Advanced Settings instead using the Asset Text or Asset Metadata text eld.
Related Links
About favorite lters on page 19 About searching with lters on page 19 About noise words: words ignored in a search on page 23 About searching metadata elds on page 21 Shortcuts to assets, locations, or searches on page 15 Quick Reference: searching for assets on page 14 Filter icon reference table on page 21 Search icon reference table on page 17

Search icon reference table

DescriptionIcon
Displays the name of the current search, if any.
Saves search criteria, either globally or locally.
Deletes the current search.
Sets the current search to be the default search.
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