Pinnacle Systems Interplay - 2.7 Best Practices Guide

Avid® Interplay

Best Practices Guide

Version 2.7

®

Legal Notices

Product specifications are subject to change without notice and do not represent a commitment on the part of Avid Technology, Inc.
This product is subject to the terms and conditions of a software license agreement provided with the software. The product may

only be used in accordance with the license agreement.
Avid products or portions thereof are protected by one or more of the following United States Patents: 5,309,528; 5,440,348;

5,467,288; 5,513,375; 5,528,310; 5,557,423; 5,577,190; 5,584,006; 5,640,601; 5,644,364; 5,654,737; 5,724,605; 5,726,717;
5,745,637; 5,752,029; 5,754,851; 5,799,150; 5,812,216; 5,828,678; 5,842,014; 5,852,435; 5,959,610, 5,986,584; 5,999,406;
6,038,573; 6,057,829, 6,069,668; 6,141,007; 6,211,869; 6,336,093, 6,532,043; 6,546,190; 6,596,031;6,728,682, 6,747,705;
6,763,523; 6,766,357; 6,847,373; 7,081,900; 7,403,561; 7,433,519; 7,441,193, 7,671,871; 7,684,096; 7,836,389 and 7,916,363;
7,930,624; 8,023,568; 8,082,226; 8,154,776; D352,278; D372,478; D373,778; D392,267; D392,268; D392,269; D395,291;
D396,853; D398,912. Other patents are pending.

Avid products or portions thereof are protected by one or more of the following European Pat ents: 0506870; 0635188; 0674414;
0752174; 0811290; 0811292; 0811293; 1050048; 1111 910; 1629675, and 0972256. Other patents are pending.

This document is protected under copyright law. An authorized licensee of Interplay Assist may reproduce this publication for the
licensee’s own use in learning how t o use th e soft w a re . This docu ment may not be reproduced or distributed, in whole or in part, for
commercial purposes, such as selling copies of this document or providing sup port or educational services to others. This document
is supplied as a guide for Interplay Assist. Reasonable care has been taken in preparing the information it contains. However, this
document may contain omissions, technical inaccuracies, or typographical errors. Avid Technology, Inc. does not accept
responsibility of any kind for customers’ losses due to th e use of this d ocument. Product specification s are subject to change without
notice.

Copyright © 2012 Avid Technology, Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved.

The following disclaimer is required by Apple Computer, Inc.:

APPLE COMPUTER, INC. MAKES NO WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING THIS
PRODUCT, INCLUDING WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO ITS MERCHANTABILITY OR ITS FITNESS FOR ANY P ARTICULAR
PURPOSE. THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES IS NOT PERMITTED BY SOME STATES. THE ABOVE EXCLUSION
MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS WARRANTY PROVIDES YOU WITH SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS. THERE MAY BE OTHER
RIGHTS THAT YOU MAY HAVE WHICH VARY FROM STATE TO STATE.

The following disclaimer is required by Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics, Inc. for the use of their TIFF library:

Copyright © 1988–1997 Sam Leffler
Copyright © 1991–1997 Silicon Graphics, Inc.

Permission to use, copy, modify , distribute, and sell this software [i.e., the TIFF library] and its documentation for any purpose is
hereby granted without fee, provided that (i) the above copyright notices and this permission notice appear in all copies of the
software and related documentation, and (ii) the names of Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics may not be used in any advertising or
publicity relating to the software without the specific, prior written permission of Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS-IS” AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS , IMPLIED OR OTHERWISE,
INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

IN NO EVENT SHALL SAM LEFFLER OR SILICON GRAPHICS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT OR
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMA GES OF ANY KIND, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FR OM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR
PROFITS, WHETHER OR NOT ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGE, AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, ARISING
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

The following disclaimer is required by the Independent JPEG Group:

This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.

This Software may contain components licensed under the following conditions:

Copyright (c) 1989 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms are permitted provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are

duplicated in all such forms and that any documentation, adv ertising materials, and other materials related to such distribution and
use acknowledge that the software was developed by the University of California, Berkeley. The name of the University may not be
used to endorse or promote products derived from this software wit hout specific prior written permission. THIS SOFTWARE IS
PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 by Jef Poskanzer.

2

Permission to use, copy, modify , and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby
granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice
appear in supporting documentation. This software is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.

Copyright 1995, Trinity College Computing Center. Written by David Chappell.
Permission to use, copy, modify , and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby

granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice
appear in supporting documentation. This software is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.

Copyright 1996 Daniel Dardailler.
Permission to use, copy, modify , distribute, and sell this software for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that the

above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting
documentation, and that the name of Daniel Dardailler no t be used in adv ertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the so ftw are
without specific, written prior permission. Daniel Dardailler makes no representations about the suitability of this software for any
purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.

Modifications Copyright 1999 Matt Koss, under the same license as above.
Copyright (c) 1991 by AT&T.
Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any purpose without fee is hereby granted, provided that this entire

notice is included in all copies of any software which is or includes a copy or modification of this software and in all copies of the
supporting documentation for such software.

THIS SOFTWARE IS BEING PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY. IN PARTICULAR,
NEITHER THE AUTHOR NOR AT&T MAKES ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY OF ANY KIND CONCERNING THE
MERCHANTABILITY OF THIS SOFTWARE OR ITS FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

This product includes software developed by the University of California, Berkeley and its contributors.

The following disclaimer is required by Nexidia Inc.:

© 2010 Nexidia Inc. All rights reserved, worldwide. Nexidia and the Nexidia logo are trademarks of Nexidia I nc. All other
trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All Nexidia materials regardless of form, including without limitation,
software applications, documentation and any other information relating to Nexidia Inc., and its products and services are the
exclusive property of Nexidia Inc. or its licensors. The Nexidia products and services described in these materials may be covered
by Nexidia's United States patents: 7,231,351; 7,263,484; 7,313,521; 7,324,939; 7,406,415, 7,475,065; 7,487,086 and/or other
patents pending and may be manufactured under license from the Georgia Tech Research Corporation USA.

The following disclaimer is required by Paradigm Matrix:

Portions of this software licensed from Paradigm Matrix.

The following disclaimer is required by Ray Sauers Associates, Inc.:

“Install-It” is licensed from Ray Sauers Associates, Inc. End-User is prohibited from taking any action to derive a source code
equivalent of “Install-It,” including by reverse assembly or rev erse compilation , Ray Saue rs Associates, Inc. shall in no e v ent be liab le
for any damages resulting from reseller’s failure to perform reseller’s obligation; or an y damages arising from use or operation of
reseller’s products or the software; or any other damages, including but not limited to, incidental, direct, indirect, special or
consequential Damages including lost profits, or damages resulting from loss of use or inability to use reselle r’s products or the
software for any reason including copyright or patent infringement, or lost data, even if Ray Sauers Associates has been advised,
knew or should have known of the possibility of such damages.

The following disclaimer is required by Videomedia, Inc.:

“Videomedia, Inc. makes no warranties whatsoever, either express or implied, regarding this product, including warranties with
respect to its merchantability or its fitness for any particular purpose.”

“This software contains V-LAN ver. 3.0 Command Protocols which communicate with V-LAN ver. 3.0 products developed by
Videomedia, Inc. and V -LAN v er. 3.0 compatible products developed by third parties under license from Videomedia, Inc. Use of this
software will allow “frame accurate” editing control of applicab le videot ape recorder decks, videodisc recorders/players and the like.”

The following disclaimer is required by Altur a Software , Inc. f or the use of its Mac2Win software and Sample Source
Code:

©1993–1998 Altura Software, Inc.

3

The following disclaimer is required by Ultimatte Corporation:

Certain real-time compositing capabilities are provided under a license of such technology from Ultimatte Corporation and are
subject to copyright protection.

The following disclaimer is required by 3Prong.com Inc.:

Certain waveform and vector monitoring capabilities are provided under a license from 3Prong.com Inc.

The following disclaimer is required by Interplay Entertainment Corp.:

The “Interplay” name is used with the permission of Interplay Entertainment Corp., which bears no responsibility for Avid products.
This product includes portions of the Alloy Look & Feel software from Incors GmbH.
This product includes software developed by the Apache Software Foundation (http://www.apache.org/).
© DevelopMentor

This product may include the JCifs library, for which the following notice applies:

JCifs © Copyright 2004, The JCIFS Project,is licensed under LGPL (http://jcifs.samba.org/). See the LGPL.txt file in t he Third Party
Software directory on the installation CD.

Avid Interplay contains components licensed from LavanTech. These components may only be used as part of and in connection
with Avid Interplay.

Interplay Production Streaming Server includes Live5 55, which is covered by the GNU Lesser Gener al Public License. “Live555 is
Copyright (c) 1996-2011, Live Networks, Inc. and is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License, which is
included with this product.”

This product includes software developed by Indiana University Extreme! Lab (http // :www.extreme.indiana.edu/)/

Attn. Government User(s). Restricted Rights Legend

U.S. GOVERNMENT RESTRICTED RIGHTS. This Software and its documentation are “commercial computer software” or
“commercial computer software documentation.” In the event that such Software or documentation is acquired by or on behalf of a
unit or agency of the U.S. Government, all rights with respect to this Software and documentatio n are subject to the terms of the
License Agreement, pursuant to FAR §12.212(a) and/or DFARS §227.7202-1(a), as applicable.

Trademarks

003, 192 Digital I/O, 192 I/O, 96 I/O, 96i I/O, Adrenaline, AirSpeed, ALEX, Alienbrain, AME, AniMatte, Archive, Archive II, Assistant
Station, AudioPages, AudioStation, AutoLoop , AutoSync, Avid, Avid Active, Avid Advanced Response, Avid DNA, Avid DNxcel, A vid
DNxHD, Avid DS Assist Station, Avid Liquid, Av id Media Engine, Avid Media Processor, Avid MEDIArray, Avid Mojo, Avid Remote
Response, Avid Unity, Avid Unity ISIS, Avid VideoRAID, AvidRAID, AvidShare, AVIDstripe, AVX, Axiom, Beat Detective, Beauty
Without The Bandwidth, Beyond Reality, BF Essentials, Bomb Factory, Boom, Bruno, C|24, CaptureManager, ChromaCurve,
ChromaWheel, Cineractive Engine, Cineractive Player, Cineractive Viewer, Color Conductor, Command|24, Command|8, Conectiv,
Control|24, Cosmonaut Voice, CountDown, d2, d3, DAE, Dazzle, Dazzle Digital Video Creator, D-Command, D-Control, Deko,
DekoCast, D-Fi, D-fx, Digi 003, DigiBase, DigiDelivery, Digidesign, Digidesign Audio Engine, Digidesign Development Partners,
Digidesign Intelligent Noise Reduction, Digidesign TDM Bus, DigiLink, DigiMeter, DigiPanner, DigiProNet, DigiRack, DigiSe rial,
DigiSnake, DigiSystem, Digital Choreography, Digital Nonlinear Accelerator, DigiTest, DigiTranslator, DigiWear, DINR, DNxchange,
DPP-1, D-Show, DSP Manager, DS-StorageCalc, DV Toolkit, DVD Complete, D-Verb, Eleven, EM, Euphonix, E UCON, Ev eryPhase,
Expander, ExpertRender, Fader Pack, Fairchild, FastBreak, Fast Track, Film Cutter, FilmScribe, Flexevent, FluidMotion, Frame
Chase, FXDeko, HDCore, HD Process, HDPack, Home-to-Hollywood, HYBRID, HyperControl, HyperSPACE, HyperSPACE
HDCAM, iKnowledge, Image Independence, Impact, Improv, iNEWS, iNEWS Assign, iNEWS ControlAir , Instantwrite, Instinct,
Intelligent Content Management, Intelligent Digital Actor Technology, IntelliRender, Intelli-Sat, Intelli-sat Broadcasting Recording
Manager, InterFX, Interplay, inTONE, Intraframe, iS Expander, ISIS, IsoSync, iS9, iS18, iS23, iS36, ISIS, IsoSync, KeyRig,
KeyStudio, LaunchPad, LeaderPlus, LFX, Lightning, Link & Sync, ListSync, LKT-200, Lo-Fi, Luna, MachineControl, Magic Mask,
Make Anything Hollywood, make manage move | media, Marquee, Massive Pack, Massive Pack Pro, M-Audio, M-Audio Micro,
Maxim, Mbox, Media Composer, MediaFlow, MediaL og, MediaMatch, MediaMix, Media Reader, Media Recorder, MEDIArray,
MediaServer, MediaShare, MetaFuze, MetaSync, MicroTrack, MIDI I/O, Midiman, Mix Rack, MixLab, Moviebox, Moviestar,
MultiShell, NaturalMatch, NewsCutter, NewsView, Nitris, NL3D, NLP, Nova, NRV-10 interFX, NSDOS, NSWIN, Octane, OMF, OMF
Interchange, OMM, OnDVD, Open Media Framework, Open Media Management, Ozone, Ozonic, Painterly Effects, Palladium,
Personal Q, PET, Pinnacle, Pinnacle DistanTV, Pinnacle GenieBox, Pinnacle HomeMusic, Pinnacle MediaSuite, Pinnacle Mobile
Media, Pinnacle Scorefitter, Pinnacl e Studio , Pinnacle Studio Movi eBoard, Pinn acle Systems, Pinnacle Video Spin, Podcast Factory,
PowerSwap, PRE, ProControl, ProEncode , Profiler, Pro Tools LE, Pro Tools M-Powered, Pro Transfer, Pro Tools, QuickPunch,
QuietDrive, Realtime Motion Synthesis, Recti-Fi, Reel Tape Delay, Reel Tape Flanger, Reel Tape Saturation, Reprise, Res Rocket
Surfer, Reso, RetroLoop, Reverb One, ReVibe, Revolution, rS9, rS18, RTAS, Salesview, Sci-Fi, Scorch, Scorefitter, ScriptSync,
SecureProductionEnvironment, Serv|LT, Serv|GT, Session, Shape-to-Shape, ShuttleCase, Sibelius, SIDON, SimulPlay,
SimulRecord, Slightly Rude Compressor , Smac k!, Sof t SampleCell, Soft-Clip Limit er, Solaris, SoundReplacer, SPACE, SPACEShift,
SpectraGraph, SpectraMatte, SteadyGlide, Streamfactory, Streamgenie, StreamRAID, Strike, Structure, Studiophile, SubCap,

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Sundance Digital, Sundance, SurroundScope, Symphony, SYNC HD, Synchronic, SynchroScope, SYNC I/O, Syntax, TDM
FlexCable, TechFlix, Tel-Ray, Thunder, Titansync, Titan, TL Aggro, TL AutoP a n, TLDrum Rehab, TLEveryphase, TL Fauxlder, TL In
Tune, TL MasterMeter, TL Metro, TL Space, TL Ut ilities , tool sfor storytellers, Torq, TorqXponent, Transfuser, Transit, TransJammer,
Trigger Finger, Trillium Lane Labs, TruTouch, UnityRAID, Vari-Fi, Velvet, Video the Web Way, VideoRAID, VideoSPACE, VideoSpin,
VTEM, Work-N-Play, Xdeck, X-Form, Xmon, XPAND!, Xponent, X-Session, and X-Session Pro are either registered trademarks or
trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

Footage

Arri — Courtesy of Arri/Fauer — John Fauer, Inc.
Bell South “Anticipation” — Courtesy of Two Headed Monster — Tucker/Wayne Atlanta/GMS.
Canyonlands — Courtesy of the National Park Service/Department of the Interior.
Eco Challenge British Columbia — Courtesy of Eco Challenge Lifestyles, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
Eco Challenge Morocco — Courtesy of Discovery Communications, Inc.
It’s Shuttletime — Courtesy of BCP & Canadian Airlines.
Nestlé Coffee Crisp — Courtesy of MacLaren McCann Canada.
Saturn “Calvin Egg” — Courtesy of Cossette Communications.
“Tigers: Tracking a Legend” — Courtesy of www.wildlifeworlds.com, Carol Amore, Executive Producer.
"The Big Swell" — Courtesy of Swell Pictures, Inc.
Windhorse — Courtesy of Paul Wagner Productions.

Arizona Images — KNTV Production — Courtesy of Granite Broadcasting, Inc.,
Editor/Producer Bryan Foote.
Canyonlands — Courtesy of the National Park Service/Department of the Interior.
Ice Island — Courtesy of Kurtis Productions, Ltd.
Tornados + Belle Isle footage — Courtesy of KWTV News 9.
WCAU Fire Story — Courtesy of NBC-10, Philadelphia, PA.
Women in Sports – Paragliding — Courtesy of Legendary Entertainment, Inc.

News material provided by WFTV Television Inc.

Avid Interplay Best Practices • 0130-07639-04 Rev I • Created 8/27/12 • This document is distributed by Avid in
online (electronic) form only, and is not available for purchase in printed form.

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Contents

Using This Guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Symbols and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

If You Need Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Viewing Help and Documentation on the Interplay Portal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Interplay Documentation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Avid Training Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Chapter 1 Avid Interplay Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Using MultiRez and Dynamic Relink. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Avid Interplay Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Avid Interplay Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Avid Interplay Administrator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Interplay Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Avid Interplay Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Avid Instinct. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Avid Interplay Media Services Providers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Avid Interplay Assist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

iNews and Avid Instinct. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Archive and Restore Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

MediaManager Archive Solutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

MediaManager to Avid Interplay Migration Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Avid Interplay Media Indexer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Avid Interplay Low Res Encode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Service Framework Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

CaptureManager and Interplay Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Access Control and Media Deletion Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Interplay Application Icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

6

Chapter 2 Sample Configuration Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Small Broadcast, MediaNetwork v4.x, 10-25 Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Medium Broadcast, Avid Unity MediaNetwork v5.x, 20 Ethernet Clients,

26 Fibre Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Medium Post, Avid Unity MediaNetwork v4.x,

10-25 Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Medium Post, Avid Unity MediaNetwork v5.x, 20 Ethernet Clients, 26 Fibre Clients . . . 41

Large Post, MediaNetwork v4.x, 25-60 Clients. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Medium Broadcast, Avid ISIS, 10-25 Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Medium Post, Avid ISIS, 10-25 Clients. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Large Broadcast, Avid ISIS, > 60 Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Chapter 3 Setting Up a Folder Structure and a User Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Permissions and Folder Structures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Setting Up a Folder Structure in Interplay Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Basic Setup: Assigning Access to User Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Assigning Access Rights to User Groups on a Folder Basis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Assigning Database Access on a Project Basis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Managing Database Roles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Defining the Editor Database Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Managing the Instinct/Assist User Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Creating Folders for Capturing Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Chapter 4 Developing an Interplay Delete Strategy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Introduction to Interplay Deletion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Interplay Database Folder Structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Folders Used by AirSpeed and CaptureManager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Folders Used by Interplay Transfer Checkins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Folders Used by Send to Playback Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Project and Bin Folders Created by the Avid Editing Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Creating Avid Editing Projects in an Interplay Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Creating Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Interplay Settings in the Editing Application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Defining the Interplay Folder Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Defining the Media Creation Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

7

Project Workflow Samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Broadcast Project Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Post Environment Project Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Using Project Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Example: Deletion for Day-of-the-Week Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Sample Delete Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Project Folders – Editor Projects (Daily) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Projects Folder – Ingest or AirSpeed Folders (Daily). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Incoming Media (Daily). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Sent to Playback (Daily). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Avid Instinct Assets (Daily). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Orphan Clips (Weekly). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Un-Checked In Avid Assets (Weekly) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Deleted Items (Weekly) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Avid Editing Application Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Example: Orphan Clips Deletion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Deletion Guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Determining How Much Space a Delete Operation Will Free Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Searching for Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Saved Searches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Improving Search Response Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Examples: Using Search with Delete. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Example: Searching for Unused Rendered Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Chapter 5 Determining Interplay Database Scalability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Definition of Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Total Used Database Pages and Estimated Database Page Limit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Interplay Engine Database Page Limits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Comparing Database Page Count and Cache Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Database Activity Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Tips for Improving Database Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Establish a Stable Ratio Between Database Objects and Database Pages. . . . . . . . . 114

Calculating the Ratio Between Pages and Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Example: Using the Ratio to Plan for Database Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

8

Chapter 6 Refining Your Search in Interplay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Using the Search Root and Attributes to Speed Up Interplay Search. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Basic Interplay Search Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Searching in Assist, Instinct, and the Interplay Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Searching in Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Example: Finding Assets By Using a Unique Identifier. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Chapter 7 Sony XDCAM HD and XDCAM EX End-to-End Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

MPEG-2 Long GOP Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Long GOP Benefits and Limitations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Supported File Formats for XDCAM HD and XDCAM EX Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Long GOP Workflows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Capture Workflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Editing Workflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Output Workflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Workflow for Background Processing of Long GOP Splicing and

Transferring of Long GOP OP1a Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Chapter 8 720p MultiRez Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Overview of the 720p MultiRez Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Editor MultiRez Workflow for 720p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Working with a MultiRez Clip in the Editor and Performing a Partial Restore . . . . 145

720p MultiRez Workflow Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Capturing High Res 720p Material. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Transcoding to 720p Proxy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Archiving the High Res 720p Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Deleting the High Res Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Searching for and Restoring High Res Master Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Restoring a Full Clip from the Archive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Performing a Partial Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Setting Up the Media Services Profiles for a 720p MultiRez Workflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Creating Profiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Media Service Profile Examples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Chapter 9 H.264 End-to-End MultiRez Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

H.264 Resolutions Supported by Interplay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

9

Installation and Configuration for an H.264 Workflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

H.264 Workflow Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

H.264 Card for AirSpeed Multi Stream. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Folders and Shared-Storage Workspaces for an H.264 Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Media Services Profiles for an H.264 Workflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Configuring Interplay Clients for an H.264 MultiRez Workflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Acquiring Media for an H.264 Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Dual-Ingest for High-Res Media and H.264 Proxy Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Transcoding to Create H.264 Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Editing with H.264 and High-Res . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Archiving, Restoring, and Deleting H.264 and High-Res Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Chapter 10 HD 23.976p and HD 24p Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Interplay Support for Native HD 23.976p and HD 24p Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Interplay Support for HD 23.976p and HD 24p Proxy Resolutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Chapter 11 Apple ProRes Resolutions Supported in Interplay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Chapter 12 JPEG 2000 Resolutions Supported in Interplay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Chapter 13 Support for Stereoscopic 3D Workflows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Overview of Stereoscopic Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Stereoscopic Media and Stereoscopic Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Stereoscopic 3D Support in Interplay Access. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Stereoscopic 3D Support in Interplay Transcode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Stereoscopic 3D Support in the Interplay Window, Interplay Assist, and

Avid Instinct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Properties for Stereoscopic Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Chapter 14 DNxHD 100 Resolutions Supported in Interplay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Chapter 15 Using Pro Tools and Interplay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

System Requirements and Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

System Requirements and Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Pro Tools Interplay Integration Version Auto-Detection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

New Interplay Support Features in Pro Tools 10.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Video Satellite Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Setting Up Interplay for Pro Tools Check In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Checking the License Key for Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

10

Software Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Using the Pro Tools Interplay Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Chapter 16 Using Frame Chase Editing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Frame Chase Editing and Frame Chase Capture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Understanding Frame Chase Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Workflow for Frame Chase Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Limitations When Working With In-Progress Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Chapter 17 Additional Interplay Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Changing Source Information for a Clip in Interplay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Ingest and Playout of Ancillary Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Support for AFD Ancillary Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Dynamic Relink: Working with a Single Resolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Restricting Clips to a Single Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Turning Off Dynamic Relink for Avid Assist and Avid Instinct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Disconnecting an Avid Editing Application from the Interplay Environment . . . . . . . . . 232

Chapter 18 Configuring Avid Interplay Media Indexers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Media Indexer Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Configuring Media Indexers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Resolving Memory Threshold Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Using 64-Bit Media Indexers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

The 64-Bit Media Indexer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Replacing 32-Bit Media Indexers in the HAG with 64-bit Media Indexers. . . . . . . . . . . 239

Import and Export Configuration Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Media Indexer Restart Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Ignoring Global Delete Notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Scheduling Large File Deletions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Changing the Media Indexer Full Resync Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Improved Logging Capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Media Indexer Health Monitor Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Media Indexing Workers Thread Pool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Storage Activity, Storage Resync Status, and Storage Root . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Media Table Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Media Table Operations and Media Table Queries Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

11

Checking Media Indexer Memory Usage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Suppressing Alerts in the Health Monitor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

Changing the Resync Interval for a Media Indexer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Improving Media Indexer Performance by Limiting the File Count in

Media File Folders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Limiting the Number of Files Captured by the Editor or by Interplay . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Multiple ISIS Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Web-Based User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

Configuration Section. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Statistics Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Storage Browser and Storage Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Troubleshooting Media Indexer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Media Indexer Diagnostics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

MI Logging Capability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

MI Logging Capability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Media Indexer, Interplay Assist, and Avid Instinct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Checking Media Indexer Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

If The Media Indexer Service Does Not Appear on the Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Shutting Down the Media Indexer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Rebuilding the Media Indexer Cache on a Small Configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Media Indexer System Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Appendix A Interplay Maintenance Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Interplay Daily Maintenance Check List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Interplay Weekly Maintenance Check List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Interplay Monthly Maintenance Check List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Avid ISIS Recommended Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Complete Server Room Shutdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Appendix B Archive Migration (Workgroup 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Searching for Migrated Workgroup 4 Archive Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Restoring Migrated Assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Restoring Different Versions of a MediaManager Archive Clip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Locating the Correct Version to Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Setting the Correct Version Information for the Clip in Interplay Access . . . . . . . . 294

12

Restoring the Clip from the MediaManager Database. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Working with OMF Media Files After an Archive Migration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Deleting the Online OMF Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

Retained Workgroup 4 Clip Attributes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

13

Using This Guide

Congratulations on your purchase of A vid®Interplay®, a powerful system for managing media in
a shared storage environment. This guide contains an overview of Avid Interplay and also
contains task-oriented instructions, conceptual information, and reference material you need to
use your Avid Interplay system. This guide is intended for all Interplay users, from beginning to
advanced

The documentation describes the features and hardware of all models. Therefore, your system

n

might not contain certain features and hardware that are covered in the documentation.

Symbols and Conventions

Avid documentation uses the following symbols and conventions:

Symbol or Convention Meaning or Action

n

c

w

> This symbol indicates menu commands (and subcommands) in the

(Windows), (Windows
only), (Macintosh), or
(Macintosh only)

Bold font Bold font is primarily used in task instructions to identify user interface

A note provides important related information, reminders,
recommendations, and strong suggestions.

A caution means that a specific action you take could cause harm to
your computer or cause you to lose data.

A warning describes an action that could cause you physical harm.
Follow the guidelines in this document or on the unit itself when
handling electrical equipment.

order you select them. For example, File > Import means to open the
File menu and then select the Import command.

This symbol indicates a single-step procedure. Multiple arrows in a list
indicate that you perform one of the actions listed.

This text indicates that the information applies only to the specified
operating system, either Windows or Macintosh OS X.

items and keyboard sequences.

If You Need Help

Symbol or Convention Meaning or Action

Italic font Italic font is used to emphasize certain words and to indicate variables.

Courier Bold font

Ctrl+key or mouse action Press and hold the first key while you press the last key or perform the

If You Need Help

If you are having trouble using your Avid product:

1. Retry the action, carefully following the instructions given for that task in this guide. It is
especially important to check each step of your workflow.

2. Check the latest information that might have become available after the documentation was
published:

- If the latest information for your Avid product is provided as printed release notes, they

are shipped with your application and are also available online.

- If the latest information for your Avid product is provided as a ReadMe file, it is

supplied on your Avid installation media as a PDF document (README_product.pdf)
and is also available online.

You should always check online for the most up-to-date release notes or ReadMe
because the online version is updated whenever new information becomes a v ailable. To

view these online versions, select ReadMe from the Help menu, or visit the Kno wledge Base
at www.avid.com/readme.

Courier Bold font identifies text that you type.

mouse action. For example, Command+Option+C or Ctrl+drag.

3. Check the documentation that came with your Avid application or your hardware for
maintenance or hardware-related issues.

4. Visit the online Knowledge Base at www.avid.com/onlinesupport. Online services are
available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Search this online Knowledge Base to find
answers, to view error messages, to access troubl eshooting t ips, to do wnload updates, and to
read or join online message-board discussions.

15

Viewing Help and Documentation on the Interplay Portal

Viewing Help and Documentation on the Interplay
Portal

You can quickly access the Interplay Help, PDF versions of the Interplay guides, and useful
external links by viewing the Interplay User Information Center on the Interplay Portal. The
Interplay Portal is a web site that runs on the Interplay Engine.

You can access the Interplay User Information Center through a browser from any system in the
Interplay environment. You can also access it through the Help menu in Interplay Access and the
Interplay Administrator.

The Interplay Help combines information from all Interplay guides in one Help system. It
includes a combined index and a full-featured search. From the Interplay Portal, you can run the
Help in a browser or download a compiled (.chm) version for use on other systems, such as a
laptop.

To open the Interplay User Information Center through a browser:

1. Type the following line in a web browser:

http://Interplay_Engine_name

For Interplay_Engine_name substitute the name of the computer running the Interplay
Engine software. For example, the following line opens the portal web page on a system
named docwg:

http://docwg

2. Click the “Avid Interplay Documentation” link to access the User Information Center web
page.

To open the Interplay User Information Center from Interplay Access or the Interplay
Administrator:

t Select Help > Documentation Website on Server.

Interplay Documentation

The following documents describe how to use Avid Interplay:

• Avid Interplay Best Practices — provides an overview of the major Interplay components,
shows sample configuration diagrams, and describes several of the key features, such as
setting up a user database and using the Avid Interplay Archive Engine.

• Avid Interplay Software Installation and Configuration Guide — describes how to use the
Avid Interplay Installer DVD to install and configure software on the various systems that
make up a Interplay environment.

16

Interplay Documentation

• Avid Interplay Engine Failover Guide — describes how to set up a cluster configuration for
the Avid Interplay Engine and the Avid Interplay Archive engine. There are two versions of
this guide: one for SR2500 systems and one for AS3000 systems.

• Avid Interplay Engine and Avid Interplay Arc hive Engine Administr ation Guide — describes
how to administer your Avid Interplay Engine or Avid Interplay Archive Engine and Avid
Interplay database.

• Avid Interplay Access User’s Guide — describes how to use Interplay Access to browse,
search, and work with assets in the Avid Interplay database.

• Avid Interplay Assist User’s Guide — describes how to use Interplay Assist for logging,
archiving, and sending to Playback material in an Interplay environment.

• Avid Instinct User’s Guide — describes how to use the Avid Instinct application to write
iNEWS stories and put together simple audio and video sequences.

• Avid Interplay Media Services Setup and User’s Guide — Avid Interplay Media Services
lets you control and automate Transcode, Archive, and ProEncode services.

• Avid Interplay Transfer Setup and User’s Guide — describes how to use Interplay Transfer
to transfer media to and from another workgroup, send finished sequences to a configured
playback device, ingest media from a configured ingest device, and perform standalone
transfers between workstations.

• Avid Service Fr ame work User’s Guide — describes how to use the logging, monitoring, and
management features of the Avid Service Framework applications.

• Avid Low Res Encode Setup and Configuration — describes how to set up and configure an
Avid Low Res Encode system. Includes information on updating the bootset, root disk
image, and configuring a Low Res Encode system to work with CaptureManager.

• Avid Interplay Capture User’s Guide — describes how to use Interplay Capture, a ne wsroom
ingest tool that enables automated recordings.

• Avid Interplay Capture Administrator’s Guide — describes administrative concepts, tasks,
and reference material for Avid Interplay Capture.

™

• Avid CaptureManager User’s Guide — describes how to use CaptureManager

in a
newsroom environment to coordinate video feeds, schedule feed captures at both high and
low resolutions, and record late breaking events instantly.

• Avid CaptureManager Installation and Configuration Guide — describes how to set up and
configure CaptureManager.

All documents are available in PDF form on the Interplay Porta l and also on the Avid Knowledge
Base at www.avid.com/onlinesupport.

17

Avid Training Services

Avid makes lifelong learning, career advancement, and personal development easy and
convenient. Avid understands that the knowledge you need to differentiate yourself is always
changing, and Avid continually updates course content and offe rs ne w trai ning del i v ery met hods
that accommodate your pressured and competitive work environment.

For information on courses/schedules, training centers, certifications, courseware, and books,
please visit www.avid.com/support and follow the Training links, or call Avid Sales at
800-949-AVID (800-949-2843).

Avid Training Services

18

1 Avid Interplay Components

This chapter provides a brief overview of the main components that make up an Avid Interplay
environment.

• Using MultiRez and Dynamic Relink

• Avid Interplay Engine

• Avid Interplay Access

• Avid Interplay Administrator

• Interplay Window

• Avid Interplay Transfer

• Avid Instinct

• Avid Interplay Media Services Providers

• Avid Interplay Assist

• iNews and Avid Instinct

• Archive and Restore Services

• MediaManager to Avid Interplay Migration Tool

• Avid Interplay Media Indexer

• Avid Interplay Low Res Encode

• Service Framework Services

• CaptureManager and Interplay Capture

• Access Control and Media Deletion Model

• Interplay Application Icons

Using MultiRez and Dynamic Relink

MultiRez (a term derived from “multiple resolutions”) allows you to associate a single master
clip with multiple media files of different resolutions. For example, you can associate the same
master clip with low-resolution MPEG-2, JFIF 15:1s, and uncompressed media files. MultiRez
also works with audio files: you can associate an audio clip with more than one sample rate.

In an Avid Interplay environment, you can capture a master clip in multiple resolutions or
transcode a clip to another resolution, and you can easily switch between the different
resolutions. This switching is referred to as dynamic relink. Dynamic relink is us eful wh en you
want to work with low-resolution media and create your final master in high-resolution media.
For more information, see “Using MultiRez and Dynamic Relink” in the following documents:

• Avid Media Composer Editing Guide

• Avid Symphony Editing Guide

• Avid NewsCutter Editing Guide

This information is also included in the Help for these products or the Interplay Help.For
additional information, see “Dynamic Relink: Working with a Single Resolution” on page 230.

Using MultiRez and Dynamic Relink

Avid Interplay Engine

The Avid Interplay Engine forms the backbone of the Interplay en vironment. The Inte rpla y
Engine is a server that combines an asset database with workflow management software, both of
which are integrated with Avid shared storage and Avid archive solutions. This topic provides
basic information about the functions and components of the Interplay Engine.

The Avid Interplay Engine provides the following features:

• Management of Avid assets (for example, master clips and sequences) as well as file assets
(for example, Adobe Photoshop

• Version control for sequences and file assets

• Integration with Avid ISIS

• Support for MultiRez (multiple resolution) workflows

• Access control through groups as follows:

- Five fixed user roles: Administrator, Read/Write/Delete, Read/Write, Read, and No

Access

- A user can be part of several groups

™

®

and Microsoft® Office files)

and Avid Unity™ MediaNetwork

20

Avid Interplay Access

- Permissions can be modified at the folder level

• Import on the desktop level to Avid Interplay Access

• Use the Interplay Window to check in and check out to the database from the Avid editing
application

• Support for MXF media files and AAF metadata

®

• Failover capability (using Windows

2003 Enterprise Server), including Auto-Failover to

hot spare (Avid Interplay Engine and Avid Interplay Archive Engine only)

• Simplified workgroup delete rules including the following:

- The administrator can specify the delete permissions that users and groups have on

particular folders. You use Reservations to protect the media files related to Avid assets.

- Media can be protected by reservations that have time and date expirations

- Reservations protect assets and media placed in a protected folder

- You can use the Avid Interplay Access softw are to place personal reserv ations on folders

For information on the Avid Interplay Engine, see Avid Interplay Engine and Avid Archive
Engine Administration Guide and the Avid Interplay Access User’s Guide.

Avid Interplay Access

The Avid Interplay Access software is a dedicated application that can be used by system
administrators and other designated users such as editors, assistants, and producers to interact
with the Avid Interplay Engine.

The Avid Interplay Access user interface allows you to quickly search or browse its contents for
assets of interest. Drag-and-drop support allows you to obtain Avid assets by dragging them to
the Avid editing applications Interplay Window.

Av id Interplay Access provides search tools and an Object Inspector that allow anyone from
artists to editors to easily find shots, clips, sequences, or other elements defined for the project
without even knowing file names, and to quickly see the dependencies and relatives involved.
You can also use A vid Interpl ay Access to manage se quences and oth er Avid assets whose media
is no longer online. You can then search for these assets, view information about them such as
the source tape name, obtain the source footage, and recapt ure it.

The following illustration show s Avid Interplay Access.

21

Avid Interplay Administrator

You can play Avid video and audio clips in the Interplay Access Monitor if the clips are
associated with MPEG-4/H.263 or H.264 video media, MPEG1 Layer 2 audio media, or both.

For more information about Avid Interplay Access, see the Avid Interplay Access User’s Guide.

Avid Interplay Administrator

The Interplay Administrator is a cross-platform application used for basic administration of the
A vid Interplay Engine and the Avid Interplay Archive Engine. Supported capabilities include the
following:

• Database activation, creation, and security

• Scheduling backups

• Server licensing configuration

• Central configuration server setup of users

The following illustration shows the User Management window of the Avid Interplay
Administrator application.

22

Interplay Window

For information on using the Interplay Administrator, see the Avid Interplay Engine and Avid
Archive Engine Administration Guide. For information on setting up a user database, see

“Setting Up a Folder Structure in Interplay Access” on page 47.

Interplay Window

The Interplay window allow you to share Avid assets with other users in the Avid Interplay
environment. The Interplay window provide the following capabilities:

• Avid editing applications such as Avid NewsCutter
Media Composer
Interplay window. The Avid Interplay window displays the same folder structure you see in

®

, and Avid Symphony™ can work with Avid assets through the Avid

23

®

, Avid NewsCutter XP, Avid

Interplay Window

the Avid Interplay Access interface. You can capture material to an Avid Interplay window
and edit those clips into a sequence in a bin. You can also check sequences into the Avid
Interplay window for asset management and for sharing with other editors.

• Avid Instinct and Avid Assist allow you to access remote assets directly. The interface is
similar to the Avid Interplay window. For example, an Instinct journalist can work with
remote assets without copying the files locally and without having to check the files in and
out of the Interplay Engine. The interface provides quick access to story information. You
can work on and finish your stories without having to copy files to your local system.

Key features of the Interplay Window include the following:

• C apture (digitize) directly into an Avid Interplay window

• Save current state and restore on relaunch

• Drag from editing application bins to the Avid Interplay window and vice versa

• Edit remote clips directly into a sequence

• Search the Avid Interplay database

• Create shortcuts

Avid editors must edit sequences, render, and consolidate in bins.
The following illustration shows the Interplay W indow within an Avid editing application.

24

Interplay Window

For more information, see “Working with Avid Interplay from an Avid Editing System” in the
Interplay Help, the Help for your Avid editing application or one of the following guides:.

• Avid Media Composer Editing Guide

• Avid Symphony Editing Guide

• Avid NewsCutter Editing Guide

25

Avid Interplay Transfer

Avid Interplay Transfer lets you transfer Avid assets to and from another workgroup, send
finished sequences to a configured playback device, and capture media from a configured ingest
device. You can also use Interplay Transfer in a standalone environment (an environment other
than Avid shared storage) to move Avid assets between workstations.

The Avid Interplay Transfer Engine and client software operates as TransferManager does in a
MediaManager environment. In addition, it supports the following features:

• You can perform MediaManager-to-Avid Interplay transfers from a MediaManager brow ser
to a an Avid Interplay Transfer Status window or to a bin in an Avid Editing application
within your Avid Interplay environment.

• Standalone Interplay Transfer support is provided in the Avid editing applications.

• Support for a Transfer Cache Engine that can monitor transfers for a large number of users.
This removes the task of reporting transfer status from the Interplay Transfer Engine.

The following illustration shows the Interplay Transfer Status window viewed from the Avid
Interplay Administrator.

Avid Interplay Transfer

26

For information on Interplay Transfer, see the Avid Interplay Transfer Setup and User’s Guide.

Avid Interplay-to-OMF transfers are not supported.

n

Avid Instinct

Av id Instinct™ is a story creation tool that introduces a story line designed to support the way
that journalists create a story. Avid Instinct, an iNEWS client, is a script-based application that is
tightly integrated with iNEWS. It uses iNEWS metadata for the story that is being written.

Instinct supports a subset of the Avid editing features, including the following:

• Recording voice-over to the story line

• Simple searches

• Edit while capture

• Send to Playback

Instinct also incorporates the following new features that support the Avid Interplay
environment:

• Support for MultiRez workflow

Avid Instinct

• Access to iNEWS stories and Avid Interplay Window assets eliminates the need to copy
media and story information to a local system

• Integrated asset management, providing search, query, and organization capabilities with the
Interplay Window.

For more information, see the Avid Instinct User’s Guide.

Avid Interplay Media Services Providers

The Avid Interplay Media Services application supports the following types of transcode
services:

• Avid Interplay Transcode allows you to transcode clips from one Avid-supported resolution
to another. For example, you can create a low-resolution version of a sequence or master
clip. You can perform transcode operations from within the A vid editing application or from
within Avid Interplay Access.

™

• Avid Interplay ProEncode
operations. For example, you can transcode from an Avid resolution to Windows Media File
format.

services use third party software for non-Avid format transcode

27

• The Copy service allows you to copy media and metadata between different Interplay
Workgroups.

• The Move service allows you to move media and metadata between dif ferent w orkspaces on
the same Avid ISIS system.

• The STP Encode service allows you off load time-consuming processing involved in
exporting and transferring of Long GOP OP1a media, during a send-to-playback request
from the Avid editing application or Avid Interplay Assist. See “Workflow for Background

Processing of Long GOP Splicing and Transferring of Long GOP OP1a Media” on
page 141.

For more information, see the Avid Interplay Media Services Setup an d User’s Guide. For
hardware configuration information, see the Interplay Software Installation and Configuration
Guide.

Avid Interplay Assist

Avid Interplay Assist allows you to perform the following tasks:

• Search the Avid Interplay Engine database

• Play media

Avid Interplay Assist

• Add locators and locator information

• Select, view, and create shotlists

• Send to playback

•Archive

The following illustration show s Avid Interplay Assist.

28

Avid Interplay Assist

You can also use A vid Interplay Assist to quic kly preview clips. All resolutions supported by the
Avid editing applications are supported.

Av id Interplay Assist also provides the following additional features:

• Restrictions — Support for a restriction marker indicating that a range of media being used
is somehow restricted for use. These markers do not prevent usage, but alert the user that a
restriction is in place. This feature is also referred to as Digital Rights Management (DRM).

• Annotations — labels you can attach to locators. Annotations support special markers such
as the following:

- Restricted flag

- Best Picture

-Best Sound

29

- User-created custom annotation markers

• Metadata — textual data you can use to identify and describe the creation, contents, and
disposition of a clip or shotlist

• Searching across multiple logs

• Log filtering

For more information, see the Avid Interplay Assist User’s Guide.

iNews and Avid Instinct

The A vid iNEWS newsroom computer system (NRCS) is a powerful tool for developing news,
rundowns, and stories. Avid Instinct allows producers, writers, and journalists to write Avid
iNEWS stories and combine them with simple audio and video sequences that are available
through the Avid Interplay Engine.

For additional information, see the Avid Instinct User’s Guide.

Archive and Restore Services

iNews and Avid Instinct

An Avid Interplay environment supports a separate asset manager known as the Avid Interplay
Archive Engine to track archived assets. The basic features and functionality that are used to
track assets in the online storage system, including MultiRez support, are also available for the
archived assets. The Interplay Archive Engine also supports partial file restore of Avid MXF
media in the archive. A partial restore refers to a situation where there might be a large master
clip in the archive but your sequence only uses a small portion of the master clip. A partial
restore restores only the portion of the file that you need.

The following illustration show s an archive database displayed in Interplay Access.

30

Archive and Restore Services

Safe image identifies the archive database

Avid Interplay
online
database

Avid Interplay
Archive
database

Tree view

The Avid Interplay Media Services application supports Archive and Restore services that
manage the process of moving data. You can access the Archive and Restore operations from
within the Avid editing applications and from within Avid Interplay Access.

You can send high-resolution media to archive and keep a low-resolution version of the asset in
the online storage system. This allows you to edit wi th the low-res asset and conform a “partial”
file of the high-res asset from the archive.

The Auto Archive feature includes the following:

• An auto-archive folder that triggers an archive of any material placed in the folder

• Duplication of archive items automatically prevented (default option)

• Ability to append metadata and logging information to archived material

For additional information, see the Interplay Media Services Setup and User’s Guide.

MediaManager Archive Solutions

Starting at Interplay v1.1.4, you can migrate MediaManager v4.5.x (also known as Workgroup 4)
archived assets to an Interplay Archive environment. See your Avid representative for details on
performing the migration. See “Archive Migration (Workgroup 4)” on page 290.

31

MediaManager to Avid Interplay Migration Tool

MediaManager to Avid Interplay Migration Tool

You can migrate much of your MediaManager environment metadata to an Avid Interplay
workgroup with the Migration tool. You can migrate clips, sequences, and effects from projects,
catalogs, workspaces, and users. You can also migrate MediaManager Archive metadata to an
Interplay Archive system. For more information, see your Avid representative.

Avid Interplay Media Indexer

The Avid Interplay Media Indexer is a background service that keeps track of the media files in
storage locations that you identify. In an Avid Interplay environment, each Avid editing
application has its own local Media Indexer that manages the local storage areas on that system.
Each Avid Interplay environment also has at least one Media Indexer that manages media on
shared storage. When the Avid editing application needs to access media on shared storage, it
communicates with its local Media Indexer, which then communicates with the shared storage
Media Indexer. For more information, see “Configuring Avid Interplay Media Indexers” on

page 233.

Avid Interplay Low Res Encode

CaptureManager™ and Interplay Capture allow you to capt ure high resolution and lo w-resolution
material at the same time. CaptureManager and Interplay Capture use Avid AirSpeed
AirSpeed Multi Stream to capture high-resolution material and use Avid Interplay Low Res
Encode software to capture low-resolution material.

The Interplay Low Res Encode solution is delivered in a rack-mountable CPU. The Avid Low
Res Encoding solution supports the following features:

• R eal-time MPEG-2 encoding of low-resolution material

• 2 or 4 encode SDI audio embedded channels

• Optional scene detection

For more information, see the CaptureManager User’s Guide and the Avid Low Res setup and
Configuration Guide.

32

®

or

Service Framework Services

Avid Service Framework is a common service distribution framework, which enables the
configuration and monitoring of Avid services and applications in an Interplay en vironment.

Avid Service Framework consists of applications and services that provide dynamic discovery
and lookup mechanisms, a scalable notification system, a centralized configuration tool,
diagnostic logging for workgroup-enabled applications and services, system health monitoring,
and so on. Some of the services are known collectively as Support services. The Support services
are viewed, monitored, and configured using the Service Framework applications.

The Avid Service Framework provides the following tools for Avid Interplay:

• Scalable notification mechanism

• Configuration tool for centralizing configuration tasks

• Diagnostic Logging application for consistent logging across all Interplay applications

• Health and Monitoring application

For more information, see the Avid Service Framework User’s Guide.

Service Framework Services

CaptureManager and Interplay Capture

CaptureManager and Interplay Capture are intended for customers who require a management
system for video capture. These two applications are a key part of the MultiRez workflow and
provides control for dual-resolution capture of live feeds via AirSpeed and Avid Low Res
Encode. The CaptureManager components have been extracted from the existing Media
Browse
Interplay Capture stores its schedule and other metadata in the Interplay database, which allows
for easy access to the captured material within the Interplay work environment.

For more information, see the Avid CaptureManager User’s Guide and the Avid

CaptureManager Installation and Configuration Guide.
For information on Interplay Capture, see the Avid Interplay Capture Administration Guide, the

Avid Interplay Capture User’s Guide, and the Avid Interplay Capture Install Guide.

™

client software. Interplay Capture is a new application starting with Interplay v2.1.

33

Access Control and Media Deletion Model

Interplay Access

Avid Instinct

Interplay Administrator

Interplay Assist

Access Control and Media Deletion Model

One of the most essential aspects of asset management is developing a system by which assets
and their associated media files (for example, video and audio files) can be automatically and
accurately protected from normal deletion. The administrator can specify the delete permissions
that users and groups have on particular folders. Administrators and users can also use folder
reservations to protect media files.

• A reserved folder protects any media files referred to by the assets in that folder.

• Folder reservations can have an ex piration date so they don’t needlessly protect media files
after they are inactive.

• Administrators and file owners can override folder reservations.

For more information, see the Avid Interplay Access User’s Guide and “De v elopin g an Interplay

Delete Strategy” on page 60.

Interplay Application Icons

Interplay v2.3 and later uses new application icons. The shortcut icon names were also modified
for consistency. This section lists the icons by application group.

Avid Interplay Access, Administrator, Instinct, and Assist

The Interplay Access icon has a purple background to signify that it is the main entry point that
most people will use to work with the Interplay database. The Interplay Administrator has a
similar look but with a key to denote the administrator. The Assist icon represents adding
metadata to a locator track in Assist. The Avid Instinct icon is based on the iNEWS icon that has
the same script “i” with a circle around the character.

Avid Service Framework

The Avid Service Framework icons use a tools-based hex nut design in all four icons.

34

Interplay Application Icons

Avid Health Monitor

Avid Diagnostics

Service Configuration

Workgroup Properties

Interplay Stream Publish

Interplay Delivery

Interplay Move

Interplay Restore

Interplay ProEncode

Interplay Media Services Engine

Interplay Transcode

Interplay Copy

Interplay STP Encode

Interplay Archive

Interplay Media Services

The Interplay Media Services Engine icon represents a controller or Broker controlling the
Media Services jobs. The image of the curved line and connecting dots is repeated in several of
the icons. In the Stream Publish icon the image represents the fact that the service continually
watches for files to publish. Delivery represents the files being delivered across the world to
different Interplay en vironments. The Copy and Mo v e icons also use the curv ed line to repre sent
the fact that Copy works on one ISIS system (between workspaces) while Move works between
two ISIS systems.

The Interplay Transcode, STP Encode, and ProEncode icons use broken lines and arrows to
indicate that the application processes the media. Interplay Archive and Restore use the
metaphor of moving media to and from an archive.

35

Interplay Application Icons

Interplay FTP Clip List

Interplay FTP Media Browse

Interplay Media Services and
Transfer Status

Interplay Transfer Configuration

Interplay Transfer

Interplay Transfer

The Interplay Transfer icons share a double arrow that represents transfers. In the case of FTP
Clips List and FTP Media Browse, the arrows show that the application only transfers in one
direction.

36

2 Sample Configuration Diagrams

This chapter contains sample configuration diagrams for postproduction and broadcast
installations. The configuration diagrams in this document are intended to be high-level
examples of Interplay system configurations to illustrate concepts rather than actual reference
designs.

When you are faced with decisions or questions regarding a workgroup for your site, contact
your Avid Sales Representative, Sales Engineering or Professional Services for assistance.

For sites with more than 10 Interplay clients, Avid recommends that you put the Service
Framework Lookup Service on a General Purpose Server.

Also note that Interplay Engine Cluster systems on Avid ISIS shown in these diagrams can be
also be dual-connected in either Zone 1, Zone 2, or Zone 3.

For information on installing and configuring software on these systems, see the Avid Interplay
Software Installation and Configuration Guide.

See the following diagrams:

• Small Broadcast, MediaNetwork v4.x, 10-25 Clients

• Medium Broadcast, Avid Unity MediaNetwork v5.x, 20 Ethernet Clients, 26 Fibre Clients

• Medium Post, Avid Unity MediaNetwork v4.x, 10-25 Clients

• Medium Post, Avid Unity MediaNetwork v5.x, 20 Ethernet Clients, 26 Fibre Clients

• Large Post, MediaNetwork v4.x, 25-60 Clients

• Medium Broadcast, Avid ISIS, 10-25 Clients

• Medium Post, Avid ISIS, 10-2 5 Clients

• Large Broadcast, Avid ISIS, > 60 Clients

Small Broadcast, MediaNetwork v4.x, 10-25 Clients

House Core Switch

NewsCutter XP,
NewsCutter Adrenaline,
Media Composer Adrenaline

Interplay Engine

Avid Network Switch

Avid Shared Storage

Media Indexer

File Manager

Graphic Workstation using Interplay Access

Interplay Assist

CaptureManager

Fibre Switch

1 GB Ethernet connection

Fibre connection

Legend

iNEWS server

NewsCutter XP, NewsCutter Adrenaline,
Media Composer Adrenaline

iNEWS Instinct

Interplay Access and Interplay Admin

AirSpeed

PortServer Pro

General Purpose Server

Small Broadcast, MediaNetwork v4.x, 10-25 Clients

38

Medium Broadcast, Avid Unity MediaNetwork v5.x, 20 Ethernet Clients, 26 Fibre Clients

House Core Switch

Interplay Engine

Avid Network Switch

MEDIArray XT

Media Indexer

Media Engine

Graphic Workstation using Interplay Access

Interplay Assist

CaptureManager

Fibre Switch

1 GB Ethernet connection

Fibre connection

Legend

iNEWS server

NewsCutter XP, NewsCutter Adrenaline,
Media Composer Adrenaline

iNEWS Instinct

Interplay Access and Interplay Admin

AirSpeed

NewsCutter XP,
NewsCutter Adrenaline,
Media Composer Adrenaline

General Purpose Server

Medium Broadcast, Avid Unity MediaNetwork v5.x,
20 Ethernet Clients, 26 Fibre Clients

39

Medium Post, Avid Unity MediaNetwork v4.x, 10-25 Clients

House Core Switch

Media Composer
software-only

Symphony Nitris
Media Composer Adrenaline

Interplay Transcode

Interplay Engine

Avid Network Switch

PortServer Pro

Media Indexer

Avid Shared Storage

Graphic Workstation using Interplay Access

Interplay Assist

Media Composer
Adrenaline

Interplay Access and Interplay Admin

Fibre Switch

1 GB Ethernet connection

Fibre connection

Legend

File Manager

General Purpose Server

Medium Post, Avid Unity MediaNetwork v4.x,
10-25 Clients

40

Medium Post, Avid Unity MediaNetwork v5.x, 20 Ethernet Clients, 26 Fibre Clients

House Core Switch

Media Composer
software-only

Symphony Nitris
Media Composer Adrenaline

Interplay Transcode

Interplay Engine

Avid Network Switch

MEDIArray XT

Media Indexer

Media Engine

Graphic Workstation using Interplay Access

Interplay Assist

Media Composer
Adrenaline

Interplay Access and Interplay Admin

Fibre Switch

1 GB Ethernet connection

Fibre connection

Legend

General Purpose Server

Medium Post, Avid Unity MediaNetwork v5.x,
20 Ethernet Clients, 26 Fibre Clients

41

Large Post, MediaNetwork v4.x, 25-60 Clients

House Core Switch

Media Composer
software-only

Symphony Nitris
Media Composer Adrenaline

Interplay Transcode

Interplay Engine Cluster
and RAID array

Avid Network Switch

Avid Shared Storage

Media Indexers

File Manager

Graphic
Workstation using
Interplay Access

Interplay Transfer

Archive/Restore Provider

Interplay Archive Engine

Interplay Assist

Media Composer
Adrenaline

Interplay Access and
Interplay Admin

1 GB Ethernet connection

Fibre connection

PortServer Pro

Fibre Switch

Legend

General Purpose Server

Large Post, MediaNetwork v4.x, 25-60 Clients

42

Medium Broadcast, Avid ISIS, 10-25 Clients

House Core Switch

Graphic Workstation
using Interplay Access

CaptureManager for
AirSpeed and Low Res Encode

AirSpeed Playout Control

Interplay Transcode

Interplay Engine Cluster
and RAID array

Avid Network Switch

Avid editors

Media Indexers

System Directors

Avid ISIS
Drive Arrays

Interplay Transfer

Archive/Restore
Provider

Interplay Archive Engine

iNEWS Instinct and Interplay Assist

iNEWS Server

Interplay Access and
Interplay Admin

Interplay Low Res Encode

AirSpeed

Avid editors

VLAN 20

VLAN 20

VLAN 10

VLAN 10

Legend

100Base-T

Gigabit Ethernet Copper

10 Gig

Fibre connection

VLAN 20

General Purpose
Server

VLAN 10

Medium Broadcast, Avid ISIS, 10-25 Clients

43

Medium Post, Avid ISIS, 10-25 Clients

House Core Switch

Graphic Workstations
using Interplay Access

Interplay Engine

Avid Network Switch

Avid editors

Media Indexer

System Directors

Avid ISIS
Drive Arrays

Interplay Transfer

Archive/Restore
Provider

Interplay Access and Interplay Admin

Interplay Transcode

Avid editors

VLAN 20

VLAN 20

VLAN 10

VLAN 10

General
Purpose Server

Legend

Gigabit Ethernet Copper

10 Gig

Medium Post, Avid ISIS, 10-25 Clients

44

Large Broadcast, Avid ISIS, > 60 Clients

House Core Switch

iNEWS Instinct and Interplay Assist

iNEWS Server

CaptureManager for
AirSpeed and Low Res Encode

AirSpeed Playout Control

Interplay Transcode

Interplay Engine Cluster
and RAID array

Avid Network Switch

Avid editors

Media Indexers

System Directors

Avid ISIS
Drive Arrays

Interplay Transfer

Archive/Restore Provider

Interplay Archive Engine Cluster
and RAID array

Interplay Access and
Interplay Admin

Avid editors

iNEWS Instinct and
Interplay Assist

Interplay Low Res Encode

AirSpeed Ingest

AirSpeed Playout

Avid editors

VLAN 20

VLAN 20

VLAN 20

VLAN 10

VLAN 10

VLAN 10

Gigabit Ethernet Copper

100Base-T

10 Gig

Fibre connection

Legend

General Purpose Server

Large Broadcast, Avid ISIS, > 60 Clients

45

3 Setting Up a Folder Structure and a User

Database

This chapter describes the process of setting up a user database for your Avid Interplay
environment. This chapter includes the following topics:

• Permissions and Folder Structures

• Setting Up a Folder Structure in Interplay Access

• Basic Setup: Assigning Access to User Groups

• Assigning Database Access on a Project Basis

• Defining the Editor Database Settings

• Managing the Instinct/Assist User Settings

• Creating Folders for Capturing Media

Permissions and Folder Structures

The permissions that you assign to users in your workgroup define which folders users have
access to. For example:

• At a small site, you might have a small group of editors and graphic artists that should
always have Read/Write/Delete privileges on all files. You might also have a group of
assistants that should have Re ad/Write pri vileges. In this case you can set up two user groups
that have different sets of privileges. The access privileges you assign to those groups apply
across the entire database. You can also change access for particular folders when necessary.

• At a larger site, you might have editors and graphic artists that work on different projects.
Depending on the workload, they might be assigned to different projects at different times.
In this case you might want to avoid confusion and not allow editors on one project to have
Write/Delete privileges on projects they are not working on. This is easy to accomplish by
creating project groups that have privileges that are inherited by any user that is added to the
group. In this scenario, an editor can work on more than one project at the same time and
they inherit permissions from both projects.

This chapter describes how to set up both scenarios.

Setting Up a Folder Structure in Interplay Access

Catalogs folder
used for common
elements

Projects created
within the Projects
folder

Setting Up a Folder Structure in Interplay Access

Every project that you work on must have a folder structure. You can create folders within the
default folders or create new ones. You can set up a folder structure that complements your
workflow and allows people in your Interplay workgroup to easily navigate to their working
folders. The following illustration shows folders used by the DocWG database. The
administrator uses the default Catalogs folder for common elements that might be used by
different projects. A new folder was created in the Projects folder for a documentary named 01
Ice Island. For additional information, see “Creating Avid Editing Projects in an Interplay

Environment” on page 70.

47

Basic Setup: Assigning Access to User Groups

Assistants group
has Read/Write
permission on the
entire database

Basic Setup: Assigning Access to User Groups

If you work at a relatively small site where all of the editors have access to all of the current
projects, then you can set user permissions by user gro ups. For example, in the following
illustration, the Editors group and the Graphics Artists groups hav e Read/Write/Delete privileges
for the entire database. The Assistants group has Read/Write access to the database. You set up
the permissions for each group in the User Management View of the Interplay Administrator
window.

For more information, see the Avid Interplay Engine and Avid Archive Engine Administration

Guide.

48

Basic Setup: Assigning Access to User Groups

Manage
Database
Roles

Assigning Access Rights to User Groups on a Folder Basis

You can use the Manage Database Roles view of the Interplay Administrator window to set
permissions on specific folders for user groups. In this example, the Assistants group has
Read/Write access to the entire database but you would like to give them Read/Write/Delete
permission to the Catalogs folder.

To use the Manage Database Roles window to assign permissions for a group:

1. Click Manage Database Roles in the Interplay Administrator tool.

The Manage Database Roles window opens.

49

Basic Setup: Assigning Access to User Groups

Database panel User/Group panel

Roles panel

Set Roles button

2. Select the folder that you want to assign permission to in the Database panel.

3. Select the folder c ontaining th e grou p in the Use r/Group panel and select the permissions in
the Roles panel.

4. Click the Set Roles button.

The permissions for that user group appear in the bottom panel as shown in the following
illustration.

50

Assigning Database Access on a Project Basis

Assistants group has Read/Write/Delete access to the Catalogs folder

Assigning Database Access on a Project Basis

It is often useful to prevent users on one project from modifying or deleting material used by
other projects. There are several ways to achieve this type of structure and the following
guidelines show one way to accomplish this:

• Create user groups (for example, Editors, Graphic Artists, and Assistants) and give each user
group “No Access” (or perhaps just Read-only access) to the database. Then add your users
to the groups.

• C reate another user group for Projects and assign either No Access or Read only access to
that group. Then create folders within that group for each project.

• Assign permissions to the folders within the Projects folder.

• Copy your users into the folders in the Projects folder. A single user can be copied to more
than one Project folder.

This section covers each of these topics.

51

Assigning Database Access on a Project Basis

User groups
start with
No Access to
database

Copy users into
the Project
groups

The following illustration shows the user structure for two sample projects:

• The Hunt Club project group uses a one-level hierarchy. All users in the Hunt Club group
will be given Read/Write/Delete access to all the files in the Hunt Club folder.

• The Ice Island project group shows a more complex structure where users are copied to
different folders within the Project Folde r. In this model you can assign different
permissions to the different user groups within the Ice Island project.

Users can belong to multiple groups. The user inherits the privileges from both groups. In this
example we initially give no access to Project groups. Use the Manage Database Roles window
to assign the permissions for each group.

52

Managing Database Roles

Editor
Database
Settings

In this example, users and groups initially inherit their Read/Write/Delete permissions from the
folder they are working in. You use the Manage Database Roles window to assign these
permissions. The following illustration sho ws the Manage Database Roles button in the Interplay
Administrator windo w.

Assigning Database Access on a Project Basis

The following illustrations shows the permissions for the Ice Island Editors and Ice Island
Assistants groups. Any user copied to these folders inherits these permissions when he or she is
working in the 01 Ice Island folder.

53

Assigning Database Access on a Project Basis

For details on assigning permissions, see “Assigning Access Rights to User Groups on a Folder

Basis” on page 49.

54

Defining the Editor Database Settings

Editor database
settings

Defining the Editor Database Settings

After you set up your folder and user structure, you use the Editor Database Settings window to
define the following settings:

• Automatic Checkin and Auto Reservation settings. These settings apply to all editing
applications, including Media Composer, Symphony, and NewsCutter Adrenaline, and
NewsCutter XP.

• Project-related settings for Avid Instinct and Avid Assist such as target resolution and audio
settings.

For additional information on the Editor Database Settings, see the Avid Interplay Engine and
Avid Archive Engine Administration Guide.

To set the Editor Database settings:

1. Double-click Editor Database Settings in the Interplay Administrator window.

The Editor Database Settings window opens.

2. Click the root node for the database and define the default settings for the entire database.

55

Auto reservations and
Automatic Checkin
settings apply to all Avid
editing applications

Settings for the
entire database

Defining the Editor Database Settings

3. Click the Apply button in the lower right of the window. The settings apply to all folders in
the hierarchy.

4. (Option) Select a folder and define the settings for the folder.

56

Auto reservations and
Automatic Checkin
settings apply to all Avid
editing applications

Settings for the
entire database

Defining the Editor Database Settings

57

Managing the Instinct/Assist User Settings

Managing the Instinct/Assist User Settings

If you have Avid Instinct or Avid Assist users in your Interplay environment, an administrator
must select options in the Interplay Administrator window:

• Set the following in the Instinct/Assist User Settings window:

- The working resolution for each Avid Instinct or Assist user. For this release, this value

must be for each user individually.

- Access settings that allow users to perform operations such as adding locators and

restrictions, creating shotlists, and sending to playback. The se can be set on a user basis
or on a group basis.

• Set the project-related settings, such as such as target resolution, and audio settings, in the
Editor Database Settings window. See “Defining the Editor Database Settings” on page 55.

• Set the workgroup name in the Server Hostname Settings window. The Avid Instinct and
Avid Assist clients use this setting to locate the Media Indexer that monitors shared storage.

c

The workgroup name you enter in the Server Hostname Settings window must match the
Workgroup name used by the Service Framework. The name must match exactly and it is
case sensitive. You can locate and set the name in the Avid Workgroup Properties window.
The following illustration shows the Avid Workgroup Properties window.

For more information, see the Avid Interplay Engine and Avid Interplay Archive Engine
Administration Guide.

58

Creating Folders for Capturing Media

Creating Folders for Capturing Media

When you are setting up your folder structure, you can determine how you want to set up the
folders that you will use for temporary storage of captured material. For additional information,
see “Interplay Database Folder Structure” on page 61.

T o ensure the best performance with the Interpla y Engine, you sh ould not store more than 20,000
files in a single folder. For example, if you are going to use the Incoming Media folder for
captures, perform periodic deletions of files you no longer need in that folder. If you know that
you will have recurring captures, you can set up folders for those captures. For example, you
could name folders for the days of the week or for specific types of captures.

59

4 Developing an Interplay Delete Strategy

This document describes how to develop a workflow for deleting material from your Interplay
system and covers the following topics:

• Introduction to Interplay Deletion

• Interplay Database Folder Structure

• Creating Avid Editing Projects in an Interplay Environment

• Project Workflow Samples

• Example: Deletion for Day-of-the-Week Workflow

• Example: Orphan Clips Deletion

• Deletion Guidelines

• Determining How Much Space a Delete Operation Will Free Up

• Searching for Media

The strategies proposed in this document are guidelines and may not be suitable for all
workflows. Each site needs to dev elop its o wn deletion strate gy, according to its own workflo ws,
media throughput, storage capacity, archiving, and media protection policies.

Introduction to Interplay Deletion

Developing a successful strategy for deletion involves the following:

• Become familiar with the default folder structure of the Interplay database.

• Develop a consistent folder structure that complements your site’s workflow.

• Develop a consistent way to create (and subsequently delete) projects among the Avid
editing applications and among the users that capture, transcode, or otherwise create media
on the Interplay database.

• Determine a regular schedule for deleting material from the following locations:

- Interplay database folders. You can use Interplay Access to delete assets from the

database as well as associated media files from shared storage.

- Delete old projects from the editing application systems

- Delete out-of-date files from Airspeed and CaptureManager systems

• B ecome familiar with the Interplay Access Extended Search feature to let you easily locate
material that should be deleted.

The deletion process c hanged in Interplay v2.4 so that Interplay administrators can sc hedule the

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most load-demanding part of deletion operations during times of low activity. For more
information, see “Setting Options for Deletion” in the Interplay Engine and Interplay Archive

Engine Administration Guide.

Use Interplay Access when deleting assets from the Interplay database and deleting the
associated files from shared storage. Avid strongly recommends that you do not delete files
directly from the file system because the relationships between the clip metadata and the specific
files that make up the clip a re not ob vious from the f i le system. Those relationships are managed
by the Avid editing applications and the Avid Interplay Engine. Interplay Access is the best tool
for managing the files in the Interplay database.

Interplay Database Folder Structure

Once you become familiar with how Interplay uses the various Interplay folders, you can
organize and maintain your media more efficiently and start developing your own delete strategy .
The following table lists the default folders.

Interplay Database Folder Structure

Folder Function

Catalogs The following information can be stored in this folder:

• You can create folders here that complement your overall workflow. For example,
you can create folders with site-specific names such as Highlight Reels, and create
folders for Auto-archive or Auto-transcode operations.

• When ingesting media via AirSpeed, you have the option to specify that all created
clips created be placed in a Catalogs folder. See “Folders Used by AirSpeed and

CaptureManager” on page 63. AirSpeed Multi Stream does this by default.

• When you perform a Resync, the system automatically places a Resync folder in
the Catalogs folder. Any assets checked in while the system is performing a
Resync are placed in this folder. You can move them to an appropriate location
after the Resync is completed. For more information, see “Resyncing Media Files
with Avid Shared Storage Workspaces” in the Interplay Access User’s Guide or
Help.

Incoming Media This is the destination for incoming clips from AirSpeed, AirSpeed Multi Stream or

Interplay Transfer. The folder structure is organized by workspace name. See “Folders

Used by AirSpeed and CaptureManager” on page 63 and “Folders Used by Interplay
Transfer Checkins” on page 68.

61

Interplay Database Folder Structure

Folder Function

Orphan Clips Contains master clip and rendered effects that have been deleted from the Interplay

folders but still point to media files on shared storage.
The Orphan Clips folder provides a mechanism for protecting media files when you

delete an Interplay asset and do not delete the associated media. For example, if you
check the same master clip into two different Interplay folders, there are two copies of
the asset in the Interplay database. If you delete both clips but do not delete the
associated media, the system automatically moves the last clip to the Orphan Clips
folder.

One of the benefits of the Orphan Clips folder is that it allows you to retrieve deleted
master clips if they are still associated with a sequence. For example, even though the
last master clip associated with a media file is deleted from the Interplay folders, the
associated media might still be included in a sequence. If you find that the media is in
a sequence that you want to keep, you can retrieve the master clip from the Orphan
Clips folder. You can use the “In Use” and “Not in Use” search criteria to determine
whether assets in the Orphan Clips folder are used by any sequences. See “Example:

Orphan Clips Deletion” on page 87.

In order to delete all instances of a master clip, including those referenced by a

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sequence, you must enable viewing of Referenced Assets in Interplay Access.
See “Determining How Much Space a Delete Operation Will Free Up” on

page 96.

By default, only administrators can view this folder. An Administrator can assign
read/write/delete permissions for this folder to users or groups using the Managing
Database Roles view in the Interplay Administration tool.

Beginning with Interplay Access v2.4, the Orphan Clips folder also contains

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links for assets deleted from Interplay folders whose media files were deleted.
This change enables an Interplay administrator to schedule the most
load-demanding part of deletion operations during times of low activity. For
more information, see “Setting Options for Deletion” in the Interplay Engine

and Interplay Archive Engine Administration Guide.

Project The following information is stored in this folder:

• This is the default folder for Avid editing application projects. See “Pro ject and

Bin Folders Created by the Avid Editing Applications” on page 69.

• Capture Manager creates folders here. See “Folders Used by AirSpeed and

CaptureManager” on page 63.

• AirSpeeds create folders here and/or under the Catalogs folder. See “Folders Used

by AirSpeed and CaptureManager” on page 63.

• Instinct creates folders here named after the iNEWS directory path and server
name. See “Avid Instinct Assets (Daily)” on page 84.

62

Interplay Database Folder Structure

Folder Function

Sent to Playback This folder contains the sequences created when you perform a Send to Playback

operation. See “Folders Used by Send to Playback Operations” on page 68.

Un-Checked-In Avid
Assets

Deleted Items Serves as a recycle bin for non-Avid assets such as graphics files and Microsoft Word

This folder serves as a temporary folder for assets associated with newly created
media. Avid editing applications automatically check newly created media into this
folder. When you check in the bin or drag the assets to the Interplay Window, the
Interplay Engine moves the assets to the corresponding folders. For additional
information, see “Un-Checked In Avid Assets (Weekly)” on page 85.

files. You can restore deleted items from this folder. The folder is created the f irst time
you delete non-Avid assets from the Interplay database. Users only see what they
deleted. An administrator sees all items deleted by all users. When an administrator
deletes material from this folder, the files are permanently deleted.

The following section describes how the various Interplay applications use the folder structure.

Folders Used by AirSpeed and CaptureManager

This section describes the assets that are created when you use AirSpe ed and Cap tureManager to
capture material to your Interplay system.

For an example of using AirSpeed MultiStream with Capture Manager and Interplay Capture,

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see “Folders and Shared-Storage Workspaces for an H.264 Workflow” on page 174.

63

Assets Created During an AirSpeed Capture

Workspace name

Folder created
by Airspeed

Each AirSpeed capture automatically creates either two or three Interplay assets as follows:

• One asset is checked into the Incoming Media folder. The system places the asset in a folder
named after the workspace that AirSpeed uses for the capture. You specify the workspace in
the Airspeed Destination template as shown in the following illustration.

The following illustration shows the corresponding folder (named Ingest) in the Incoming
Media folder. AirSpeed creates the folder if it does not already exist.

Interplay Database Folder Structure

The associated media f iles are captured to the workspace specif ied by the workspa ce name in t he

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AirSpeed Destination window.

• One asset is checked into either the Projects folder or the Catalogs folder , d epending o n ho w
you configure the Destination template in the AirSpeed application interface.

64

Interplay Database Folder Structure

Catalog name

Project name

Bin name

Folder created
by Airspeed

In this example the Projects folder is specified and names for the folder and sub folder are
entered. The following illustration shows the corresponding folders that AirSpeed creates
under the Projects folder when it checks in the asset.

If you use the Catalog option, the system creates a folder with the name you specify and
places it at the top lev el of the Catalogs folde r. If you use the Project option, you can specify
two folder levels: a project folder and a bin name.

• If you use CaptureManager to schedule the capture, a third asset is created in a folder
specified in the CaptureManager user interface. The following illustration shows a folder
name identified when defining a channel for a capture.

65

Interplay Database Folder Structure

Interplay Projects
folder name

Browse button

Interplay Projects
folder used by
CaptureManager

The following illustration shows the folder that this CaptureManager creates to check the
asset into the Projects folder in the Interplay database.

If you enter just a folder name in the Folder dialog box, the system creates a folder at the top
level of the Projects folder. To create a folder at a different level, enter a pathname to the
folder. For example, the following illustration shows a pathname in the folder text box. In
this example, the system creates a WORKFLOWS folder at the top level Projects folder and
also creates the necessary subfolders.

66

Interplay Database Folder Structure

Folders created for
Avid Low Res
Encode subclips

For an example of using AirSpeed MultiStream with Capture Manager and Interplay Capture,

n

see “Folders and Shared-Storage Workspaces for an H.264 Workflow” on page 174.

• The Browse button on the CaptureManager Channel Information dialog box displays the
folder structure of the CaptureManager SQL database. This database is not connected to
Interplay but identical folders are created in the database. If you navigate to one of the SQL
database folders, CaptureManager will use that path name to create an Interplay database
folder. For example, in this case the system creates a matching folder structure starting with
“WORKFLOWS” under the Projects folder.

• If you are using a CaptureManager to schedule a dual ingest (for example, high res on
AirSpeed and low res on Avid Low Res Encode system) an additional low res media file is
created and both resolutions are represented by the same Interp lay asset.

• If you are using the Scene Change option on the Avid Low Res Encode, the system creates
multiple subclips and also creates a folder in the Projects or Catalogs Bin folder you
designate via CaptureManager . CaptureManager checks the multiple subclips int o the folder ,
one for each scene change. Depending on the source, this kind of capture can create many
subclips in the folder. The following illustration shows an example.

67

Summary for AirSpeed Checkins

Depending on the type of capture, you can have multiple assets checked in for one capture
operation:

• For an AirSpeed capture without CaptureManager, the system checks in two assets for each
captured media file. Assets are checked into the following folders:

- Incoming Media

- Catalogs or Projects folder (defined by AirSpeed)

• For an AirSpeed capture scheduled by CaptureManager, the system checks in three assets
for each captured media file. Assets are checked into the following folders

- Incoming Media

- Catalogs or Projects folder (defined by AirSpeed)

- Projects folder (defined by CaptureManager)

• For a dual-ingest capture using CaptureManager, AirSpeed, and Avid Low Res Encode, the
system may create additional assets in the folder created by CaptureManager depending on
whether the Scene change option is enabled. In this case there is an asset for each additional
low res subclip.

Interplay Database Folder Structure

Folders Used by Interplay Transfer Checkins

Assets checked in by a W orkgroup to Workgroup Transfer or other Interplay Transfer operations
are placed in the Incoming Media folder . Assets are organized by the na me of the w orkspace that
the media is transferred to. For additional information on files checked into the Incoming Media
folder, see “Assets Created During an AirSpeed Capture” on page 64.

Folders Used by Send to Playback Operations

When you use Interplay Transfer to send a sequence to playback, the system automatically
checks the sequence into the Sent to Playback folder. The default organization is by “week of the
year” and “day of the week” as shown in the following illustration.

68

Interplay Database Folder Structure

Default Sent to
Playback folders

Custom Sent to
folder

You can also instruct the system to create an additional folder in the Catalogs folder. The
following illustration shows a Sent to MSS002 folder created in the Catalogs folder. In this case
an asset is also checked in to the Sent to Playback folder.

Project and Bin Folders Created by the Avid Editing Applications

For more information on creating an additional folder, see “Configuring an Ingest Device
Catalog” in the Interplay Transfer Setup and User’s Guide.

Editors, after login, select a project that they wi ll work in. This proje ct and its associated bins are
checked in to the Interplay database when the editor uses the Check in Bin to Interplay
command. You can also instruct the system to automatically check in bins when the editor closes
the Avid editing application.

For additional information, see “Defining the Interplay Folder Setting” on page 74 .

69

Creating Avid Editing Projects in an Interplay Environment

Creating Avid Editing Projects in an Interplay
Environment

One of the biggest decisions you will make regarding your workflow is the location of the
projects and bins created by the editing applications. A predictable folder structure allows for the
following:

• C reates an easily maintained folder structure in the Interplay database

• Makes it easy for editors and other users in the organization to locate assets that are used by
different projects

• Makes it easier for the Administrator to delete older projects on the Avid editing systems

This section covers the basics of creating a project structure that is easy to maintain in an
Interplay environment.

Creating Projects

In a large Interplay environment it is important to locate Avid editing projects in areas that are
easily accessible by the Administrator that has to delete the projects. This section describes the
options for choosing a location for newly created projects.

When you start the editing application, the system displays the project log in window. From this
window, you can create a project that is either Private, Shared, or External.

The best choices for a shared structure are either Shared or External. These types of projects are
created in a common location, making it easier for the Administrator to locate and delete old
projects.

Any user can create or delete a project via the editor. Keep your project structure consistent to

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make the Interplay database easy to maintain.

If you are working with projects created on local drives, then note the following:

• A local project resides on the C: drive of the Avid editing system.

• If the connection between the Avid editing system and shared storage is lost, the project and
its contents are unlikely to become corrupt as a by-product.

• You cann ot login to the proj ect from another w orkstation. You (or other users) must go to the
Interplay Projects folder to locate the contents created in this project.

• From an administration standpoint, you must clean these projects up or archive them from
each editing system. At a large site this can become time consuming and needs to become
part of the Administrator’s workflow.

70

Creating Avid Editing Projects in an Interplay Environment

Private Project - under the My Documents/Avid Projects folder

Private

A Private Project is stored locally. It can be accessed only by the user currently logged on to the
editing machine. On a Windows system, a Private Project is always stored under the user’s
Documents directory. An administrator may be able to access this project if they have read/write
permission to the user’s directory.

Shared

A Shared Project is stored locally. It can be accessed by any user that can log on the editing
machine. On a Windows system, a Shared Project is always stored in the machine’s Shared
Documents directory.

71

Creating Avid Editing Projects in an Interplay Environment

Shared Project - under the Shared Avid Projects folder

External

An External Project can be saved to any directory, either local or remote. Depending on the
file-system permissions set on the selected folder , ot her users or an administrato r may or may not
be able to access the project. The external option is particularly useful when you wa nt to sa ve the
project on shared network drive to make project maintenance easier.

Avid does not support sharing bins in an Interplay environment. If you create projects on shared

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storage, do not allow editors to work in the same bin at the same time. This can result in data
loss or media corruption. Instead of sharing bins, editors should use the Interplay Window to
collaborate and share material.

72

Creating Avid Editing Projects in an Interplay Environment

External Project - the editor can specify the location

Interplay Settings in the Editing Application

The Interplay Folder setting defines where the Avid editing application checks files into the
Interplay database. After you open a project you can specify se v eral Interp lay settings, inc luding
the Interplay Folder. To access the settings, open the Settings scroll list in the in the Project
window. The following table lists the Interplay-related settings.

Option Description

Interplay Server (Site Setting) Specify the name of the Interplay Engine for the environment. If the site

Interplay User (User Setting) Specify the name of the default Interplay user (if applicable) and check the

Interplay Folder (Project Setting) Interplay organizes assets and media by folders. The default checkin folder

has an Interplay Engine Cluster, this is a virtual name that will log in to the
active node.

Automatic Login at Project Selection checkbox. This does not auto-login
to Interplay, but prompts the user to do so after logging in to their project.

must be set on each Avid editing application.
By default, the folder path is empty. The Interplay database Projects folder

is a good location to use. This will check the assets into a folder with the
name of the bin inside the folder for the project. Click the Set button to
navigate to the directory you want to use. After you select the Projects
folder, the Interplay Folder Settings dialog box will display the following:

Projects/<project>

73

Creating Avid Editing Projects in an Interplay Environment

Projects folder
selected

Click the
Append project
checkbox.

Option Description

Dynamic Relink This setting is utilized in MultiRez environments, to specify the working

and target resolutions for the A vid editing applications. The term MultiRez
refers to having a single master clip associated with multiple resolutions.
For additional information, see the Help for your Avid editing application
or the Interplay Help.

Media Services This setting specifies the Media Services Engine information. This allows

the editor to submit Transcode, Pro Encode, or Archive jobs to the Media
Service broker to hand off to the provider. When logged in to Media
Services the client can submit the jobs using the File menu options or by
right-clicking assets in a bin. You need to specify that Media Services are
available, the Host name of your Media Services Engine, and a valid
Interplay login account.

Defining the Interplay Folder Setting

The Interplay Folder setting defines where assets will be checked into the Interplay database.
You need to define the location for each project. The examples in this chapter assume that you
are using the Projects folder in the Interplay database. The following illustration shows the
setting defined for the Projects folder. Use the Set button to define the location.

The following illustration shows a folder for a project named “The Big Swell” created in the
Projects folder. The folder was created automatically when the editor checked the first bin into
Interplay using the Check in Bin to Interplay command. The syst em automatically created bo th
folders and checked in the assets into the folder.

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Creating Avid Editing Projects in an Interplay Environment

Folders created by
checking in the bin

Checked in assets

For a Day-of-the-Week workflow, use the Projects\<project> setting in the Interplay Folder
Setting window. Then, when multiple editors work in the 01Moday project, there will be one
01Monday folder populated by the bins from each system. This keeps the organization easier to
maintain.

To instruct the system to automatically check in bins when the editor closes the application,
select the Bins option in the Editor Database Settings window in the Avid Interplay
Administration tool. The default is to ask the editor before checking in the bin.

Defining the Media Creation Settings

Use the Media Creation dialog box to define where you want the Avid editing application to
store newly created media.This is usual ly a worksp ace on shared storage that is monitored by the
Interplay Media Indexer High Availability Group.

To define the Media Creation settings:

1. Click the Settings tab in the Project window of the Avid editing application.

2. Double-click Media Creation.

3. (Option) On the Dri ve Filtering and Indexing tab, click Auto-index local dri v es as they come
online.

4. Click the Capture tab.

5. Select the video resolution and shared storage workspace for capturing new material.

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6. Select the options for the other tabs (Import, Render, etc.).

Project Workflow Samples

This section describes sample folder structures for Broadcast and Post environments.
Whatever the structure, the more simplified the Project and the Interplay Folder structure, the

easier it is to maintain the Interplay environment.

Project Workflow Samples

Local Projects

This document assumes that you are using Local projects (projects created on local drives of the
Avid editing applications). For more information, see “Project and Bin Folders Created by the

Avid Editing Applications” on page 69.

Local projects guarantee that only one user will be in a project at any given time. Other editors
must access the material through the Interplay folder structure.

Broadcast Project Examples

Many broadcast sites use a Day-of-the-Week structure for organization and ease of
administration. Broadcast projects are time-sensitive and items are often removed from the
system within days. This convention makes it easy for users to locate material, and it makes it
easy for administrators to maintain the system.

For example, if a site decides to use a 1Monday through 7Sunday project structure, this allows
them to regularly delete the dail y projects. This reduces the likelihood of the project becoming
corrupted over never-ending use and also cleans out old tape names.

The following table shows some sample project names.

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Project Workflow Samples

Weekly Structure Monthly Structure (September)

1Monday 0903 Monday
2Tuesday 0904 Tuesday
3Wednesday 0905 Wednesday
4Thursday 0906 Thursday
5Friday 0907 Friday
6Saturday 0908 Saturday
7Sunday 0909 Sunday
Hold Hold
Permanent Permanent

In these examples the day of the week is the project and the story is the bin. The Hold folder is
for continuing stories and the Permanent folder is used for items such as frequently used
graphics, music, bumps, and show openers.

The day of the month monthly structure provides the ability to work further than a week ahead
but requires more work creating projects. When using this model you have to create 28-31 days
of the month projects manually. To simplify the operation you can copy from a template and
rename the project and the .avs and .avp files within the project.

Post Environment Project Example

The Day-of-the-Week structure is usually not appropriate for Post environments because a Post
site may work on projects for several weeks or months at a time. You should develop your own
structure based on your particular workflow. Keep in mind that when projects and bins are
clearly named (for example by program name) it is much easier to maintain the folder structure.

The following illustration shows a sample Post structure for a project named Ice Island. Most of
the subfolders were created when bins were checked in by the editors. The HOLD folder is
created by the Media Manager in Access and is used for master clips, frequently used graphics,
and other elements that should not be deleted. In this example when editors want to make sure
certain assets are not deleted, they either copy the assets to the HOLD folder themselves or
request that the assets be copied to the folder.

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Project Workflow Samples

Post
project

In this example the HOLD folder is on a per-project level because there may be some elements
that you do not want to share between different shows.

Using this model, the Administrator could delete the entire project folder after production has
finished. Before deleting the folder, check whether editors want to archive finished sequences or
some of the dailies. The following are some archiving methods:

• Move the assets to a reserved HOLD folder elsewhere in the Interplay folder structure

• Perform a digital cut to tape

• Perform a Send to Archive operation

Using Project Templates

Typically, a site creates a folder called Project Templates (either locally or on a shared storage
workspace). This example uses the Day-of-the-Week structure. In the example the Administrator
deletes the current “1Monday” project from the editor’s local machine and copies and pastes the
template to provide a new starting point.

To copy a project template to a local system:

1. Navigate to the location of the Project Templates.

2. Right-click on the 1Monday folder and select Copy.

3. Navigate to the current 1Monday folder on the local machine and delete the folder.

4. Paste the template 1Monday folder into the same location.

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Example: Deletion for Day-of-the-Week Workflow

Example: Deletion for Day-of-the-Week Workflow

You should use Interplay Access to perform the majority of the administration of the Interplay
assets on the Avid shared storage system. You should always use Interplay Access to delete
media files from shared storage. Keep in mind that media and metadata also has to be deleted
from other places in the system (in particular, from Avid editing applications and from AirSpeed
and CaptureManager systems).

The deletion process c hanged in Interplay v2.4 so that Interplay administrators can sc hedule the

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most load-demanding part of deletion operations during times of low activity. For more
information, see “Setting Options for Deletion” in the Interplay Engine and Interplay Archive
Engine Administration Guide.

Sample Delete Workflow

The following table lists deletion activities based o n t he Day - of-the -Week Project workflow and
points to the sections that explain the operations.

Interplay Component Activity

Interplay Access Delete daily project and those other projects ready for deletion. See “Project

Folders – Editor Projects (Daily)” on page 80.

Delete material from the AirSpeed project or catalog. Sift the results by
creation date and delete.“Projects Folder – Ingest or AirSpeed Folders

(Daily)” on page 82.

Delete material created by CaptureManager under the Projects folder. See

“Incoming Media (Daily)” on page 83.

Delete story folders and sequences created by Avid Instinct. Search or
navigate to each Instinct project under the Projects folder (iNEWS Server
Name-Show-5PM-Rundown for example) and delete story folders and
sequences. See “A vid Instinct Assets (Daily)” on page 84.

Delete Sent to Playback for the day of the week that you deleted
above-located under the week number. See “Folders Used by Send to

Playback Operations” on page 68.

Delete items in the Orphan Clips folder. See “Orphan Clips (Weekly)” on

page 84.

Delete material from the Un-Checked in Avid Assets folder. See

“Un-Checked In Avid Assets (Weekly)” on page 85.

Delete from the Deleted Items folder. See “D eleted Items (Weekly)” on

page 85.

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Interplay Component Activity

Avid editing applications Delete daily project and those other projects ready for deletion. This must be

done from all editors. “Avid Editing Application Maintenance” on page 86.
Delete the project or projects deleted in the step above out of the Attic. You

must do this on each editing system.

Project Folders – Editor Projects (Daily)

The fastest way to clean up space on the system is to delete entire folders from the Interplay
database. You can delete an entire folder and all the media that is refe renc ed by the asset s in tha t
folder. For information on how the Avid editing applications create folders in Interplay, see

“Project and Bin Folders Created by the Avid Editing Applications” on page 69.

After using the system for a few weeks, determine how long it takes to reach the maximum
storage capacity of your shared storage workspaces. Then you can determine how often you will
need to delete material.

On A vid ISIS, attempt to keep the used space under 80% of th e capacity of the Storage Group for
each Storage Group on the ISIS. Use the ISIS Administration Tool/Storage Groups tab to view
this information.

Example: Deletion for Day-of-the-Week Workflow

For the Day-of-the-Week model, after you determine how long it takes to reach your maximum
capacity, set up a schedule to delete the day of the week project a specific number of days after
the project day. For example, always delete the 1Monday project on Friday. Note that you will
also have to delete the correspon di ng local projects on the Avid editing systems as well.

To delete Project Folders and associated media:

1. Open the Projects folder in Interplay Access.

2. Locate the project to delete.

3. Right-click the folder and select Delete. The Delete window opens and displays the clips in
the folder.

4. Click Se lect All to select all the assets, f iles, and resolutions. The center portion of the dialog
box shows how much free space you will gain from the Delete operation.

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Example: Deletion for Day-of-the-Week Workflow

The amount
of disk space
that will be
freed by the
deletion

The number of media files and the amount of data that will be deleted are only affected by the

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option “Delete only media created with the selected clip or clips.” This information is not
affected by your selections in the Media Resolutions or Media Workspace sections of the dialog
box.

5. Click OK.
The system displays the Delete in Progress window and indicates whether any files were

reserved. The system does not delete any media files associated with reserved items and
does not delete the folder containing the reserved assets. You may wish to move reserved
items to a Hold folder and then delete the folder that contained the reserved assets.

6. After the folder is emptied, the system deletes the folder. If there are any non-Avid assets in
the folder (for example, graphics files or text files) the system asks if you want to delete the
files and the folder from the Interplay database.

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Example: Deletion for Day-of-the-Week Workflow

Sort By list

Using Reservations to Protect Media

All users (for example, editors, producers, and journalists) must know how to use Reservations
to protect assets if they want to keep media on the system any longer than this number of days. If
an editor wants to keep material on this system, the assets must be in a folder with a reservation
on it. The media files will be protected as long as there is a reservation on the folder containing
the asset. Reservations are either permanent or on a timed basis. For additional information, see

“Using Reservations” on page 93.

Besides using Reservations, the editors can also request that the assets be moved or copied to a
Hold or Permanent folder. Its is useful to develop a method of easily communicating this kind of
information. For example, editors could use the Messenger feature in Interplay Access to
identify assets or folders that they need protected.

Projects Folder – Ingest or AirSpeed Folders (Daily)

The Projects folder contains assets that point to media created by AirSpeeds. See “Folders Used

by AirSpeed and CaptureManager” on page 63.

In this case, do not delete an entire folder (for example, Week1) because it contains material
from all seven days of the week. This section describes how to delete selected assets.

To delete assets from the Ingest or Airspeed folders:

1. In Interplay Access, click on the Projects Folder (or Catalog folder depending on where
Airspeed created the folders).

2. Open up the folder called Ingest or AirSpeed.

3. Select Creation Date from the Sort By list. This will show the oldest material.

4. Ctrl-click on all the clips from the day that was deleted in the previous section.

5. Right-click on one of the clips and select Delete.

6. Select the metadata and media that you want to delete.

7. Click OK.

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Incoming Media (Daily)

Sent to Playback folder

Media that is transferred from an Interplay T ransfer serv er or captured by an AirSpeed creates an
asset under the Incoming Media Files. The folder is sub-divided by the name of the workspace
that the media was transferred to or captured to. See “Folders Used by AirSpeed and

CaptureManager” on page 63 and “Folders Used by Interplay Transfer Checkins” on page 68.

This area should be maintained and entries should be cleaned out. Filter each workspace and
delete the material for the day that was deleted in the previous procedures.

Sent to Playback (Daily)

The Sent to Playback folder is the area where sequences get created when you push to playback
devices (AirSpeeds). It is structured by weeks and then by the days within the week. See

“Folders Used by Send to Playback Operations” on page 68.

Delete the day corresponding to the 1Monday project deleted in the previous examples.
You can also use a Search to identify the files for deletion. The following procedure searches the

Send to Playback folder for assets whose media status is offline and that were created before a
particular date. In this case the files are offline because we deleted the media when we deleted
the assets in the Projects folder.

Example: Deletion for Day-of-the-Week Workflow

To delete using search results:

1. Open a search and select the Send to Playback folder.

2. Perform an extended search for Media Status is offline and Creation date is before a
specified date.

3. Delete the search re sult s.
The following illustration shows the Interplay Access search dialog.

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Avid Instinct Assets (Daily)

Search or navigate to each Instinct project under the Projects folder and delete story folders and
sequences.

When you save a story in Instinct, the story sequence gets checked in to Interpla y in a path that
mimics the location of the story in iNEWS.

Avid Instinct can n ot adhere to a Day-of-the-Week structure.

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The following illustration shows a typical Instinct structure under the Projects folder.

Elements in the graphic are explained as follows:

Example: Deletion for Day-of-the-Week Workflow

• Server Name - Named after the iNEWS servers (in this Example-Batman)

• Show - iNEWS Show folder

• R undown - NEWS queue - story name

• The story name contains the sequence which is also named after the story

Orphan Clips (Weekly)

If you delete a master clip from all of the Interplay folders and do not delete the associated
media, the system automatically moves the last copy of the asset to the Orphan Clips folder. To
delete these objects and their associated media and free up the disk space, you must delete them
from the Orphan Clips folder.

Beginning with Interplay Access v2.4, the Orphan Clips folder also contains links for assets

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deleted from Interplay folders whose media files were deleted. This change enables an Interplay
administrator to schedule the most load-demanding part of deletion operations during times of
low activity. For more information, see the Interplay Engine and Interplay Archiv e Engi ne

Administration Guide.

Even though all of the master clips associated with a media file are deleted from the Int erplay
folders, the Interplay folders can still contain sequences that use the media. You can use the “In
Use” or “Not in Use” search criteria to determine whether the clips in the Orphan Clips folder

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are used by any sequences. Then you can decide whether you want to delete the master clips and
media or move the associated clips out of the Orphan Clips folder to the folders that contain the
sequences. See “Example: Orphan Clips Deletion” on page 87.

Some workflows may involve deleting master clips when they are no longer needed and later
deleting the media from the Orphan Clips folder . In order to delete all instances of a master cli p,
including those referenced by sequences, you must turn on the view of Referenced Assets in
Interplay Access. See “Example: Orphan Clips Deletion” on page 87.

Starting with Interplay v2.3, you cannot delete a r eferenced asset unless you also delete the asset

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that references it. For more information, see the “Deleting Assets” chapter of the Avid Interplay
Access User’s Guide.

Un-Checked In Avid Assets (Weekly)

This folder serves as a temporary folder for assets associated with newly created media.
Applications such as the Avid editing applications or CaptureManager automatically check
newly created media into this folder. For example, when you capture video, consolidate,
transcode, or render effects in your bin, the Avid editing application automatically checks the
asset into the Un-Checked In Avid Assets folder. When you check in the bin or drag the assets to
the Interplay Window, the Interplay Engine moves the assets to the corresponding folders.

Example: Deletion for Day-of-the-Week Workflow

Administrators see a folder for each user; users see only their own folder . If editors al ways check
in bins when they close them, this folder should be easy to maintain. Be careful of deleting assets
and associated media from this folder because if an editor forgot to check in a bin, you might
delete media such as rendered effects that the editor recently created.

To delete using search results:

1. Open a search and select the Unchecked in Avid Assets folder.

2. Perform an extended search for “Creation date is” before a specified date.

3. Delete the search re sult s.
For additional information on extended searches, see “Searching for Media” on page 97.

Deleted Items (Weekly)

The Deleted Items folder serves as a recycle bin for non-Avid assets such as graphics files and
Microsoft word documents. You can restore deleted items from this folder. When an
administrator deletes files from this folder, the files are permanently deleted. The folder is
created the first time you delete non-Avid assets from the Interplay database.

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The Deleted Items folder for a non-Administrator shows only the items deleted by the user who
is logged in, while the Administrator sees all items deleted by all users. The following
illustration shows the Deleted items folder.

Avid Editing Application Maintenance

After you clean up the Interplay folder structure, you should also delete the corresponding
projects and bins used by the Avid editing applications. These projects and bins reside locally on
the Avid editing systems and you have to clean them up on each editor. The files exist
independently of the Interplay database.

This procedure ensures the following:

Example: Deletion for Day-of-the-Week Workflow

• Prevents the editor from opening projects and bins that contain clips and sequences that have
been deleted from Interplay. If they are re-opened, and the metadata gets checked in again,
you will have to repeat the deletion procedures through Interplay.

• Prevents projects from becoming corrupted by regularly replacing the project folders with
fresh folders.

• Clears out the old tape names that build up in the project e v ery time a tape is put in to a deck
on the editing system.

Depending on your workflow you may fi nd it mor e c onvenient to delete the projects on the editor

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systems before you delete the corresponding assets and Media from Interplay Access. This
avoids the possibility of editors re-opening the projects and c hecking i n material after it has been
deleted from Interplay.

Deleting the Project Files

This section describes how to replace a project file folder with a clean template. If you aren’t
using templates, you can just delete the project file and create a new project in the Avid editing
application.

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To delete projects when using the 01Monday – 07Sunday workflow:

1. Open My Computer on the Avid editing system.

2. In the Network Drives section, locate the workspace that contains the Project Templates
folder and open the folder.

3. Locate the day of the week you are going to delete and replace, right-click the folder and
select Copy.

4. Navigate to the Project folder that you want to replace.

5. Select the folder that you want to delete and press the Delete key

6. Perform a right click-Paste and paste in the new project template.

Cleaning Up the Attic

This section describes how to delete files from the Avid Attic on the local Avid editing system.

To clean up the Attic:

1. Navigate to the following location on the Avid editing application system:
C:\Program Files\Avid\<application name>\Avid Attic

2. Sort by creation date.

Example: Orphan Clips Deletion

3. Delete projects no longer needed.

Example: Orphan Clips Deletion

This deletion strategy involves deleting only metada ta from the various Interplay Access folders
(such as Projects, Incoming Media, and Catalog folders) and then regularly deleting metadata
and media from the Orphan Clips folder. It is most useful at sites where users regularly copy
assets between Interplay folders. It avoids the problems of deleting the media associated with a
clip that someone else might be using. Using reservations can also avoid this problem bu t
depending on your site’s workflow, you might find that this provides an additional security step
before media is fully deleted.

You can have several copies of an asset that all reference the same media file. If you delete th e
last reference to the asset and do not also delete the associated medi a files, the system moves the
last reference to the Orphan Clips folder.

The following examples show th e dele tio n of two clips. The underwater clip is used in a
sequence and the burning sky 2 clip is not used in any sequence.

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Example: Orphan Clips Deletion

Starting with Interplay v2.3, you cannot delete a r eferenced asset unless you also delete the asset

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the references it. For more information, see the “Deleting Assets” chapter of the Avid Interplay
Access User’s Guide.

Beginning with Interplay Access v2.4, the Orphan Clips folder contains links for assets deleted

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from Interplay folders whose media files were al so deleted. This change enables an Interplay
administrator to schedule the most load-demanding part of deletion operations during times of
low activity. For more information, see the Interplay Engine and Interplay Archiv e Engi ne
Administration Guide.

To delete metadata only:

1. Make sure that Referenced Assets are displayed in Interplay Access. This is necessary so
that you can see all of the master clips that are referenced by sequences in your Interplay
folders. If you don’t have Referenced Assets displayed you will only see master clips that
you explicitly check in or copy to Interplay folders. Do the following to turn on Referenced
Assets:

a. Select Preferences > Options. The Options dialog box opens.
b. Click the Filter Settings tab.
c. Make sure that the Referenced Assets check box is selected. Then click OK.

2. When you delete assets from the various Interplay database folders, delete the metadata but
do not delete media.

The following illustration sho ws tw o asset s in the Dailies folder. Both of these assets are the
last assets associated with the media. One asset (underwater) is used in several sequences.
The other is not used in any sequence.

3. Right-click the assets and select Delete.

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Example: Orphan Clips Deletion

4. In the Delete dialog box, select the metadata but do not select the media.
The following illustration shows the Delete dialog box for this operation.

5. Perform additional metadata deletions as your workflow requires. For example, delete from
the folders as described in “Example: Deletion for Day-of -the-Week Workflow” on page 79.

To delete metadata and media from the Orphan Clips folder:

1. When you are ready to delete the media files, open the Orphan Clips folder.
By default, only administrators can view this folder. An Administrator can assign

read/write/delete permissions for this folder to users or groups using the Managing Database
Roles view in the Interplay Administration tool.

The two assets deleted earlier are now in the Orphan Clips folder. Since the two assets were
the last copies associated with their media files, they were both moved to the Orphan Clips
folder.

89

Example: Orphan Clips Deletion

2. (Option) Place reservations on any folders that you know you do not want media to be
deleted from. For example, place a reservation on the Unchecked-in Avid Assets to protect
any media files that editors have created but have not yet checked in.

The system protects the media associated with sequences and subclips that are in reserved

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folders. The protection remains in effect even if you move the master clips to an unreserved
folder. See “Using Reservations” on page 93.

3. To make sure that you display all referenced assets in the Orphan Clips fol der, do the
following:

a. Select Preferences > Options. The Options dialog box opens.
b. Click the Filter Settings tab.
c. Make sure that the Referenced Assets check box is selected. Then click OK.

4. Select all the clips in the Orphan Clips folder, right click one of the clips and select Update
Status from Media Indexer.

The following illustration shows the Update Status from Media Indexer command.

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Example: Orphan Clips Deletion

c

Updating the status is a critical step for Interplay v1.2.3 and earlier releases. This
guarantees that Interplay Access has the latest information on the files before you perform
the deletion.

5. Create an Extended search that searches the Orphan Clips folder for files that are “not in
use.” The following illustration shows the Search and the results.

The burning sky 2 asset appears in the search results but the underwater clip is not in the list.
The underwater clip is part of a sequence and so it is “in use.”

6. Select all of the assets in the search results windo w and delete them. Delete the metadata and
the media as shown in the follow ing illustrat ion.

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Deletion Guidelines

To check for relatives of clips in the Orphan Clips folder:

1. Open the Orphan Clips folder.

2. Select the clip and click the Relatives tab in the Object Inspector.
The following illustration shows that the underwater clip is referenced by sev eral sequences.

That is why it did not appear in the search results for the “not in use” search.

Deletion Guidelines

In general, avoid the following:

• Deleting material from the Avid MediaFiles folders on the workspace itself.

• Using the Media Tool on Avid shared storage workspaces for searching or deleting.

• Deleting workspaces without first deleting Avid Interplay assets and media files from the
workspace. Avid ISIS will not let you delete a workspace with any files on it (whether the
files are media or any other type of file, even hidden files). Use the following procedure to
delete a workspace:

- Perform an extended search in Access, using the workspace name as a search criteria.

For search examples, see “Example s: Using Se arch with Delete” on page 98.

- Use Interplay Access to delete the files on the workspace.

- Use the ISIS Administration tool to delete the workspace.

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Deletion Guidelines

In order to perform an ex ten de d search on a workspace, your Interplay Access login must also

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have a corresponding login in Avid ISIS or Avid Unity MediaNetwork. To delete from the
workspace, the login must also have delete rights on Avid shared storage.

The following sections provide additional information:

• Using Reservations

• Do Not Perform Large Deletions During Prime Time

• Do Not Delete More Than 2,000 Assets at a Time

• Folder Limitations

• Deleting By Workspace

• Perform Deletions from One Access Client

• Guideline for Number of Deletions Per Hour

• Priorities with Deletion

• Delete Sequences When Possible

• Amount of Space Freed Up by Deletion

Using Reservations

Reservations are an excellent method for protecting media and metadata from deletion.
Reservations work on folders, not on individual assets. So, to protect an asset from deletion it
must be in a reserved folder.

A special case is that sequences and subclips in reserved folders protect the media files of
referenced master clips, even if the master clips are in a non-reserved folder. For example,
Sequence A uses Clip 1, and both are in a reserved folder. If you move Clip 1 to a non-reserved
folder, and try to delete the master clip and media associated with Clip 1, you can delete the
master clip, but the media remains protected. If the master clip is the last link to the media, the
link is moved to the Orphan Clips folder and the master clip and media remain protected.

Use the following guidelines when using reservations:

• Do not reserve the top level folders with an expiration date of “nev er.” This protects all of the
assets in the top level folder and all subfolders. This effectively prevents you from deleting
any assets in those folders.

• Reserve special items such as templates, frequently used graphics, and station logos that are
used on a daily basis with “never.”

• R eserve only folders that need to be reserved, especially when auto-reservation is on. By
default, auto-reservation extends the reservation for an additional 24 hours from the time
that a new or modifi ed Avid asset is checked in from an Avid editing application.

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Deletion Guidelines

For details on deleting files as well as information on using reservations to protect media from
deletion, see the Interplay Access User’s Guide.

Do Not Perform Large Deletions During Prime Time

Perform deletions during times when the system is not heav ily used. A larg e delete operation can
slow down the response time on the Avid Interplay Engine. This also slows down the response
times on Avid editing applications that are working with the Interplay Window.

Deletion consists of three parts: deletion of links, deletion of media, and deletion of database
assets.

• In Interplay v2.3 and earlier, deletion was synchronous: links, media, and database assets
were all deleted at approximately the same time. Disadvantages to synchronous deletion
were the impact on the engine (particularly the database assets) and the length of time
required for the deletion to take place. Starting with Interplay Engine v2.4, deletion is
asynchronous: the deletion of database assets is disassociated from deletion of links and
media and can be scheduled for off hours. This reduces the performance impact of the initial
deletion. For more information, see “Setting Options for Deletion” in the Avid Interplay
Engine and Avid Arch ive Engin e Admin istration Guide.

• Deletion of media impacts Media Indexer performance. For each file that the Interplay
Engine deletes on the share storage system, a notif ication is sent to t he Media Inde xer. These
notifications cause the Media Indexer to update its internal tables.

You can set an option to prevent Media Indexer from sending these notifications, but this
option (“ignore delete not ificatio ns”) should only be used temporarily. Using this option
causes a delay in updating of the media status of assets, wh ich can cause w orkflo w p roblem,
particularly for archive and restore. For more information, see “Configuring Avid Interplay
Media Indexers” in the Avid Interplay Best Practices Guide.

Do Not Delete More Than 2,000 Assets at a Time

Earlier versions of Interplay documentation recommended deleting up to 2,000 assets at a time.
With the introduction of scheduled deletion, this recommendation is less critical unless you are
deleting media. If you delete media (with or without its corresponding assets), wait at least 5
minutes in between deletions to give the Media Indexer time to update its structure.

Folder Limitations

It is important that you do not store more than 20,000 assets in Interplay database folders. In
general, you can keep up to 5,000 assets in a folder without affecting system performance. One
of the problems with storing many assets in a folder is the amount of time it takes to list the items
in the folder when you open the folder for browsing.

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Deletion Guidelines

Periodically check that folders do not contain more than 5,000 assets. Delete or move assets to
other folders. If a folder must contain a large number of assets it is more eff icient to add multipl e
subfolders for storing the assets.

This limitation also applies to capture folders. If you know that you will ha v e recurring captures,
you could set up folders for those captures. For example, you could name folders for the days of
the week or for specific types of capture.

Deleting By Workspace

Starting at Interplay v1.5, the Delete dialog box includes an option to select which workspace
you want to delete media from. If you select media files and resolutions for deletion, all
workspaces that contain the selected media are listed and are selected by default.

Perform Deletions from One Access Client

Media management and large deletions should only be executed from one Interplay Access
client. If you start sev eral cl ients on different machines and perform large deletions on each, it is
actually much slower compared with doing all the deletions on one client in a serialized order.

Guideline for Number of Deletions Per Hour

A scheduled deletion on the Interplay Engine can delete at least 25,000 objects per hour and
possibly more. This guideline can be useful when determining the length of a scheduled deletio n
window.

Priorities with Deletion

• By default, a scheduled deletion stops when an Interplay backup begins, and resumes when
the backup ends or at the next scheduled deletion. You can select an option in the Delete
Behavior dialog box to allow both processes to operate at the same time.

• Ingest operations are not impacted by scheduled deletions because scheduled deletion has a
lower priority.

Delete Sequences When Possible

If possible workflows should include deletion of sequences and their referenced assets. By
default you cannot delete referenced assets unless you delete the asset tha t references them.
However, you can overwrite this behavior. See “Activating the Option to Delete Referenced
Assets” in the Avid Interplay Engine and Avid Interplay Archive Engine Administration Guide.

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Determining How Much Space a Delete Operation Will Free Up

Amount of Space Freed Up by Deletion

The Delete dialog in Interplay Access provides the most reliable measurement of the space that
will be freed up by a Delete operation. Performing a search in Interplay Access is not a reliable
measurement. For more information, see the next topic.F or more information, see “Determining

How Much Space a Delete Operation Will Free Up” on page 96.

Determining How Much Space a Delete Operation
Will Free Up

The Delete dialog in Interplay Access provides the most reliable measurement of the space that
will be freed up by a Delete operation.

To determine how much space will be freed up by a deletion:

1. Make sure that Referenced Assets are displayed in Interplay Access. This is necessary so
that you can see all of the master clips that are referenced by sequences in your Interplay
folders. If you don’t have Referenced Assets displayed you will only see master clips that
you explicitly check in or copy to Interplay folders. Do the following to turn on Referenced
Assets:

a. Select Preferences > Options. The Options dialog box opens.
b. Click the Filter Settings tab.
c. Make sure that the Referenced Assets check box is selected. Then click OK.

2. Right-click the folder you want to delete and select Delete.
The Delete dialog box opens and shows how many assets and media files will be deleted.

3. The value in the center of the dialog box shows the disk space that will be freed up if you
perform the deletion.

The number of media files and the amount of disk space that will be freed up are only
affected by the option “Delete only media created with the selected clip or clips.” This
information is not affected by your selections in the Media Resolutions or Media Workspace
sections of the dialog box.

4. Click Se lect All to select all the assets, f iles, and resolutions. The center portion of the dialog
box shows how much free space you will gain from the Delete operation.

96

Searching for Media

The amount
of disk space
that will be
freed by the
deletion

5. Click OK or Cancel, depending on whether you want to perform the deletion or whether you
were just checking on the disk space.

Searching for Media

Interplay Access can search across all projects and bins in the Interplay en vironment. This makes
it much faster to search in Access than to open multiple Projects and Bins in the editing
application. There are two types of searches:

• A simple text-based search allows you to f ilte r media by name, project, bin, time, and media
type

• An extended attribute-based search allows you to search by more detailed attributes and
provides operator based searching using “and” and “or” type searches

Saved Searches

Searches can be saved and made public (a vailable to all users) or private by clicking on the Save
button.

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Depending on the site, the entire deletion strategy can be based on searching. Below are some
common examples of saved searches used in such environments.

• An Offline Material search returns anything that has been deleted from ISIS, but not
Interplay

• An Orphaned Precomputes search returns any effects that are not part of a seque nce

• An Unused AirSpeed Clips search returns any master clips from the Incoming Media folder
that are not cut into sequences or subclips

• A DRM Clips search returns all master clips/subclips/sequences that contain restrictions.

For examples of searches that could be saved, see “Examples: Using Search with Delete” on

page 98.

Improving Search Response Time

Avid Interplay includes powerful, customizable search capabilities. If you are working in a
facility with a large database, you can speed up the search process by specifying a particular
folder as the search root and by using attributes. For example, by using the Time attribute, you
can limit your search to clips modified within the last 24 hours, the last 7 days, and other time
periods.

Searching for Media

Even if you only change the search root, or search by a single attribute, you can dramatic all y
improve the response time. For additional information, see “Using the Search Root and

Attributes to Speed Up Interplay Search” on page 119.

Examples: Using Search with Delete

You can use an Extended search to create a list of assets that match your criteria for deleting.
This topic provides several examples.

Example 1

This first example uses the following criteria:

• Find clips without an active reservation. The Search syntax is:
Reserved : by anyone : is expired

• Find clips that are not shared (only one instance, no links in other folders). The Search
syntax is:

Find clips : unshared

• Find clips that have no relatives. The Search syntax is:
In use : Is not in use

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Searching for Media

The following illustration shows these criteria in the Extended search tab.

After you run this search, you can delete the results from the Search Results list.

Example 2

You can associate the criteria used in Example 1 with specific folders to include or exclude
specific locations in the search. This example adds the following criteria:

• Find clips that are located in a folder whose name contains the word “archived.” The Search
syntax is:

Path : contains : archived

• Or find clips that are located in the folder named “To be deleted.” The Search syntax is:
Path : is : To be deleted

You need to create two different groups in the Extended tab: one that combines the criteria in
Example 1 with the first path and one that combines the criteria in Example 1 with the second
path. These groups are separated by OR, as in the following illustration.

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Searching for Media

The results of this search are clips that are stored either in one of the Archived folders or in the
“To be deleted” folder. You see the contents of both folders in the Search Results list.

Example 3

This example is similar to Example 2. However, instead of searching for clips stored either in
one of the Archived folder or in the “To be deleted” folder, these criteria search for clips stored
both in an Archived folder and in the “To be deleted” folder. The following illustration shows
these criteria in the Extended tab.

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