Pinnacle Systems Interplay - 3.0 Best Practices Guide

Avid® Interplay

Best Practices Guide

Version 3.0

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.

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:

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.

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.

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:

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:

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, A vid DS Assist St ation, A vid Ignite , A vid Liquid, A vid Media En gine, Avid Media Processor, Avid MEDIArray, Avid Mojo, A v id Remote Response, Avid Unity, Avid Unity ISIS, A vid VideoRAID, AvidRAID, AvidShare, AVIDstripe, AVX, Beat Detective, Beauty Without The Bandwidth, Beyond Reality, BF Essentials, Bomb Factory, Bruno, C|24, CaptureManager, ChromaCurve, ChromaWheel, Cineractive Engine, Cineractive Player, Cineractive Viewer, Color Conductor, Command|24, Command|8, Control|24, Cosmonaut Voice, CountDown, d2, d3, DAE, D-Command, D-Control, Deko, DekoCast, D-Fi, D-fx, Digi 002, Digi 003, DigiBase, Digidesign, Digidesign Audio Engine, Digidesign Development Partners, Digidesign Intelligent Noise Reduction, Digidesign TDM Bus, DigiLink, DigiMeter, DigiPanner, DigiProNet, DigiRack, DigiSerial, DigiSnake, DigiSystem, Digital Choreography, Digital Nonlinear Accelerator, DigiTest, DigiT r anslator, DigiWear, DINR, DNxchange, Do More, DPP-1, D-Show, DSP Manager, DS-StorageCalc, DV Toolkit, DVD Complete, D-Verb, Eleven, EM, Euphonix, EUCON, EveryPhase, Expander, ExpertRender, Fader P ac k, Fairchild, FastBreak, Fast Track, Film Cutter, FilmScribe, Fle x ev ent, FluidMotion, F r ame Chase, FXDek o, HD Core, HD Process, HDpack, Home-to-Hollywood, HYBRID, HyperSPACE, HyperSPACE HDCAM, iKnowledge, Image Independence, Impact, Improv, iNEWS, iNEWS Assign, iNEWS ControlAir, InGame, Instantwrite, Instinct, Intelligent Content Management, Intelligent Digital Actor Technology, IntelliRender, Intelli-Sat, Intelli-sat Broadcasting Recording Manager, InterFX, Interplay, inTONE, Intraframe, iS Expander , iS9, iS18, iS23, iS36, ISIS, IsoSync, LaunchPad, LeaderPlus, LFX, Lightning, Link & Sync, ListSync, LKT-200, Lo-Fi, MachineControl, Magic Mask, Make Anything Hollywood, make manage move | media, Marquee, MassivePack, Massive Pack Pro, Maxim, Mbox, Media Composer, MediaFlow, MediaLog, MediaMix, Media Reader, Media Recorder, MEDIArray, MediaServer, MediaShare, MetaFuze, MetaSync, MIDI I/O, Mix Rack, Moviestar, MultiShell, NaturalMatch, NewsCutter, NewsVie w, NewsVision, Nitris, NL3D, NLP, NSDOS, NSWIN, OMF, OMF Interchange, OMM, OnDVD, Open Media Framework, Open Media Management, Painterly Effects, Palladium, Personal Q, PET, Podcast Factory, PowerSwap, PRE, ProControl, ProEncode, Profiler, Pro Tools, Pro Tools|HD, Pro Tools LE, Pro Tools M-Powered, Pro Transfer, 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, ScriptSync, SecureProductionEnvironment, Serv|GT, Serv|LT, Shape-to-Shape, ShuttleCase, Sibelius, SimulPlay, SimulRecord, Slightly Rude Compressor, Smack!, Soft SampleCell, Soft-Clip Limiter, SoundReplacer, SPACE, SPACEShift, SpectraGraph, SpectraMatte, SteadyGlide, Streamfactory, Streamgenie, StreamRAID, SubCap, Sundance, Sundance Digital, SurroundScope, Symphony, SYNC

HD, SYNC I/O, Synchronic, SynchroScope, Syntax, TDM FlexCable, TechFlix, Tel-Ray, Thunder, TimeLiner, Titansync, Tit an, TL Aggro, TL AutoPan, TL Drum Rehab, TL Everyphase, TL Fauxlder, TL In Tune, TL MasterMeter, TL Metro, TL Space, TL Utilities, tools for storytellers, Transit, TransJammer, Trillium Lane Labs, TruTouch, UnityRAID, Vari-Fi, Video the Web Way, VideoRAID, VideoSPACE, VTEM, Work-N-Play, Xdeck, X-Form, Xmon and XPAND! 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 J • Created 6/26/13 • This document is distributed by Avid in online (electronic) form only, and is not available for purchase in printed form.

Using This Guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Symbols and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

If You Need Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Viewing Help and Documentation on the Interplay Portal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Interplay Documentation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Avid Training Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Chapter 1 Avid Interplay Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Using MultiRez and Dynamic Relink. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Avid Interplay Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Avid Interplay Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Avid Interplay Administrator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Interplay Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Avid Interplay Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Avid Instinct. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Avid Interplay Media Services Providers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Avid Interplay Assist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

iNews and Avid Instinct. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Archive and Restore Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

MediaManager Archive Solutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

MediaManager to Avid Interplay Migration Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Avid Interplay Media Indexer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Service Framework Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Interplay Capture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Access Control and Media Deletion Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Interplay Application Icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Chapter 2 Setting Up a Folder Structure and a User Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Permissions and Folder Structures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Setting Up a Folder Structure in Interplay Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Basic Setup: Assigning Access to User Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Assigning Access Rights to User Groups on a Folder Basis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Assigning Database Access on a Project Basis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Managing Database Roles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Defining the Editor Database Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Managing the Instinct/Assist User Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Creating Folders for Capturing Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Chapter 3 Developing an Interplay Delete Strategy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Introduction to Interplay Deletion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Interplay Database Folder Structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Folders Used by AirSpeed and CaptureManager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Folders Used by Interplay Transfer Checkins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Folders Used by Send to Playback Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Project and Bin Folders Created by the Avid Editing Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Creating Avid Editing Projects in an Interplay Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Creating Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Interplay Settings in the Editing Application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Defining the Interplay Folder Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Defining the Media Creation Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Project Workflow Samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Broadcast Project Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Post Environment Project Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Using Project Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Example: Deletion for Day-of-the-Week Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Sample Delete Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Project Folders – Editor Projects (Daily) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Projects Folder – Ingest or AirSpeed Folders (Daily). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Incoming Media (Daily). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Sent to Playback (Daily). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Avid Instinct Assets (Daily). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Orphan Clips (Weekly). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Un-Checked In Avid Assets (Weekly) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Deleted Items (Weekly) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Avid Editing Application Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Example: Orphan Clips Deletion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Deletion Guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Determining How Much Space a Delete Operation Will Free Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Searching for Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Saved Searches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Improving Search Response Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Examples: Using Search with Delete. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Example: Searching for Unused Rendered Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Chapter 4 Determining Interplay Database Scalability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Definition of Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Total Used Database Pages and Estimated Database Page Limit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Interplay Engine Database Page Limits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Comparing Database Page Count and Cache Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Database Activity Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Tips for Improving Database Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Establish a Stable Ratio Between Database Objects and Database Pages. . . . . . . . . 101

Calculating the Ratio Between Pages and Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Example: Using the Ratio to Plan for Database Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Chapter 5 Refining Your Search in Interplay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Using the Search Root and Attributes to Speed Up Interplay Search. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Basic Interplay Search Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Searching in Assist, Instinct, and the Interplay Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Searching in Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Example: Finding Assets By Using a Unique Identifier. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Chapter 6 Using AMA Material in Interplay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

AMA on Interplay Workflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Viewing AMA Clips in Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

How the Media Indexer Works with AMA Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Checking AMA Media Into Interplay - Comparing OP-ATOM and OP-1A . . . . . . . 127

Configuring the Media Indexer to Index AMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Viewing Statistics about AMA Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Using the Storage Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Chapter 7 Sony XDCAM HD and XDCAM EX End-to-End Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

MPEG-2 Long GOP Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Long GOP Benefits and Limitations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Supported File Formats for XDCAM HD and XDCAM EX Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Long GOP Workflows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Capture Workflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Editing Workflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Output Workflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Workflow for Background Processing of Long GOP Splicing and

Transferring of Long GOP OP1a Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Chapter 8 720p MultiRez Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Overview of the 720p MultiRez Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Editor MultiRez Workflow for 720p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Working with a MultiRez Clip in the Editor and Performing a Partial Restore . . . . 147

720p MultiRez Workflow Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Capturing High Res 720p Material. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Transcoding to 720p Proxy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Archiving the High Res 720p Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Deleting the High Res Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Searching for and Restoring High Res Master Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Restoring a Full Clip from the Archive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Performing a Partial Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Setting Up the Media Services Profiles for a 720p MultiRez Workflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Creating Profiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Media Service Profile Examples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Chapter 9 H.264 End-to-End MultiRez Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

H.264 Resolutions Supported by Interplay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Installation and Configuration for an H.264 Workflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

H.264 Workflow Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

H.264 Card for AirSpeed Multi Stream. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Folders and Shared-Storage Workspaces for an H.264 Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Media Services Profiles for an H.264 Workflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Configuring Interplay Clients for an H.264 MultiRez Workflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Acquiring Media for an H.264 Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Dual-Ingest for High-Res Media and H.264 Proxy Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Transcoding to Create H.264 Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Editing with H.264 and High-Res . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Archiving, Restoring, and Deleting H.264 and High-Res Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Chapter 10 HD 23.976p and HD 24p Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Interplay Support for Native HD 23.976p and HD 24p Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Interplay Support for HD 23.976p and HD 24p Proxy Resolutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Chapter 11 Apple ProRes Resolutions Supported in Interplay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Chapter 12 JPEG 2000 Resolutions Supported in Interplay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Chapter 13 Support for Stereoscopic 3D Workflows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Overview of Stereoscopic Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Stereoscopic Media and Stereoscopic Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Stereoscopic 3D Support in Interplay Access. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Stereoscopic 3D Support in Interplay Transcode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

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

Avid Instinct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Properties for Stereoscopic Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Chapter 14 DNxHD 100 Resolutions Supported in Interplay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Chapter 15 XAVC-Intra Resolutions Supported in Interplay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Chapter 16 Using Frame Chase Editing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Frame Chase Editing and Frame Chase Capture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Understanding Frame Chase Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Workflow for Frame Chase Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Limitations When Working With In-Progress Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Chapter 17 Additional Interplay Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Changing Source Information for a Clip in Interplay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Ingest and Playout of Ancillary Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Support for AFD Ancillary Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Dynamic Relink: Working with a Single Resolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Restricting Clips to a Single Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Turning Off Dynamic Relink for Avid Assist and Avid Instinct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Disconnecting an Avid Editing Application from the Interplay Environment . . . . . . . . . 230

Chapter 18 Working with Avid Interplay Media Indexers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

New Features Added for Media Indexer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Multiple ISIS Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Changes for Log Files and Cache Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Improved File Scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Managing the Order of Storage Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Viewing the Size of Indexed Workspaces and Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Media Indexer Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Configuring Media Indexers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Web-Based User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Configuration Section. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Statistics Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Storage Browser and Storage Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Managing Media Indexers in an Interplay Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Improving Media Indexer Performance by Limiting the File Count in

Media File Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Media Indexer Restart Behavior. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Ignoring Global Delete Notifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Changing the Resync Interval for a Media Indexer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Import and Export Configuration Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Troubleshooting Media Indexer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Remote Mode Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Media Indexer Diagnostics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Resolving Memory Threshold Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

MI Logging Capability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

Additional Logging Capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Media Indexer, Interplay Assist, and Avid Instinct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Checking Media Indexer Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

If The Media Indexer Service Does Not Appear on the Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Shutting Down the Media Indexer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Media Indexer Health Monitor Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Media Indexing Workers Thread Pool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Storage Activity, Storage Resync Status, and Storage Root . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

Media Table Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Media Table Operations and Media Table Queries Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Checking Media Indexer Memory Usage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Suppressing Alerts in the Health Monitor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Media Indexer Health Monitor Changes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Appendix A Interplay Maintenance Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Interplay Daily Maintenance Check List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Interplay Weekly Maintenance Check List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Interplay Monthly Maintenance Check List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Avid ISIS Recommended Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Complete Server Room Shutdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Appendix B Archive Migration (Workgroup 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Searching for Migrated Workgroup 4 Archive Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Restoring Migrated Assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Restoring Different Versions of a MediaManager Archive Clip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Locating the Correct Version to Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Setting the Correct Version Information for the Clip in Interplay Access . . . . . . . . 291

Restoring the Clip from the MediaManager Database. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Working with OMF Media Files After an Archive Migration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Deleting the Online OMF Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Retained Workgroup 4 Clip Attributes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

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

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

> 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/support.

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/support. 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 troubleshooting tips, to download updates, and to read or join online message-board discussions.

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.

Interplay Documentation

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 A vid Interplay installation progra ms to install and con fig ure softwa re on the v arious syst ems that make up a Interplay environment.

• 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 Training Services

• 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 other Interplay Media 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 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.

All documents are available in PDF form on the Avid Knowledge Base at

www .avid.com/onlinesupport.

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).

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

• Service Framework Services

• 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 228.

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)

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. Interplay v3.0 adds support for AMA media.

• 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.

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.

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 35.

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

, 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.

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

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

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

Avid Interplay-to-OMF transfers are not supported.

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

• 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 143.

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.

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

- 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.

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 287.

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 “Working with Avid Interplay Media Indexers” on

page 231.

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

Interplay Capture

Interplay Capture is intended for customers who require a management system for video capture. This application is a key part of the MultiRez wo rkflow. 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 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.

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.

Interplay Capture

• 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 47.

Interplay Application Icons

Interplay Access

Avid Instinct

Interplay Administrator

Interplay Assist

Avid Health Monitor

Avid Diagnostics

Service Configuration

Workgroup Properties

This section describes the Interplay icons.

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.

Interplay Application Icons

Avid Service Framework

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

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.

Interplay Application Icons

Interplay Stream Publish

Interplay Delivery

Interplay Move

Interplay Restore

Interplay Media Services Engine

Interplay Transcode

Interplay Copy

Interplay STP Encode

Interplay Archive

Interplay FTP Clip List

Interplay FTP Media Browse

Interplay Media Services and Transfer Status

Interplay Transfer Configuration

Interplay Transfer

The Interplay Transcode and STP Encode 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.

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.

2 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 57.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Assigning Database Access on a Project Basis

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

Basis” on page 37.

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.

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.

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 43.

• 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.

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.

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 48.

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.

3 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

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 50. 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 50 and “Folders Used by Interplay Transfer Checkins” on page 55.

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 74.

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

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

page 83.

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

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 56.

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

CaptureManager” on page 50.

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

by AirSpeed and CaptureManager” on page 50.

• Instinct creates folders here named after the iNEWS directory path and server name. See “Avid Instinct Assets (Daily)” on page 71.

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 55.

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 72.

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,

see “Folders and Shared-Storage Workspaces for an H.264 Workflow” on page 176.

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

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.

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.

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.

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,

see “Folders and Shared-Storage Workspaces for an H.264 Workflow” on page 176.

• 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 into t he 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.

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 51.

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.

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 61 .

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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>

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.

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.

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 56.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 67.

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 69.

Delete material created by CaptureManager under the Projects folder. See

“Incoming Media (Daily)” on page 70.

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 71.

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 55.

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

page 71.

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

“Un-Checked In Avid Assets (Weekly)” on page 72.

Delete from the Deleted Items folder. See “ Deleted Items (We ekly)” on

page 72.

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 73. 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 56.

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.

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

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.

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 80.

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 50.

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.

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 50 and “Folders Used by Interplay Transfer Checkins” on page 55.

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 55.

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.

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.

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

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

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 74.

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 74.

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

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 84.

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.

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

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.

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.

Example: Orphan Clips Deletion

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

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

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.

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 66.

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.

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

folders. The protection remains in effect even if you move the master clips to an unreserved folder. See “Using Reservations” on page 80.

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.

Example: Orphan Clips Deletion

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.

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 85.

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

- Use the ISIS Administration tool to delete the workspace.

Deletion Guidelines

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

have a corresponding login in Avid ISIS . 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.

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.

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.

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

Determining How Much Space a Delete Operation Will Free Up

How Much Space a Delete Operation Will Free Up” on page 83.

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:

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.

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.

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 85.

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 106.

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

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.

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.

Example 4

Another search might include the following criteria:

Creation date : Not within : Last week

•

Searching for Media

•

Path : contains : archived

•

Path : is : To be deleted

•

In use: Is not in use

•

Creation Date: Not within : last 72 hours

•

Path : is : Aired stories

•

Path : is : Incoming feed from Washington

The first group of criteria searches for all clips older than a week located in the Archi ved and “To be deleted” folders that have no relatives. The second group searches for clips older than 72 hours located in the “Aired stories” folder and in the “Incoming feed from Washington” folder. The results are a combination of these searches.

Example: Searching for Unused Rendered Effects

When you design a deletion strategy, usually the precomputes (rendered effects) are deleted along with the usual deletion searches because they are based on creation date and project. Anything inside a project that is older than a certain number of days is deleted, and that usually takes care of the rendered effects as well.

Searching for Media

Search tab

Search root button

Search Conditions arrow

The Unchecked in Avid Assets folders may contain a large number of precomputes, particularly for sequences that have been rendered several times. These rendered effects might not be found by simply searching by project and date. Note that editors can see their own Interplay assets but only administrators can view all of assets inside the Unchecked in Avid Assets folders.

This section describes a search that is not based on projects. The example deletes unrendered effects in a particular folder that are not in use by any sequence. For more information, see

Starting with Interplay version 2.3, links for rendered effects are no longer included in the

Interplay database. These links are still displayed in Interplay Access and other client applications, and to the end user they appear like other referenced assets. For more information, see “Emulated Rendered Effects” in the Avid Interplay Access User’s Guide.

This example searches for rendered effects created within the last 24 hours in a particular folder named “Unrendered effects test bin.” The following illustration shows the Search window in Interplay Access.

Only use the “in use” flag example for Interplay v1.2.3 and later. Older Interplay versions did

not set the in use flag correctly.

To search for unrendered effects in a particular folder:

1. In the Assets pane, click a Search tab.

2. Select Simple from the Search Type list. If necessary, click the Search Conditions arrow to show the search criteria.

Searching for Media

3. Click the Search Root button and navigate to the folder. The Search root button displays the folder you selected to search. Selecting a particular

folder will make the search faster.

4. In the Type field, click the down arrow and select “rendered effect.”

5. In the Modified field, click the down arrow and select the time period.

6. In the “In use” field, click the down arrow and select “Is not in use.”

7. Do one of the following:

t Press Enter. t Click the Search button.

The Search button change s to a Stop button, which you can click if you want to stop the search. The Interplay search engine limits the database to rendered effects that have been modified in the time period you selected, and then searches within that subset for rendered effects that are not in use. The results are displayed in the Search Results pane. They are visible until you close Avid Interplay Access or until you perform a new search.

Searching for Media

To delete the unused rendered effects:

1. Click in the Results pane and use CTRL-A to select all of the rendered effects.

2. Press the Delete key. The system displays the Delete dialog box and allo ws y ou to delet e the metadata, the media,

or both. The following illustration shows the Delete dialog box for this example.

Searching for Media

3. Select the rendered effects (metadata) and the Media Resolutions (media files).

4. Click OK.

4 Determining Interplay Database

Scalability

This document describes how to use the size of the Interpl ay Engine d atabase and the amoun t of available RAM to make decisions about how much larger yo ur database can grow while maintaining your current workflow and hardware. This document contains the following topics:

• Definition of Terms

• Total Used Database Pages and Estimated Database Page Limit

• Comparing Database Page Count and Cache Size

• Tips for Improving Database Performance

Definition of Terms

Database Page

A database page is a fixed size, contiguous block of data that contains persisted database content. The metric of total used database pages provides a consistent way to determine whe ther you are operating within the scalability limits of your system. For additional information, see

“Total Used Database Pages and Estimated Database Page Limit” on page 95.

Maximum Cache Size

The maximum cache size refers to th e maximum number of database pages the Interplay Engine can keep cached in RAM. This value is dependent on the amount of RAM available on the Interplay Engine system or by manual configuration (in the case of the Interplay Bundle).

If the database size exceeds the maximum cache size, the Interplay Engine may need to swap ou t pages whenever it needs to load new database pages into RAM. The probability of swapping pages increases as you continue to exceed the maximum cache size. Slo w do wns can occur when you perform large searches, deletions, or add a large number of new assets to the database.

Definition of Terms

Database Object

A database object contains the metadata that defines an asset in the Interplay database. One database object can reference many other objects. For example, a sequence is represented as a database object and each sequence references other database objects such as master clips and audio tracks.

The number of database objects that an Interplay environment can support is highly dependent on the workflow at a particular site. The following areas can be affected by the workflow:

• Highly linked objects: For example, if your workflow in v olv es adding one sh ort introductory clip to the beginning of every sequence, that clip might be associated with hundreds of database objects. See “Tips for Improving Database Performance” on page 100.

• Dependency complexity: For example, if you have a complex sequence with many rendered effects, master clips, subclips, and locators, the database object representing the sequence can be complex. Dif ferent versions of the sequence and multiple resolutions associated with master clips also adds complexity.

• Object size: Depends on the type of object and the number of (custom) properties associated with the object. For example, if you store a large amount of text within locators this can contribute to the size of the object.

For additional information, see “Establish a Stable Ratio Between Database Objects and

Database Pages” on page 101.

File Count Limit

The file count limit is the maximum number of media files that the Interplay Media Indexer can index on ISIS shared storage. See the Interplay ReadMe for the current file count limit.

The Interplay Engine uses the filemob object to keep track of the media files that are checked into the Interplay database. However, the Media Indexer may be monitoring a much larger number of media files than the ones tha t are check ed in. F or e xample, there may be f ive different resolutions for a master clip but possibly only two are checked in.

Total Used Database Pages and Estimated Database Page Limit

Total Used Database Pa ges and Estimated Database Page L imit

The metric of total used database pages provides a consistent way to determine whether you are operating within the scalability limits of your system. A database page is a fixed size, contiguous block of data that contains persisted database content. To maintain an acceptable level of performance, the total number of used database pages should not exceed the recommended database page limit for your system. Recommended values are listed in the

“Interplay Engine Database Page Limits” on page 96.

For Interplay v2.6 and higher, you can view the total number of database pages in use in the Database Information view of the Interplay Administration tool. See “Comparing Database P age

Count and Cache Size” on page 97. The same information is available (for all releases) in the log

file named NXNServer_ <date>.log in the following directory: C:\Program Files\Avid\Avid Interplay Engine\Logs\Machines\<machine name> In the NXN log file, search for the text string “AvidWG pages total” for Interplay Engines and

search for “AvidAM pages total” for Archive Engines. The estimated database page limit is the maximum amount of pages the Interplay Engine can

keep cached in RAM (maximum cache size) plus an estimated permissible percentage of overusage.

This “overusage” is possible because all databases contain data that is never or very seldom accessed and because a low frequency of swapping cached pages does not have a perceptible performance impact. The permissible overusage value is typically 20% of the size of the cache. The values for different hardware configurations are estimated by extracting cache usage data from customer databases and by performing internal testing with databases that are slightly larger than recommended.

The permissible overusage depends on the customer's workflows and might exceed or be lower

than the estimated 20%. Therefore it is important that you closely monitor the performance of the Interplay Engine once the total used database pages exceed the Maximum Cache size.

If the total used pages exceeds the recommended limit for your system, performance may degrade and slow downs may occur. In this case, do one of the following:

• Delete assets in the Interplay database to bring the total number of pages down below the recommended limit for your system.

• Increase the amount of RAM or move to a more powerful system as shown in the t able under

“Interplay Engine Database Page Limits” on page 96.

Total Used Database Pages and Estimated Database Page Limit

Interplay Engine Database Page Limits

This section lists the maximum cache size and the estimated database page limits supported by an Interplay Engine running on an Intel SR2500 or AS3000 server for Interplay v2.4 or higher. Values are the same for standalone engines and cluster systems.

The table also shows values for the Interplay Bundle. An Interplay Bundle consists of an Interplay Engine, Media Indexer, and Lookup Service running on the same system. A configurator script is run on the system to limi t the memory requirements of the Interplay Engine and the Media Indexer.

Estimated Database Page Li m it

System RAM Operating System

Maximum Cache Size

Standalone Interplay Engine and Interplay Engine Cluster

SR2500 4 GB W2K3 R2 500,000 600,000

12 GB W2K3 R2 Enterprise 1.8 million 2.2 million

AS3000 12 GB W2K8 R2

1.8 million 2.2 million

W2K3 R2 Enterprise

36 GB

W2K8 R2 Enterprise 7.0 million 8.4 million

Interplay Bundle Configurations

SR2500 4 GB W2K3 R2 (32-bit) 200,000 240,000

9 GB

W2K3 R2 (64-bit) 1 million 1.2 million

AS3000 12 GB W2K8 R2 (64-bit) 1.4 million 1.7 million

a. The estimated database page limit is the maximum cache size plus a 20% overusage value. b. Purchasable option. c. Not a standard configuration.

Note that for Interplay v2.3 and earlier, the database page limit numbers are lower.

Comparing Database Page Count and Cache Size

The following illustration shows an example of the Database Information view for Interplay v2.6.

The Database and Cache Size parameters are described as follows:

• Configuration Maximum Cache Size: The number of database pages that can be loaded into RAM for this system. This value corresponds directly to the “Maximum Cache Size” column in the tables listed in “Interplay Engine Database Page Limits” on page 96. In this example, the RAM cache can hold 1.8 million pages. This corresponds to an SR2500 or AS3000 with 12 GB of RAM.

• Database Pages Total: The number of pages in this Interplay database. This is the current size of the database.

• Database Pages currently loaded into Cache: The number of database pages currently loaded into RAM. In this example, the database contains 1,003,618 pages and 824,397 of those pages are loaded into RAM.

Comparing Database Page Count and Cache Size

• The fourth entry in the display differs depending on whether you are using Interplay v2.6 or v2.7 and higher:

- Interplay v2.7: Database Load Factor. Shows the percentage of the database that is

currently loaded into RAM. On a completely loaded database the ratio would be 100%, but since some pages of a database are never loaded, it will always stay below 100%. If the operations/workflows executed against this database do not require the whole database to be loaded into cache, this ratio will stay farther below 100%.

This number can be used to judge the "warmness" of a database (whether the database is fully operational). For example, the value may steadily increase after starting up the Interplay Engine after a maintenance window.

Note that if the “Total pages used compared to Maximum Cache Size” of the database exceeds 100%, then the load factor can never reach 100%. The bigger the database grows over the maximum cache size, the less database pages can be loaded into the cache.

- Interplay v2.6: Cache Utilization. Shows a graphica l re prese nta tio n of how much RAM

you are currently using. As the number of cached pages gets very close to the maximum cache size, performance degrades during times when large database activities occur. The slow downs occur because the Interplay Engine must swap pages in and out of RAM in order to make room for the new information

This value cannot be larger than 100% because the amount of RAM is fixed. Note that when you get close to 100% the Interplay Engine automatically starts releasing pages to allow for new requests. If you reach 100%, the Interplay Engine runs out of memory and you will see a corresponding error in the NXNserver.log file.

• Total pages used compared to Maximum Cache Size: Shows a graphical representation of how close the current database size (total pages used) is to the maximum cache size. This graphs shows whether the entire database can fit into RAM.

This value can be lar ger than 10 0% because it is po ssible fo r your dat abase to be larger than the number of pages that can be loaded into RAM. If that occurs, the excess portion of the graph turns red as shown in the following illustration.

The value can be up to 120% without causing performance problems. Recall that the recommended database page limit is the maximum cache size plus 20%. See “Interplay Engine

Database Page Limits” on page 96. If the total number of database pages exceeds 120%,

performance slowdown can be dramatic (exponential). In this case you should either delete assets to reduce the size of your database or increase the cache size by adding RAM or moving to a more powerful system.

As mentioned earlier , the permissib le ov erusage de pends on t he customer's w orkflo ws and might exceed or be lower than the estimated 20%. Therefore it is important that you closely monitor the performance of the Interplay Engine once the total used database pages exceed the Maximum Cache size.

Database Activity Information

The following illustration shows the Database Activity parameters at the bottom of the Database Statistics tab.

Comparing Database Page Count and Cache Size

The page activity counters are accumulated for two different intervals:

• The time interval since the last time the Interplay Engine was started

• The three minute interval that ended at the time displayed at the bottom of the screen. The Interplay Engine collects the information every three minutes and displays the results at the bottom of the screen.

The Database Activity parameters are described as foll ows:

• Pages created: Gives an indication of how much new information has been added to the database.

• Pages Written: An indication of how much has changed in the database.

• Pages Read: An indication of the requests that have been made of the database. This shows how many pages have been read from disk. After pages are loaded into RAM, this number usually decreases.

At the bottom of the screen the system shows the date and time of the last data collection. Time is measured by the system time of the Interplay Engine.

Tips for Improving Database Performance

The following list provides some tips for improving performance:

• Determine the ratio between the number of objects in your Interplay database and the number of total pages used in the database to understand how the number of objects stored in the database relate to the size of your database. See “Establish a Stable Ratio Between

Database Objects and Database Pages” on page 101.

• R educe the number of highly linked objects. For example, a broadcast site may have one high level Projects folder that contains an

Intro_clip that is used by all groups at the site. You could consolidate that clip to create several copies and then move the copies into separate folders, one for each group. For example, you could create a Promo_Intro_clip and a Ne ws_Intro_Clip, and put those clips in folders that would be accessed by the different groups. Delete the old Intro_clip asset and have the groups start using the new versions. This can dramatically reduce the number of highly linked objects.

• Develop an efficient deletion workflow and only perform large deletions using a custom deletion schedule. For additional information, see the Interplay Best Practices Guide.

• Use search criteria to avoid searching the entire database. If you only use the simple “Contains” text search option, the Interplay Engine searches the

entire database for the asset. To improve search performance, limit the search to a particular folder or use an attribute such as a particula r time frame to narrow down the search. Note that for simple text searches the search time increases linearly as your database grows. For example, if the database is twice as large, it can take twice as much time to perform the same simple text search. For additional information, see the Interplay Best Practices Guide.

• Keep the number of files per folder on ISIS under 5000. As the number of files in a folder grows, it takes the Media Indexer a longer time to traverse the folder. Traversing a folder with more than 5000 files can result in a performance degradation. Note that this does not affect the Interplay database performance directly but it does affect the performance of the system as a whole.

Apply this same limitation to the number of assets in a folder in the Interplay database.

100

Pinnacle Systems Interplay - 3.0 Best Practices Guide

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

Symbols and Conventions

If You Need Help

Viewing Help and Documentation on the Interplay Portal

Interplay Documentation

Avid Training Services

1 Avid Interplay Components

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 Archive Solutions

MediaManager to Avid Interplay Migration Tool

Avid Interplay Media Indexer

Service Framework Services

Interplay Capture

Access Control and Media Deletion Model

Interplay Application Icons

Permissions and Folder Structures

Setting Up a Folder Structure in Interplay Access

Basic Setup: Assigning Access to User Groups

Assigning Access Rights to User Groups on a Folder Basis

Assigning Database Access on a Project Basis

Managing Database Roles

Defining the Editor Database Settings

Managing the Instinct/Assist User Settings

Creating Folders for Capturing Media

3 Developing an Interplay Delete Strategy

Introduction to Interplay Deletion

Interplay Database Folder Structure

Folders Used by AirSpeed and CaptureManager

Assets Created During an AirSpeed Capture

Summary for AirSpeed Checkins

Folders Used by Interplay Transfer Checkins

Folders Used by Send to Playback Operations

Project and Bin Folders Created by the Avid Editing Applications

Creating Avid Editing Projects in an Interplay Environment

Creating Projects

Interplay Settings in the Editing Application

Defining the Interplay Folder Setting

Defining the Media Creation Settings

Project Workflow Samples

Broadcast Project Examples

Post Environment Project Example

Using Project Templates

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

Sample Delete Workflow

Project Folders – Editor Projects (Daily)

Using Reservations to Protect Media

Projects Folder – Ingest or AirSpeed Folders (Daily)

Incoming Media (Daily)

Sent to Playback (Daily)

Avid Instinct Assets (Daily)

Orphan Clips (Weekly)

Un-Checked In Avid Assets (Weekly)

Deleted Items (Weekly)

Avid Editing Application Maintenance

Deleting the Project Files

Cleaning Up the Attic

Example: Orphan Clips Deletion

Deletion Guidelines

Determining How Much Space a Delete Operation Will Free Up

Searching for Media

Saved Searches

Improving Search Response Time

Examples: Using Search with Delete

Example: Searching for Unused Rendered Effects

Definition of Terms

Total Used Database Pages and Estimated Database Page Limit