Pinnacle Systems Interplay Media Services - 3.0 User Manual

Avid® Interplay® Media Services

Setup and User’s 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.

This product may be protected by one or more U.S. and non-U.S patents. Details are available at www.avid.com/patents.

This document is protected under copyright law. An authorized licensee of Avid Interplay Media Services may reproduce this publication for the licensee’s own use in learning how to use the software. This document may not be reproduced or distributed, in whole or in part, for commercial purposes, such as selling copies of this document or providing support or educational services to others. This document is supplied as a guide for Avid Interplay Media Services. 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 the use of this document. Product specifications are subject to change without notice.

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 adver tising 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 DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM 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.

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

This Software may contain components licensed under the following conditions:

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, advertising 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 without 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.

Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the name of Daniel Dardailler not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software 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.

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 Inc. 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 reverse compilation, Ray Sauers Associates, Inc. shall in no event be liable for any damages resulting from reseller’s failure to perform reseller’s obligation; or any 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 reseller’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 ver. 3.0 compatible products developed by third parties under license from Videomedia, Inc. Use of this software will allow “frame accurate” editing control of applicable videotape recorder decks, videodisc recorders/players and the like.”

The following disclaimer is required by Altura Software, Inc. for 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/).

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.

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 documentation 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, Avid DNxHD, Avid DS Assist Station, Avid Ignite, Avid Liquid, Avid Media Engine, Avid Media Processor, Avid MEDIArray, Avid Mojo, Avid Remote Response, Avid Unity, Avid Unity ISIS, Avid 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, DigiTranslator, 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 Pack, Fairchild, FastBreak, Fast Track, Film Cutter, FilmScribe, Flexevent, FluidMotion, Frame Chase, FXDeko, 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, NewsView, 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, Titan, 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.

Adobe and Photoshop are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Apple and Macintosh are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Windows is either a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

Avid Interplay Media Services Setup and User’s Guide • 0130-07633-05 Rev H • June 2013 • Created 6/17/13 • This document is distributed by Avid in online (electronic) form only, and is not available for purchase in printed form.

Contents

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

Symbols and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

If You Need Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Viewing Help and Documentation on the Interplay Portal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

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

Chapter 1 Working with the Avid Interplay Media Services System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Understanding the Interplay Media Services System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Media Services Engine Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Understanding the Media Services Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Understanding the Avid Interplay Media Services and Transfer Status Tool . . . . . . 20

Understanding the Various Media Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Check Lists for Setting Up and Using Service Providers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Configuration Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Support for Restrictions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Support for Group Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Mounting Workspaces for Interplay Transcode and Other Media Services . . . . . . . . . . 26

Chapter 2 Interplay Media Services Engine Installation and Configuration . . . . . . . . 27

Check List for Setting Up the Media Services Engine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Registering the Media Services Engine in an Avid Interplay Workgroup . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Configuring the Media Services Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Starting the Interplay Media Services Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Chapter 3 Using the Media Services and Transfer Status Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Opening the Media Services and Transfer Status Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Media Services and Transfer Status Tool User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Using the Jobs Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Jobs Page Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Customizing the Reporting of Service Job Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Customizing the Jobs Page Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Filtering the Jobs List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Viewing Details About a Job. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Job Details Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Purging the Jobs List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Prioritizing a Job. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Canceling a Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Deleting a Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Retrying a Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Exporting the Jobs List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Using the Providers Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Opening the Providers Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Customizing the Providers Display. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Viewing Details About a Provider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Deleting Providers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Using the Services Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Opening the Services Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Displaying Details About a Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Deleting a Media Services Service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Using the Users Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Opening the Users Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Setting Up User Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Reassigning Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Deleting User Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Chapter 4 Installing Services and Registering Providers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Registering Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Registering a Service Manually. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Registering a Provider. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Registering a Provider Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Connecting a Provider to the Media Services Engine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Starting the Service Provider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Verifying That a Service Provider Is Connected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Rules for Upgrading a Service and Preserving Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Chapter 5 Working with Media Services Profiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Understanding Media Services Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Creating a Service Provider Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Modifying Multiple Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Modifying Changed or New Options in a Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Chapter 6 Working with the Transcode Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Understanding the Transcode Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Check List for Transcoding Assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Registering the Transcode Service with the Media Services Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Connecting the Transcode Provider to the Media Services Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Starting the Transcode Provider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Creating an Interplay Transcode Service Profile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Transcode Profile Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Mapping Audio Tracks in MIXDOWN, DUALMIXDOWN, and

CROSSRATE Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Mapping Multichannel Audio Tracks in MIXDOWN, DUALMIXDOWN, and

CROSSRATE Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Support for Surround Sound Audio Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Understanding the Transcode Services Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Understanding MIXDOWN Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Understanding DUALMIXDOWN Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Understanding DUALMIXDOWN Mode with Two Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Understanding CROSSRATE Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Transcoding an Asset from Avid Interplay Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Transcoding an Asset from an Avid Editing Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Transcoding OMF Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Working with an Auto Transcode Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Preparing the Workgroup for Auto Transcode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Identifying an Auto Transcode Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Transcoding Avid Assets Using an Auto Transcode Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Location of Automatically Transcoded Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Stereoscopic 3D Support in Interplay Transcode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Chapter 7 Working with the Archive and Restore Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Understanding Archive and Restore Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Check List for Archiving and Restoring Assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Archive Configuration and Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Registering the Archive or Restore Service with the Media Services Engine . . . . . . . . 128

Connecting the Archive Provider or Restore Provider to the

Media Services Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Starting the Archive Provider or the Restore Provider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Configuring the Archive Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Specifying the Archive Server, Segment Size, and Restore Process . . . . . . . . . . 133

Archiving Duplicate Versions of Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Adding AAF Metadata to an Archive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Defining the Maximum Number of Simultaneous Jobs for

Archive and Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Overriding Metadata When You Archive an Asset. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Connecting to the Archive Database and Creating Folders in Interplay Access. . . . . . 137

Working with Interplay Archive and Interplay Restore Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Creating an Interplay Archive or Interplay Restore Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Interplay Archive Profile and Interplay Restore Profile Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Locating the Partition Value for an Archive Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Archiving Assets from an Avid Editing Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Consolidating Clips and Sequences Before an Archive Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Deleting Online Media After an Archive Operation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Archiving Assets Using Avid Interplay Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Working with an Auto Archive Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Preparing the Workgroup for Auto Archive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Configuring Auto Archive Using the Avid Service Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Verifying That the Auto Archive Service is Running . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Setting Up an Auto Archive Folder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Archiving Assets Using an Auto Archive Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Location of Automatically Archived Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Searching the Archive Database. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Restoring a Clip from the Archive Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Working with Partial Restore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Performing a Partial Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Relinking Partially Restored Assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Viewing Partially Restored Reference Tracks in Interplay Access. . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

How the System Defines the Size of a Partially Restored File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Configuring a Workgroup to Use Multiple Archive Engines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Check List for Configuring and Using Multiple Archive Engines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Required Software for Multiple Archive Engines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Terminology for Multiple Archive Engines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Creating Profiles for Multiple Archive Engines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Configuring Asset Tracking for Multiple Archive Engines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Chapter 8 Working with the Copy Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Understanding the Copy Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Workflow for Copying Metadata and Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Check List for Copying Assets to Another Workgroup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Registering the Copy Service with the Media Services Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Connecting the Copy Provider to the Media Services Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Starting the Copy Provider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Using an Interplay Copy Service Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Creating an Interplay Copy Service Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Interplay Copy Service Profile Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Copying Assets and Media to Another Workgroup Using Interplay Access . . . . . . . . . 200

Copying Assets and Media to Another Workgroup Using an

Avid Editing Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Copying Assets During Ingest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Setting Registry Keys for Copying During Ingest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Defining the Maximum Number of Simultaneous Jobs for Copy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Chapter 9 Automatically Copying Assets to Another Workgroup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Understanding the Auto-Copy Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Check List for the Auto-Copy Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Installing the Avid Interplay Auto-Copy Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Configuring the Auto-Copy Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Verifying the Auto-Copy Service is Running . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Understanding the Auto-Copy Folder Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Rules of Auto-Copy Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Identifying an Auto-Copy Folder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Auto-Copying of Subfolders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Automatically Copying Assets To Another Workgroup Using an

Auto-Copy Folder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Automatically Backing Up the Complete Database and Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Changing the Number of Auto-Copy Replication Jobs Submitted . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Resetting the Auto-Copy Replication Scan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Chapter 10 Working with the Move Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Understanding the Move Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Workflow for Moving Media to Another Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Check List for Moving Assets to Another Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Registering the Move Service with the Media Services Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Connecting the Move Provider to the Media Services Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Starting the Move Provider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Creating a Avid Interplay Move Service Profile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Moving Media to Another Workspace Using Interplay Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Defining the Maximum Number of Simultaneous Jobs for Move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Chapter 11 Working with the Delivery Service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Understanding the Delivery Service and Delivery Receiver Service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Check List for the Delivery Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Registering the Delivery Receiver in an Avid Interplay Workgroup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Registering the Delivery Service with the Media Services Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Connecting the Delivery Provider to the Media Services Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Starting the Delivery Provider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Creating an Avid Interplay Delivery Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Creating Profiles for Specific Delivery Providers and Specific

Delivery Receivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Specifying User Credentials in a Delivery Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Transferring Assets Through Interplay Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Transferring Assets through an Avid Editing System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Viewing the Transfer Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Relinking Partially Delivered Assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Verifying the Delivery Receiver Service is Running Using

Avid Service Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Monitoring the Health of the Interplay Delivery Receiver Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Overriding Delivery of Already Existing Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Allowing Third-Party Providers to Directly Connect to the Interplay

Delivery Service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Defining the Maximum Number of Simultaneous Jobs for Delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Chapter 12 Exporting and Transferring Long GOP OP1a Media

in the Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .273

Understanding Long GOP OP1a and STP Encode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Workflow for Background Processing of Long GOP Splicing and Transferring

of Long GOP OP1a Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Check List for Transferring Long GOP OP1a Media in the Background. . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Registering the STP Encode Service with the Media Services Engine. . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Connecting the STP Encode Provider to the Media Services Engine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Starting the STP Encode Provider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Connecting to the Media Services Engine From Interplay Assist or an

Avid Editing Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Connecting to the Media Services Engine from Interplay Assist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Connecting to the Media Services Engine from an Avid Editing Application . . . . . 284

Performing Send-to-Playback as a Background Process from Interplay Assist . . . . . . 285

Performing Send-to-Playback as a Background Process from an

Avid Editing Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Chapter 13 HD 23.976p and HD 24p Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Interplay Support for Native HD 23.976p and HD 24p Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Interplay Support for HD 23.976p and HD 24p Proxy Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Appendix A Troubleshooting Interplay Media Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

General Troubleshooting for Media Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Checking Media Services Log Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Troubleshooting Using Avid Diagnostics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Archive and Restore Troubleshooting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Finding Solutions to Specific Archive and Restore Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Compatibility of Archive and Restore Services and Third-Party Software . . . . . . . 300

Getting Information About an Archive Job from the Jobs Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

Getting Information About an Archive Job from the Log File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

How the Media Services Status Tool Reports Archive and

Restore Operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Archive and Restore Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

Manually Updating the Status of Media Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Using a HOSTS File for Media Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Understanding the HOSTS File (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Updating the HOSTS File (Windows). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Appendix B Media Supported by Partial Restore and Partial Delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Appendix C AVC-Intra Resolutions Supported by the Interplay Media Services. . . . . 313

Appendix D Target Resolutions for Media Services Transcode, Version 2.7. . . . . . . . 315

Appendix E Maximum Number of Simultaneous Jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Appendix F Working with the Stream Publish Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Understanding the Stream Publish Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Workflows for Creating Streaming Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Workflow for Creating Streaming Media from MPEG-4 Proxy Media. . . . . . . . . . . 322

Workflow for Creating Streaming Media from H.264 Proxy Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Check List for Stream Publish Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

Installing and Registering the Stream Publish Service Provider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Installing the Stream Publish Service Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Registering the Stream Publish Provider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Connecting the Stream Publish Provider to the Media Services Engine . . . . . . . . 336

Starting the Stream Publish Provider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Creating a Stream Publish Service Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

Manually Creating QuickTime Reference Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

Deleting QuickTime Reference Movies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

Stream Publishing Media During Ingest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

Automatically Publishing Streaming Media During Ingest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

Manually Publishing Streaming Media During Ingest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Setting the Maximum Number of Concurrent Stream Publish Jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Appendix G Automating the Stream Publish Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

Understanding the Auto Publish Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

Check List for Auto Publish Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Verifying the Workflow Engine Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

Allowing Internet Explorer to Access the Avid Interplay

Workflow Engine Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350

Importing Auto-Publish Flow Charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

Modifying the Flow Chart Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

Using This Guide

Congratulations on your purchase of the Avid® Interplay® Media Services system consisting of the Interplay Media Services Engine, the Interplay Media Services and Transfer Status Tool, and the media services.

The Media Services Engine lets you take advantage of a network environment and pass compute-intensive tasks to other workstations on your network. This allows video editors to stay focused on their editing tasks.

For example, today’s production houses face a rising demand for translating media into formats suitable for distribution via the Web, DVD, or CD-ROM — often at the same time. The encoding operation is a critical part of this work. By moving or distributing this operation to lower cost, dedicated workstations, editing workstations are free to perform other tasks allowing you to generate two streams of revenue-producing work in parallel.

The Interplay Media Services Engine and its Media Services and Transfer Status Tool are the keys to managing these resource-intensive process. This software infrastructure manages all of the Interplay Media Services. As Avid develops new Media Services services, the Media Services Engine will manage those services as well.

This guide is intended for all Interplay Media Services users, from beginning to advanced.

Unless noted otherwise, the material in this document applies to the Windows operating systems. The majority of screen shots in this document were captured on a Windows system, but the information applies to both Windows and Mac OS X systems. Where differences exist, both Windows and Mac OS X screen shots are shown.

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.

and Mac OS® X

Symbols and Conventions

Avid documentation uses the following symbols and conventions:

Symbol or Convention Meaning or Action

Symbols and Conventions

> 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

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

Courier Bold font

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.

Courier Bold font identifies text that you type.

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

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

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 available. To

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

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

If You Need Help

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.

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.

Avid Training Services

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.

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 offers new training delivery methods 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 Working with the Avid Interplay Media

Services System

The following topics provide an overview of the Interplay Media Services system:

• Understanding the Interplay Media Services System

• Media Services Engine Components

• Understanding the Various Media Services

• Check Lists for Setting Up and Using Service Providers

• Configuration Requirements

• Support for Restrictions

Understanding the Interplay Media Services System

The Interplay Media Services system is a software infrastructure on which media services are layered. Interplay Media Services uses the concept of service providers. A service provider (or provider) is a software program that can perform a particular service, such as transcoding media or archiving assets. The Interplay Media Services Engine serves as a broker for services in an Interplay workgroup.

Avid editing applications allow you to work with clips of any frame rate or field motion type

(interlaced or progressive) in a project. Clips that do not match the frame rate or field motion type of the project are known as mixed-rate clips. Avid Interplay supports working with mixed-rate clips and sequences with mixed-rate clips.

Media Services Engine Components

The software used to manage service providers is composed of two major components: the Media Services Engine and the Media Services and Transfer Status tool.

The following topics describe these components:

• Understanding the Media Services Engine

• Understanding the Avid Interplay Media Services and Transfer Status Tool

Understanding the Media Services Engine

The Media Services Engine matches jobs and their corresponding settings with suitable providers. The Media Services Engine is a repository of job and provider information. Individual providers select jobs that they are able to process according to the service they provide.

For example, a Media Composer system (a client) needs a clip transcoded. It sends a request to the Media Services Engine (the server) with information about the job. The Media Services Engine places the information in a queue. When a Transcode provider is available to do the transcoding, it selects the job, gets the information from the Media Services Engine, and transcodes the media. The Media Services Engine provides status on the job through the Media Services and Transfer Status tool.

The Media Services Engine should not reside on the same computer as an Avid editing application. A provider can be installed on the same computer as the Media Services Engine, depending on the individual provider and the workload and memory usage of the particular computer.For specific information on configuration requirements, see the Avid Interplay Software Installation and Configuration Guide.

The Avid Interplay Media Services window opens when you start the Media Services Engine. The window displays current information about the status of the Media Services Engine, including the host name for the system on which the Media Services Engine resides. The Media Services Engine uses the host name to identify itself on the network.

Media Services Engine Components

The following illustration of the Avid Media Services window shows the host name DocMS, which is the host name of the computer on which the Interplay Media Services Engine is installed.

Media Services Engine Components

The Avid Interplay Media Services window provides access to the Media Services and Transfer Status tool through the Admin Tool button. See “Understanding the Avid Interplay

Media Services and Transfer Status Tool” on page 20.

The Avid Interplay Media Services window also provides access to Interplay Media Services settings through the Settings button. See “Configuring the Media Services Engine” on page 31.

For information on starting the Interplay Media Services Engine, see “Starting the Interplay

Media Services Engine” on page 35.

Understanding the Avid Interplay Media Services and Transfer Status Tool

The Avid Interplay Media Services and Transfer Status tool communicates with the Avid Interplay Media Services Engine to let you manage media services. The Media Services and Transfer Status tool is installed with the Interplay Media Services Engine software.

The Media Services and Transfer Status tool also includes a tab for monitoring transfers that use Interplay Transfer. For more information, see the Avid Interplay Transfer Setup and User’s Guide.

Understanding the Various Media Services

The Media Services and Transfer Status tool is installed with the Media Services Engine. You can install it on another computer from the Individual Optional Installers page of the Interplay Server Installer or the Interplay Client Installer, so that you can manage Interplay Media Services from that computer. The tool is also installed with Interplay Access, but you need to open the Media Services Status tab and the Transfer Status tab as separate windows.

The Media Services and Transfer Status tool performs three types of functions:

• Provides detailed information about Media Services, based on lists of jobs, encoders, profiles, and users.

• Provides controls for managing services and registering providers.

• Provides controls for managing Media Services such as canceling jobs, deleting provider software, creating or deleting profiles, and creating or deleting users.

The functions you can perform depends on your user rights (see “Using the Users Page” on

page 57). Administrators can perform the following tasks:

• Register and delete providers

• View details on any job

• Delete jobs submitted by any user

• Purge the jobs list

Regular users can perform administrative tasks only on their own jobs.

For more information, see “Using the Media Services and Transfer Status Tool” on page 36.

Understanding the Various Media Services

Interplay Media Services can be distributed to dedicated workstations in a networked environment, thereby freeing computer resources to perform other tasks.

When you install a Media Services service on a computer, the installation program installs provider software for that service. You can install the same service on more than one computer in an Interplay workgroup, and as a result have multiple providers for the same service.

After you install a service, you use the Media Services and Transfer Status tool to register the provider of the service. In a workgroup with multiple providers, you need to register each provider.

Understanding the Various Media Services

The following table lists the services managed by the Media Services Engine.

The services managed by the Media Services Engine are not limited to the services listed in this

table.

Interplay Media Services Service Providers

Service Description

Avid Interplay Transcode service Lets you transcode Avid assets from one Avid-supported

resolution to another. For example, you can use the Avid Interplay Transcode service to create a low-resolution version of a sequence or master clip. For more information, see “Working

with the Transcode Service” on page 82.

Avid Interplay Archive service Avid Interplay Restore service

Avid Interplay Stream Publish service (Not applicable to Interplay v2.4 and later) Lets you create

Avid Interplay Copy service Lets you copy assets (metadata) and their media files from one

Avid Interplay Move service Lets you move media files from one Avid ISIS workspace to

Avid Interplay Delivery service Lets you transfer a clip and its media files or only the portion that

Provides access to archive and restore features. The Avid Interplay Archive and Restore services manage the process of moving data, instead of using the Avid Interplay Transfer Engine. For more information, see “Working with the Archive and

Restore Services” on page 122.

QuickTime reference movies that refer to proxy video files (MPEG-4 or H.264) and MPEG1 Level 2 audio files. The files are checked into the Interplay database so you can play the assets in the Interplay Access. For more information, see “Working with

the Stream Publish Service” on page 320 and “Automating the Stream Publish Service” on page 346.

workgroup to another. For more information, see “Working with

the Copy Service” on page 185.

another. For more information, see “Working with the Move

Service” on page 228.

is used in a subclip or a sequence. For more information, see

“Working with the Delivery Service” on page 246.

Check Lists for Setting Up and Using Service Providers

Interplay Media Services Service Providers (Continued)

Service Description

Avid Interplay Auto Media Service

• Auto Archive

• Auto Transcode

• Auto Transfer

• Auto Copy

Avid Interplay STP Encode service Lets you offload time-consuming processing involved in

Lets you configure folders and subfolders to perform tasks automatically. You can use the Avid Service Configuration settings to configure the various auto media services.

An auto archive and auto transcode operation includes

subfolders. An auto transfer operation does not include subfolders. An auto copy operation maintains the same folder structure as the source workgroup.

For installation instructions, see the Avid Interplay Software Installation and Configuration Guide.

exporting and transferring of Long GOP OP1a media, during a send-to-playback request from the Avid editing application or Avid Interplay Assist. For more information, see “Exporting and

Transferring Long GOP OP1a Media in the Background” on page 273.

Check Lists for Setting Up and Using Service Providers

The following table provides a list of the various Media Services service providers with a reference to the specific check list for each service. These check lists provide a list of the steps to set up and use the various services.

For a check list for setting up the Interplay Media Services Engine, see “Check List for Setting

Up the Media Services Engine” on page 27.

Media Services Service Provider Documentation

Interplay Transcode service “Check List for Transcoding Assets” on page 83

Interplay Archive service Interplay Restore service

Interplay Copy service “Check List for Copying Assets to Another Workgroup” on

Interplay Move service “Check List for Moving Assets to Another Workspace” on page 232

“Check List for Archiving and Restoring Assets” on page 124

page 190

Media Services Service Provider Documentation

Interplay Delivery service “Check List for the Delivery Service” on page 248

Interplay STP Encode service “Check List for Transferring Long GOP OP1a Media in the

Background” on page 277

Configuration Requirements

An Interplay workgroup enables collaborative workflows by allowing multiple editors to share media. For diagrams showing typical shared-storage workgroup configurations, see Avid Interplay Best Practices.

For specific information on configuration requirements, see the Avid Interplay Software

Installation and Configuration Guide.

For any configuration issues that are not included in the published documents, see the Avid

Interplay Media Services ReadMe or the Avid Interplay ReadMe.

Configuration Requirements

Support for Restrictions

A restriction is a type of locator that Interplay Assist and Interplay Central users can add to a clip to indicate that use of the clip is restricted in some way, such as a requirement to pay for its use. Previous versions of Interplay preserved restrictions when you used an Avid editing application to check out and check in a clip before sending it to an Interplay Production service. For Interplay v3.0 and later, checkout and checkin is no longer required, and you can send clips to Interplay Production services from Interplay Access, Interplay Assist, or an Avid editing application.

Interplay v3.0 and later supports preservation of restrictions for clips processed through all Interplay Production services, including:

• Interplay Access

• Interplay Archive

• Interplay Restore

• Interplay Transcode

• Interplay Copy

• Interplay Move

• Interplay Delivery

• Interplay Transfer

Workgroup-to-workgroup transfers processed through Interplay Access v3.0 require Interplay Access v3.0 on the receiving Transfer Engine.

Note the following limitations:

• A restriction includes a color value (used for its markers) and the username of the creator. These values are supported in the local workgroup. However, after a clip is transferred to another workgroup or restored from archive, the values default to color = white and username = the login name of the user requesting the job.

• A sequence that includes a master clip with restrictions uses a copy of the master clip. If a user later changes the restriction on the master clip, the copy used in the sequence is not updated.

Support for Group Clips

Group clips are created in Media Composer and other Avid editing applications by using MultiCam features to sync a group of clips based on common source timecode, auxiliary timecode, or marks placed in the footage. A user working in an Avid editing application can check group clips in to and out from an Interplay Production database. Interplay Access users can view information about group clips, including master clip relatives.

Support for Group Clips

Starting with Interplay v3.0, group clips and sequences that contain group clips are supported by Interplay Transfer and by the following Media Services:

• Interplay Archive v3.0

• Interplay Restore v3.0, including Partial Restore

• Interplay Copy v3.0

• Interplay Move v3.0

• Interplay Delivery v3.0, including Partial Delivery

• STP Encode v3.0

• Interplay Transcode v3.0, with the following limitations:

- You cannot use CROSSRATE mode to transcode group clips.

- You can use MIXDOWN mode to transcode a sequence with group clips, but only the

camera angle selected in the Avid editing application timeline is included in the mixed-down master clip.

Subclips created from group clips, group clips composed of subclips, and multigroup clips are

not currently supported by Interplay Transfer or Interplay Media Services.

Mounting Workspaces for Interplay Transcode and Other Media Services

To use Interplay Transcode and other Media Services, you must mount at least one workspace for each shared-storage system that you use for reading and writing on the provider system. You can mount the workspace as a UNC drive or a lettered drive.In most cases, you do not need to mount each workspace that you use, but there is no harm in doing so. For Interplay Transcode, if you use lettered drives, you must mount the target workspace.

Note the following:

• Starting with version 2.6, the Interplay Transcode service and the STP Encode service require you to choose during installation how ISIS workspaces are mounted: by drive letter or by UNC path. For multiple ISIS workgroups, select UNC paths if the number of workspaces required for the client exceeds the available drive letters. Mount the workspaces before you start the service.

You use the ISIS Client Manager Connection Manager to mount drives. For more information on mounting workspaces, see the Avid ISIS Client Manager Help.

2 Interplay Media Services Engine

Installation and Configuration

The following topics describe installation and configuration of the Media Service Engine:

• Check List for Setting Up the Media Services Engine

• Registering the Media Services Engine in an Avid Interplay Workgroup‘

• Configuring the Media Services Engine

• Starting the Interplay Media Services Engine

For details on setting up the Media Services system in an Interplay workgroup environment, see the Avid Interplay Software Installation and Configuration Guide.

Check List for Setting Up the Media Services Engine

The following table provides a list of steps to perform when setting up the Media Services Engine in an Interplay workgroup.

Setting up the Media Services Engine Check List

Task Section Reference

Add the Interplay Media Services server to the



Interplay workgroup.

Make sure an Interplay Media Services



administrator account is set up on Avid shared-storage.

Make sure the Interplay Media Services



application key is connected to the server.

See the Avid Interplay Software Installation and Configuration Guide.

Registering the Media Services Engine in an Avid Interplay Workgroup

Setting up the Media Services Engine Check List (Continued)

Task Section Reference

Install the Interplay Media Services Engine



software and the supporting software.

• Avid Service Framework for Client

• Avid Interplay Access

• Avid Interplay Media Services



Interplay workgroup.

Configure the Media Service Engine.



• Setup e-mail notifications

• Identify the workgroup’s Interplay Engine system

• Setup auto-purging of jobs

Start the Avid Interplay Media Services



Engine software.

See the Avid Interplay Software Installation and Configuration Guide.

See “Registering the Media Services Engine in an

Avid Interplay Workgroup” on page 28.

See “Configuring the Media Services Engine” on

page 31.

See “Starting the Interplay Media Services

Engine” on page 35.

After you set up the Media Services Engine, install and configure the Media Services service providers. See “Check Lists for Setting Up and Using Service Providers” on page 23.

Registering the Media Services Engine in an Avid Interplay Workgroup

Before you can use any Media Services Engine services, you must register the Media Services Engine in an Interplay workgroup by opening the Avid Interplay Administrator and identifying the system that runs the Media Services Engine. After you register the Media Services Engine, the Media Services and Transfer Status tool automatically connects to the Media Services Engine.

If you are performing an upgrade, you do not have to register existing Media Services Engines.

Registering the Media Services Engine in an Avid Interplay Workgroup

To register the Media Services Engine in an Interplay workgroup:

1. Click Start and select Programs > Avid > Avid Interplay Access Utilities > Avid Interplay Administrator.

The Avid Interplay Administrator opens.

2. Log in to the server for the workgroup in which you want to register the Media Services Engine.

3. Click Server Hostname Settings in the Site Settings area.

The following illustration shows the Site Settings area of the Avid Interplay Administrator.

The Server Hostname Settings window opens.

Registering the Media Services Engine in an Avid Interplay Workgroup

4. In the Interplay Media Services Settings area, type the name of the system that runs the Media Services Engine and click Apply Changes.

If your Interplay environment includes the Interplay Delivery workflow, to receive transfers you

must add the hostname and the port number of the system where the Delivery Receiving service is installed. For more information, see “Registering the Delivery Receiver in an Avid Interplay

Workgroup” on page 249.

5. (Option) While you have the Server Hostname Settings window open, it is a good time to check whether you have entered the name of the workgroup in the Workgroup and MediaIndexer Settings area of the window. The Avid Instinct and Avid Interplay Assist applications use this setting to locate the Media Indexer that is used to monitor shared storage.

a. Near the center of the Server Hostname Settings window, make sure your Workgroup

name is in the Workgroup Name field. Type the workgroup name if necessary. This field is case sensitive.

b. Click Check MediaIndexer to check whether the Media Indexer that monitors shared

storage is running.

If the Media Indexer is running, the system displays the message “Connected to Media Indexer successfully.”

6. Click Log out and close the Avid Interplay Administrator.

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