Today’s best MAM systems are capable of simplifying the production environment and adapting to individual workflows. They also encompass the related tools needed to optimize the production of the many versions and variants an asset needs to be delivered. Proactively implementing a MAM system of 4K-enabled elements, perhaps even before it’s needed, helps reduce the amount of equipment and limits the need for incremental system upgrades.

Building MAM for a 4K future

Production teams need a comprehensive platform – with a common user interface – that manages all content in a central repository while producing video files for many platforms. Access to tools and assets must be regulated, not only for security but also for usability. Permissions for accessing and editing projects need to be customizable to specific team members or open for everyone to collaborate. 

The level of preparation that broadcasters are undertaking for 4K is substantially higher than it was for HD in its beginnings. From a physical point of view, 4K consumes more bandwidth and storage space. Broadcasters will need more storage and increased network capacity to incorporate new codecs to handle 4K. A MAM system must manage all of these changes.

As the broadcast world grows increasingly IT-centric, an open, scalable MAM system is essential. An open, distributed architecture is key to integrating with other systems. It will also operate more efficiently and without dependence on proprietary components.

The introduction of 4K in today’s sophisticated MAM systems should not change basic services such as file management, load balancing, partial retrieval, and file movement. For these services, 4K is simply a system configuration. The impact is greater on the transcoding side, where new codecs will require updated transcoding toolsets to prepare MAM users for the future.

Built-in transcoding capabilities can help handle 4K, future resolutions and a wide variety of codecs. Importantly, the architecture of advanced IP-based MAM systems should enable it to scale to almost any resolution and framerate. Equipped with 10 Gigabit Ethernet as well as cluster file systems, these systems provide enough throughput to easily handle UHD and 4K video.

Publishing 4K content to web and mobile is also now an important consideration. What was once handled by a separate department resulting in a clumsy, disjointed handoff, can now be handled by one system. Online variants from 4K resolutions on down can be created as content is brought into the system – or as an explicit publishing step. Automatic generation of a wide number of bitrates and resolutions enables multiple playback possibilities, and media can automatically be pushed to any of the major CDNs.

Cloud-based storage

Another key to efficient media production is easy access to the right assets at the right time. For this to happen, numerous production staffers must be able to access a reliable central repository where assets are stored, searched for and retrieved along with a cutting-edge file management system. Users must be able to use and access this content simultaneously. In years’ past this central storage was located on site within a facility. Today, that same capability can be expanded to the cloud, enabling professionals located anywhere in the world to access files and collaborate in real time. Indeed, cloud-based storage will be key to keeping up with the ever-increasing demand for more content.

Capabilities like enabling editors to get to work faster by accelerating content ingest in parallel across a unified storage pool and storing high volumes of data in active archives mean that broadcasters, studios and distribution networks can scale independently and on the fly. 

Publishing to multiple platforms

Leading-edge 4K MAM systems should enable asset production and delivery to any platform in one workflow, enabling content packaging and delivery that is dramatically more efficient than traditional workflows. Fast-paced, no-compromise live productions, particularly for high-profile sports events using 4K, require integrated and streamlined tools that allow users to quickly find desired content stored on servers and send it to the right desktop for further processing – including editing in an NLE, or graphics production. The underlying infrastructure must be able to manage all types of media during production, including for ingest, cataloging, archiving and editing.

Live conform and multiplatform distribution

By taking advantage of sophisticated IP-based infrastructures, broadcasters can make edits to video and graphics from within their native newsroom system until the last moment before content is sent live to air. With the edit decision list (EDL) and graphic information stored as metadata, the video and graphics playlist is sent to the control room, with the final piece played back in real-time on-air - automatically sized and distributed online and to mobile devices. The workflow saves tremendous space by storing only original files rather than clogging servers with edited content, and saves time by performing the conforming process live with automatic multiplatform distribution. Today’s most sophisticated MAM systems are designed for graphics to scale to whatever the needed output – be it HD, 4K or even 8K in the future. 

Using metadata to optimize search

Enriching assets with metadata such as titles, descriptions, categories, markers, keywords, annotations, and scene descriptions makes it easier for users to locate and retrieve the right media. Automated file movements, housekeeping, but also graphics can and should be automated to utilize metadata.

To be most beneficial, the metadata must only contain the relevant information that will streamline production. While often all production tools can add metadata, there is generally one dedicated application for just adding metadata. The application can help organize and add descriptive time-based information to assets in the central repository. Loggers, catalogers, archivists and journalists can add a wide number of different types of information to a file, such as archive metadata, compliance notes, edit notes, QC notes, scripts, highlights and subclipping. Other users such as producers, editors and journalists can find material based on this data instantly. By leveraging the user-configurable, metadata-modeling tool inside MAM systems, any type of event can be supported. And once a file is uploaded - sometimes even before a file is fully uploaded - into the server, all metadata is instantly searchable by the entire team. New metadata and changes made are instantly updated in all applications managed by the system.

Simplifying production for all involved

Integration and centralized control and management are critical to seamless, high-speed operations. Today, many production tools can be tightly integrated into and controlled by one overall 4K-enabled MAM platform, one that can be accessed by anyone, whether they are located at their desk or somewhere remotely around the globe. That’s the type of access, flexibility and collaborative workflows the most advanced content producers and distributors in the world are counting on to keep their businesses successful.