Sharing and organizing information is critical to today's business world. Many businesses face the struggle of organizing massive amounts of both physical and digital media, including audio, video files, photos, documents, manuals and more. If you feel like you're drowning in the pool of information or just want to streamline your information sharing system, then perhaps a Media Asset Management system is the answer.

What is a Media Asset Management system? Sometimes referred to as "Digital Asset Management", it is like a digital filing cabinet. It allows you to store and share all of your digital media with your office via your local network, or even the world via the Internet. It can be used to pull clips from various video segments or programs together and make a new program or sample, essentially functioning as a non-linear editing system. You can then email or ftp clips to anyone in the world.

The media can then be accessed via a browser on your PC or Mac computer, eliminating the need to print out dozens if not hundreds of copies for your employees.

Files can be stored with all kinds of additional information that is then searchable by you and your staff, so media can be found quickly and easily, saving time, energy and resources.

Media can be password protected, and users can be given different levels of permission based on their role in the company, so you don't have to work about information falling into the wrong hands.

There are lots of optional features that can be added to your Media Asset Management System as well that can help you get the most out of your multimedia files and the system. These include:

• Automatic format transcoding
• On-demand format transcoding
• Scene change detection
• Extracting closed captioning so it can be searched
• Character recognition text in a video for searching
• Voice and face recognition
• Custom web options with ecommerce tools, and more
  

If you want to see if a Media Asset Management system is right for you, contact us today. We'll help you assess your needs and find a solution that meets them.

Labels: digital asset management, media asset management

In the last couple of weeks, we've been talking about whether or not it's time to upgrade your media to HD, and taken a look at the technical comparison between Blu-Ray and standard DVD. This week, let's worry less about the future, and a bit more about preserving the past.

Many of us have old tapes, CDs, DVDs, cassettes and media that we'd like to preserve. No matter whether these are cherished home movies or your big sales pitch to clients, these things are valuable, and potentially irreplaceable if damaged, lost or stolen.

Were you aware that even if never used, media can deteriorate over time? Even DVD can deteriorate. The dyes used in it are photosensitive, and over time, this can cause data or video loss. VHS and cassette tapes can wear out from overuse or oxide shedding, and are also photosensitive. This can be seen on a lot of older tapes, when "dropouts" and/or fuzziness in the picture occurs.

The amount of time deterioration can take varies with a lot of factors: The media, usage, age, storage environment, exposure to the elements, and more.

If you've got valuable media, take proper precaution to ensure the longevity of it. Just a few simple steps anyone can take are:

1. Always make backups.
   It can be nearly impossible to restore media if you only have one copy of it, and that copy becomes damaged. Duplicate all of your valuable media. More than one backup is not a bad thing.


2. Only play your backups when possible.
   Take the backups that you've made, and only use them whenever you can. This protects your original from overuse.


3. Check your equipment.
   More tapes are damaged by faulty players than many other factors. Always test the equipment with a less valuable media.


4. Store your media in a safe place.
   The precautions you need to take can vary depending on the media, but make sure that it's stored in a safe dry place, and try to limit the exposure to light.


5. If possible, store your backups separately from the masters.
   Crazy things happen. Fires, burglary, floods, and other things can damage your media. If you can keep your originals and backups in different locations, you reduce and virtually eliminate any chance of something like a house fire destroying all your tapes. If it is a family tape, when converted to DVD, make several copies of the DVD and pass them around the family - this also passes the responsibility of protecting family members to others as well.

There are certainly more options for storing your masters. Contact us today to discuss proper media storage and to have any media replicated that you may need.

Labels: blur-ray, cassette tape preservation, cd, digital media, dvd, hd, vhs

Last week, we took a look at whether or not it was time to go HD with your marketing materials. The answer was a firm "It depends." However, what we can do is firmly compare the technical specifications of BluRay versus standard DVD, and help you understand the differences.

First, let's take a look at the chart:



Let's take a closer look at some of these numbers.

Maximum Resolution: You'll see that DVD has a maximum resolution of 480p. The "480" refers to the number of lines that comprise the picture's vertical resolution. The 'p' refers to the fact that the video is progressive rather than interlaced (i). Progressive vs. interlaced is a complex topic in and of itself, so let's just say it refers to how the video is displayed for now. You'll see that BluRay has more options, including 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. These are common high definition standards. A regular DVD is capable of displaying 345,600 pixels on screen at any given time. At 1080p resolution, a BluRay is capable of displaying 2,073,600 pixels. This capacity for six times more pixels means that the image can be drastically sharper, clearer and more detailed.

Disc Capacity: Disc capacity refers to the amount of data that can be stored on a disk. You'll see that BluRay has about four times the capacity for data than standard DVD. This enables it to hold more video, more audio, and more data. BluRay also supports significantly higher audio standards than regular DVD.

Player Prices: DVD players are significantly more accessible and lower priced than BluRay. The average price of a DVD player is about 100 bucks, and some are significantly less expensive. It's hard to find a BluRay player for less than around 400 bucks. They are expected to drop in price and become more common in the near future though.

Labels: 1080i, 1080p, 720p, bluray, disc capacity, dvd, hd, maximum resolution

Now that the decision between Blu-ray and HD-DVD is behind us, we're running out of reasons as to why Hi-Def discs should be avoided. The "wait and see" attitude most of us have taken over the past couple of years has now expired with the recent Blu-ray victory. Warner's move to the Blu-ray camp earlier this year spelled the end to the HD-DVD effort.

Entertainment releases are moving more and more to Blu-ray for the obvious revenue generation reasons that benefit the rights holder. Standard definition DVD releases will continue as long as Blu-ray's market share remains low. Once Blu-ray player penetration reaches critical mass, the pendulum will swing quickly.

For the corporate world, standard definition DVD is still the clear market leader. Corporations still state, "we never asked for HD" as a common response when questioned about any impending transition to High Definition. Don't forget that corporations would need to shoot and edit in HD if they want to take full advantage of Blu-ray offerings. For many companies, that would be a budget buster.

Let's not forget the advantages of HD media - it offers greater storage capacity, higher quality video, and the ability for more interactive features than standard DVD. If visual quality is at the heart of your presentation, then perhaps it's time for you to take a harder look at HD.

The bigger concern facing Blu-ray HD media is the lack of compatible players. High definition media does not play in standard DVD players. It requires a special player and a high-definition display to get the maximum benefit from the medium. The battle between HD-DVD and Blu-ray delayed most consumers' consideration of any purchase.

HDTV's are becoming more and more common. Recent estimates show that somewhere between 27 and 36 percent of US homes now have an HDTV, and surveys have shown that over half of US households plan to have one by the end of 2008. With the transition to digital signals for broadcasts in 2009, many people will be in the market for new televisions, and it's likely that a good percentage of them will make the transition then.

Sales of Blu-ray players are now increasing, and some project that they'll outsell DVD players in 2009. However, there is a large number of existing DVD players and it will take a good while for Blu-ray sales to outpace standard DVD. Some analyst's project that this will happen in 2012.

Of course, at VTI we offer Blu-ray high definition authoring, mastering and reproduction as well as all standard definition DVD work. Because we have the strong desire to stay on the "bleeding" edge, we are always early adopters.

Moving to HD media is a decision that will need to be made on a situational basis. It's clear that the market is heading towards HD, but it's still a long way from there. Standard DVD and HD are both good choices for different reasons at the moment.

Labels: blu-ray, hd media, hd-dvd, hdtv, hi-def, standard definition dvd