One of Asia’s largest communications providers recently moved operations to a single Actus Digital platform integrating compliance logging functions with an automated VOD workflow.
Actus Clip Factory
One of Asia’s largest communications technology providers recently moved a number of key operations to a single platform that integrates compliance logging functions with an automated Video-On-Demand (VOD) workflow. The company is recognised for its services ranging from fixed broadband and mobile telephony, to digital services and pay television.
Before adopting the new platform, the provider looked for a robust system capable of keeping their services in line with regulatory requirements, as well as running faster content re-purposing workflows for their VOD service. Scalability was also an important factor as the company had begun to grow its choice of channels and wanted the new infrastructure to be able to accommodate this expansion automatically.
Transport Stream Requirements
Among the group's specific technical objectives was thorough IP, TS (Transport Stream) and SDI compliance logging and technical monitoring, including TS Analysis, TS Native recording and As Run log integration from their playout system.
The system had to support all regulatory requirements like loudness management, closed caption/subtitles monitoring, multiple audio tracks and SCTE marker monitoring for ad or other event insertion breaks. Technical alerts for issues such as missing metadata were also desirable, including SNMP traps that allow network devices to send unrequested messages to the network manager to notify about important events.
SCTE montoring
Capabilities beyond compliance were needed as well, including complex clipping and metadata options, ad detection and a multiviewer with an interactive penalty box for exception-based monitoring.
Finally, and potentially the most complex expectation, was that the system be able to re-use the compliance and native TS recordings to automate clips creation for their VOD platform.
After an evaluation process, an Actus Digital monitoring system was selected, with Magna Systems to undertake the implementation. The decision was partly influenced by the reliability and scalability of the Actus View software platform, but also by its comprehensive functionality.
Channel Recording with Metadata Extraction
The provider’s team can now record an essentially unlimited number of channels from broadcast or internet sources such as DVB, ATSC 3.0, TS over IP, SMPTE 2110, HLS, MPEG-DASH, RTMP, and others – audio, video and metadata. Supporting all video formats and input resolutions, the Actus View software saves the recorded video at the required bitrate and resolution, and can also save the recorded Transport Stream as native for analysis of the original source.
Interactive multiviewer
The Actus View log server has web-based and mobile applications for monitoring of real-time and archived content, and a player with controls for content review, scrubbing options, storyboard navigation and so on. A smart search engine enables users to find content based on metadata such as closed caption, as-run and traffic schedules.
Recording and monitoring closed captions, DVB subtitles and traditional teletext from the logged output of on and off-air media is a broadcast responsibility, necessary for compliance regulations and to maintain QoE. By extracting all of this as metadata from the broadcast source signal, Actus View makes it searchable and exportable as part of the clips, which the Actus Clip Factory system takes advantage of, along with as-run log integrations.
Re-purposing – Clipping and Export
On the repurposing side, Actus Digital's capabilities extend beyond compliance and technical monitoring. With its Rest API for clipping and customised XML integration – supporting information exchange between websites, databases and 3rd party applications – Clip Factory facilitates automated clip creation, and thereby speeds up the availability of content on the VOD platform.
With the clips creation engine, users can mark in/out points and export one or multiple segments to any destination and in any format, using a built-in transcoding engine. The clips are catalogued in an internal repository.
Clip creation from live signal
Scalability
The deployment of the Actus integrated system across two sites initially covered 226 channels, with scope to expand further as needed. Magna Systems served throughout the project by supplying support through demonstrations, proof of concepts, requirements gathering, installation, configuration and training.
This integrated approach has not only proved to be cost-effective by avoiding the need for multiple systems but also supports the group's ongoing efforts to innovate and improve efficiency. By consolidating all compliance requirements, technical monitoring and automated clipping workflows for the VOD platform into the one platform, the group is ready to scale and adapt to future needs. actusdigital.com
