NTV Installs Front Porch Digital Migration Tools

Russian broadcaster NTV has installed Front Porch Digital SAMMA media migration tools to digitise its store of videotapes. NTV has also installed Front Porch Digital's DIVArchive CSM system and DIVAdirector media asset management (MAM) system to help manage, access, and repurpose the video once it is digitised.

The move is part of NTV's effort to transition to an entirely tapeless operation, culminating in a new Moscow production and broadcast facility, which is under construction and will be completed within two years.
"We want our new broadcast center to be completely tapeless, and digitizing the tape library now means we can store our archive at a secure off-site location rather than at the new facility.
"Front Porch Digital's proven, well-recommended, fully integrated system will make sure we can get the project done efficiently and in time for the new building," said Vladimir Kamentsev, head of project at NTV. "More importantly, having our entire archive in digital form and under DIVArchive's control will make it easier for users to access and reuse the content later, especially for Internet broadcasting and video on demand, which means we'll have greater opportunity to monetize our legacy assets."
Front Porch Digital's SAMMA media migration technology is in the process of digitising NTV's nearly 100,000 BETACAM and DVCAM cassette tapes. NTV uses SAMMArobot and SAMMAsolo units to digitise the tapes with archive-quality migration to multiple file formats.
SAMMAprep and SAMMAclean appliances help ready the tapes to ensure encoding and provide metadata to aid in preparation. The SAMMA tools serve as the core of NTV's digitisation workflow, providing continuous migration at a rate of 100 to 250 cassettes per day.
The workflow is configured to export the high-resolution video automatically, in its various formats, into DIVArchive. Proxy files automatically go to the DIVAdirector MAM system, where metadata has been preloaded from existing databases.
Critical is a custom Microsoft SharePoint portal that is being developed to manage all stages of the migration process and track actions and exceptions. The portal will be integrated with the Front Porch Digital applications in order to both gather metadata and track operational behavior.
Systems integrator and Front Porch Digital reseller Okno-TV handled the sale and is coordinating the ongoing implementation.
"NTV has a been an important and colourful part of the Russian TV landscape for more than 20 years, and its archives are full of valuable video that it has wisely chosen to preserve," said Rino Petricola, COO and general manager, Front Porch Digital. "This sophisticated digitisation and archiving workflow ensures that NTV can make quick use of its legacy content for years to come."

fpdigital.com

(IT/JP)