Pro-Bel Participates In MXF Mastering Format Project At NAB

Pro-Bel has announced its involvement in the MXF Mastering Format Project demonstration taking place at NAB 2007.
This is further proof of the company’s commitment to key standard initiatives across the industry that will help bring new workflows and efficiencies for customers.
The MXF Mastering Format Project demonstration is being sponsored by the Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA), formerly the Advanced Authoring Format Association (AAFA). This is the first public demonstration of this long-term initiative.
The aim of the project is to bring a fresh approach to MXF and to provide proposed, real-world solutions for key workflows, focusing on creating a single MXF master file from which multiple versions of a program can be created. This rationalization project currently includes two key strands: MXF Mastering Format and the MXF Processor API. The work – which was started two years ago by Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. – will be open to comment and scrutiny. The Advanced Media Workflow Association welcomes input on this technical proposal.
As part of the team of companies involved in the MXF Mastering Format Project demonstration at NAB, Pro-Bel is responsible for playout automation and the associated media management. Its Morpheus suite of software solutions is hardware and file format-independent. Consequently this demonstration illustrates the compatibility between Morpheus and the MXF formats covered by RPzzz.
Working with the other vendors involved, the Morpheus system receives metadata information collated at ingest via XML and stores it in the automation media database. Based on external requests and the playout schedule Morpheus is concerned with the movement of video content and its associated audio (subtitle files etc.) from near-line storage to real-time playout storage.
These requests require that Morpheus has a knowledge of the MXF inventory and the simple versions contained within, therefore Morpheus has to be able to move complete and partial versions without affecting the media contents. Additionally, individual components within an inventory may require adding, deletion or amendment. The ability to create new versions of media for playout based on components within an inventory is also possible.
“We believe that this initiative is tremendously important for the future of MXF. It is acknowledged that MXF has not delivered what it initially promised though the fundamental principal is admirable. We believe that this project will allow MXF to achieve its promise and will encourage new workflows and ways of thinking in the move to a file-based world,” says Adrian Scott, CMO, Pro-Bel.
(SP)