Transcoding Management – Managing and Automating Media Conversion

Transcoding is part of almost every TV workflow process and choosing the right transcoding management system can mean the difference between praise for high quality and low cost or overwork and potential media production disasters. Brian Stevenson from Digital Rapids explained to me at the IPTVWorld show that transcoder and management systems can be very different. Some allow for deep configuration of media output parameters which enables operators to adapt and optimize media for specific types of devices and applications. Good transcoding management systems should be able to automate transcoding jobs, support multiple formats, optimize performance, provide high quality, and be scalable.
Converting media (transcoding) is part of almost every workflow process. Transocding systems need to integrate with multiple workflow systems. They should standardize contributed media formats and repurpose content for production and archiving. Media file inputs include non-linear editors, broadcast playout servers, contributed content, stored media (DVD, Blu-Ray), file based media, digital asset management (DAM) archives, and other media types of media sources. Media file outputs include broadcast (Cable, IPTV, VOD), Internet web, mobile, optical media (DVD, Blu-Ray), media files (for production systems), and digital asset management systems.
Transcoding management system should be able to work with transcoder farms, transcoding engines, and provide for an efficient allocation of jobs across multiple transcoders. It can be extremely helpful to have automated capabilities such as commercial black removal, black border detection and correction, quality control (QC) analysis, and others can save time and improve quality. Transcoding systems should have well defined and reliable application program interfaces (APIs) that allow for integration with other third-party systems (such as databases support systems).