AN easy and flexible way to store, manage and recall digital media is with the ProxSys media server available from Richardson Electronics .
ProxSys manages from 1.6 to 50TB of low and high resolution video, audio, images and data from a simple web browser interface allowing quick access to clips from any location.
Gone are the days of managing large numbers of videotapes, CD-ROMs, audio CDs and digital images. ProxSys allows users to efficiently manage digital media assets on one system and makes those images available to anyone, anywhere, and at anytime, with a simple web browser interface.
ProxSys is based on several different components. The main data storage and administration component forms the heart of the system and contains the database, web server, video archive, metadata storage and the MPEG-4 compression engine.
The MPEG/DV encoding component allows video and other content to ingest into the system. Finally, the play-out component controls distribution of the content.
After video is ingested into ProxSys, a low resolution MPEG-4 proxy of the clip is created along with the high resolution DV or MPEG-2 version. When it comes to searches, the client is able to view this proxy version of the file prior to receiving the full resolution version.
ProxSys categorises stored media content based on up to 64 customisable metadata fields that correspond to media timecode data. Different parts of a single media file can be tagged with different metadata information.
When it comes time to retrieve that media, only the relevant portion of the clip is presented to the recipient.
Before downloading the full resolution clip, the user can additionally edit the portion of the clip(s) required saving both download time and streamlining workflow.
It is possible to allocate different levels of access rights for ProxSys users. For example, the administrator can place different security levels on all content for different users or user groups. This is particularly important for applications such as online content sales.
Not only is it possible to view and download content to a remote client, it is also possible to play-out selected media via the optional MPEG-2 play-out station. The play-out station allows for transfer of files to other MPEG-2 play-out systems or to a computer system.
In addition, content can be exported directly to an NLE system for editing purposes or alternatively, export selected media to a CD or DVD burner.
Projects are intended to store all content of a customer project in a central and organised folder structure. Content can be shared across different projects, but specific metadata can be defined for each project.
Project structures are created from project templates. Metadata can also be used for project description.