Tools for Media Production

"The Tools for Media Production project is developing a distributed system for film and broadcast work which will offer seamless exchange of data between film and television production.

This will allow productions to prepare content in an integrated production, postproduction, and archiving environment for a variety of output formats, such as Digital Cinema, television, HDTV and mobile display devices.

The technologies for the project are being developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, the Institut für Rundfunktechnik (Institute for Broadcast Technologies IRT), CinePostproduction Bavaria Bild & Ton, Audio Video Technologies, Dalet, IRIDAS and associate partner Bayerischer Rundfunk. The objective of the project is to develop tools, interface solutions and formats which will allow access and data exchange among production systems.

To date this type of interoperability has been a significant challenge – even within dedicated film or broadcast production workflows – due to the wide variety of technologies and formats available. A modular approach in the new production environment will simplify the work of content creators and production companies in generating a variety of media outputs.

The scalability of data formats such as JPEG2000 and H.264 will be employed both in the production and porting of content to various distribution channels. Automated metadata generation will allow for efficient media and asset management and the automatic transcoding of content into final delivery formats. One of the advantages of a comprehensive solution is that it ensures optimal quality for each output format. The use of an open architecture means savings in production costs. In addition, production work, whether for film or broadcast, can focus on the quality of the content. The transparent content management and data exchange of the new production system will provide greater investment security for both users and vendors.

The plan envisions the development of a distributed production system which will include both the creation and processing of images, multiple sound channels, and metadata – as well as integrated asset and rights management solutions. The project is scheduled for completion in early 2008."

Source: Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS