FORK CASE STUDY: DISCOVERY LATIN AMERICA. Location: Miami, Florida. Goal: An automated workflow environment for file-based content.

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1 FORK CASE STUDY: DISCOVERY LATIN AMERICA Location: Miami, Florida Goal: An automated workflow environment for file-based content. Solution: Primestream s FORK provides a customizable platform with automatic scripting capabilities for tapeless workflows.

2 The division offers over 8 channels in two languages (Spanish and Portuguese for Brazil) with channel feeds customized according the needs of advertising and sales opportunities. Discovery Home & Health TLC: Travel Latin American Channel Discovery Science Discovery Turbo Discovery Civilization TLC HD HD Theater Liv (Latin American TV channel) A ONE-STOP, NONSTOP SHOP. Discovery Latin America is unique amongst Discovery Communications subsidiaries in that they do a little bit of everything: They cut their own promos and commercials, create their own graphics, and broadcast content to almost a dozen countries in Latin America and Brazil. We re a nonstop, one-stop shop, says JC Sierra, Digital Media Engineering Manager for Discovery Latin America in Miami, Florida. The facility s primary function is to take the programs produced for US markets by Discovery and its affiliated networks (such as Animal Planet and TLC), and adapt them for Latin American markets. Content is re-edited to match the broadcast timing for the destination country, while the voice dubbing is performed in the destination country itself. Texted versions of Discovery s U.S. shows are retitled with Spanish and Portuguese graphics. There s a group here for each region, Sierra explains. If you re going to air a show in Argentina, the content will be slightly different from the same show we re airing in Mexico or Brazil, because there are different cultures even amongst the Spanish-speaking countries Primestream Corporation

3 Discovery s Tape Acquisition Racks Discovery s Storage GOING TAPELESS. The idea is to get rid of tape in this office, JC Sierra, Digital Media Engineering Manager Teams of producer-editors (called preditors ) within each regional group produce and edit their own spots on Final Cut Studio, Final Cut X, or Avid Media Composer, taking in and sending out more than a hundred hours of content per week. Currently, an initiative is underway to streamline the flow of that content, starting with the adoption of a completely file-based workflow and system automation via Primestream s FORK Media Asset Management system. The idea is to get rid of tape in this office, Sierra remarks. For the most part, the programs we air are file-based. We have the ability to go to tape in case of an emergency, but we don t usually send anything to tape. If a tape is sent to us from Discovery headquaters or any of our affiliates, it s ingested and becomes a file and it will always stay a file. Traditionally, editors had to QC their spots from a tape machine, which usually meant a monopoly on the content or playback machine. With the FORK Media Asset Manager s Production Server and Production Client software, now we have a tape machine on everybody s desktop, Sierra says. Q & A with JC Sierra: How many preditors at your facility? Over 20. What s the shortest turnaround for content? 1 week. How many people are in your department? 4 with myself. What s your background? editing graphics, engineering. What version of Final Cut? FCP 7 and FCP X. How many nonlinear editing systems? 11 Avid and 24 Final Cut. What version of After Effects? Version 5.5 What version of Media Composer and DS? Version soon 6 and DS Is the facility Mac or Windows based? Or both? Both.

4 It s the next level of filebased workflows. My environment here is just not possible without FORK. JC Sierra, Digital Media Engineering Manager

5 A PIECE OF THE ACTION (SCRIPTS). Every file that comes in, no matter what format, has to go through a script, Sierra states. They re the livelihood of my system. JC Sierra The FORK Production Client is a versatile cross-platform software application that allows users to view the clips and modify their metadata, as well as perform a number of powerful and highly customizable action scripts available within FORK Production Server application. Discovery s unique action scripts are customized by Primestream to perform all automated actions in the background as well as actions initiated by the users. We had a lot of meetings with Discovery to address their workflow needs, says Primestream s engineer Tang Kanjanapitak. Discovery wanted something that was easy to use and completely automated, as a responce we developed and implemented a solution that s 99.99% suited to his workflow. Every file that comes in, no matter what format, has to go through a script, Sierra states. They re the livelihood of my system. Using the Send To command, files are distributed to unique folders to be archived, transcoded, or tagged before moving to a 378 TB SAN storage area network or a Diva-controlled Spectra T950 LTL5 tape archive. Discovery Latin America is currently a standarddefinition operation, so all HD content is down-converted to SD by a Telestream Vantage. For file-based drops into FORK, a script registers the full-resolution files with Edit2Playout, a FORK watch folder and media verification application, then a FORK Render Farm Unit running Telestream FlipFactory and Episode generates a standard-definition MPEG2/IMX 50. VFT proxy for editing in Avid or Final Cut, or for viewing it with the Production Client. The QC Send To delivers the files to an Omneon Media Server once a program is ready to air. We don t touch any of the scripts. They just work, says Sierra. If a script needs to be rewritten, a Primestream engineer can remotly access the Discovery system and make the changes. Meanwhile, Sierra is able to monitor system activity with a customized FORK Production Server and Client interface. When a file is ingested, the file name pops up green, which means there s no proxy. When it turns red, a proxy is available, but it hasn t been archived. When it turns to grey, it s been archived, he says. The great thing about FORK Production Server is that I don t have to teach people 100 different interfaces, he continues, though in an emergency I still have access to the native control GUI s for the SAN and Diva archives.

6 1994 Launched 225 Million Cumulative Subscribers 12 Entertainment Brands 32 Feeds 37 Countries and Territories 3 Languages XCHANGING IT UP. With the web interface I can watch transactions as they re happening, and I don t have to install the client, says Sierra. The producers, editors, and technicians at Discovery Latin America also make use of the web-based FORK Xchange client to view, edit, add metadata and create markers on the proxy content. With the web interface I can watch transactions as they re happening, and I don t have to install the client, says Sierra. Connecting to the server is as easy as launching a browser. FORK Xchange also offers mobile device support (Android and ios), an HTML5 media player, and Smart Bins with preset query fields that will automatically organize media into formatted, downloadable documents. A web-based interface means that system maintenance and upgrades can be simply performed on the main server with little to no effect on the working environment You come in today and it s one version. You come in tomorrow and it s completely different one, no installations, says Sierra. We do an upgrade on the back end and use the same web link to access the server. Primestream s technical support license not only encompasses FORK and all its elements, it also covers everything FORK touches, including Discovery s hardware and third party software. We re immersed in their system 24/7, says Kanjanapitak.

7 THE NEXT LEVEL. FORK, it s a media management platform flexible enough to adapt to any production enviroment. It s the next level of file-based workflows. JC Sierra Jc Sierra has seen media technology evolve over and over again in the nearly two decades he s been with Discovery Communications, and he s had to adapt to any production enviroments workflows. FORK, it s a media management platform flexible enough to adapt to any production enviroment. It s the next level of file-based workflows, he says. My environment here is just not possible without FORK.

8 PRIMESTREAM SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS ENABLE BROADCASTERS AND MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS TO CREATE, MANAGE, AND DISTRIBUTE CONTENT OVER THE AIR, VIA SATELLITE, AND TO SECOND SCREENS SUCH AS MOBILE PHONES, TABLETS, AND THE INTERNET. The Primestream FORK line of products combine multiple modules in a single, integrated software suite. This feature-set includes industry-leading media asset management, advanced metadata and scripting that empowers media organizations to implement automated workflows freeing humans to do what they do best create. Based on an open and hardware-agnostic architecture, FORK integrates with a wide range of hardware and software solutions from multiple manufactures. This high level integration provides complete control for end-to-end management of the production process, with significantly improved efficiencies that maximize the use and value of our client s media assets. Primestream delivers its solutions through a dedicated professional network of partners and systems integrators a team that adheres to the industry s best practices and ensures the highest possible engineering standards. Deployed in more than 300 broadcast operations across 40 countries, Primestream s proven solutions are implemented by some of the world s leading broadcasters, news and sports organizations, uplink services providers, online digital media operations, production and post-production facilities. Thank you. More information about Primestream s FORK solutions: United States sales@primestream.com primestream.com T Netherlands sales@b4m.com b4m.com T Primestream Corporation. All trademarks remain property of their respective holders, and are used only to directly describe the products being provided. Their use in no way indicates any relationship between Primestream Corporation and the holders of said trademarks.