DVCPRO Archive System
Utilizing the company's robotic cart system technology and 1/4-inch DVCPRO format, this ultra-compact system is a dynamic combination of scalable robotics and storage that physically stores and retrieves media content on DVCPRO tapes with browsing software for efficient and accurate archive searches. The system can be configured from a minimum of 2,000 tapes to 100,000 cassettes that can archive more than 300,000 hours of material.
The unit's reliable central handling manipulator robot picks and places DVCPRO cassettes without human fallibility. This totally enclosed, efficient system provides the security of knowing the DVCPRO tapes will be put back on the correct shelf and eliminates the worry of missing tapes.
The system can store videotapes from DVCPRO's family of formats (DVCPRO, DVCPRO Progressive, DVCPRO50, and DVCPRO) throughout the archive. Because DVCPRO is fully backwards compatible, a DVCPRO HD VTR in the system can playback DVCPRO Progressive, DVCPRO 50 and DVCPRO from anywhere in the archive without any adjustments or special intervention from an operator or the system. In addition, the DVCPRO format's unique heritage allows it to operate in either the video domain or the data domain.
Any cassette in the archive can be found, accessed and transferred in a matter of a few seconds by the completely integrated, hierarchical archive and browse system. By incorporating the AJ-D780 4X VTR, native DVCPRO signals can be transferred at four times real time speed via SDTI, or the faster than real-time transfer by a computer network over fiber channel or Ethernet, with a server to act as a buffer, making the movement of media content into and out of the archive fast and efficient.
The system's browse/search software can simultaneously analyze stored DVCPRO material in the archive library by "scene change detection" and converts it to low bit rate MPEG 1 video streams. Using various sampling techniques, several layers of browse access are created. This process automatically logs each scene change and the respective time code points in a database for rapid access and retrieval. Selected media can also be viewed as high-resolution DVCPRO still-frames in storyboard form for added editing decision-making capabilities, before having the robotics retrieve the physical tape.
Because the archive is DVCPRO-based, metadata information can be included. Metadata is a loosely-used term to describe all relevant information and data that relates to a piece of content. An archivist can enter all of this metadata into a database to facilitate material content searches later. The archivist can utilize his browsing workstation to quickly and easily conduct a search using any predetermined categories to generate matches, or "hits."
Browsing and Asset Management software can be customized for a user's particular application and special third-party company products can be integrated.
Panasonic Broadcast & Television Systems Company, 3330 Cahuenga Boulevard West, Los Angeles, CA 90068. Tel: 323-436-3687; Fax: .