Glossary

Descriptive Metadata

Metadata fields given by medialoopster describing the content of an asset's essence. E.g. name, description, keywords, genre. 

Editorial approve

Approve/disapprove assets for editorial purpose via the browser user interface. Achievable only by users with the special approve_<asset_type>_asset permission. Users without this permission will not see the disapproved assets.

Elasticsearch

Elasticsearch is an advanced database search engine, that has real-time search based on database indexing and distributed database partitions. 

Essence / HighRes

The actual media content pointed by the asset. It is a high resolution version of the original media source, transcoded or not, depending on the device setup and transcoding profiles.

Housekeeping

Automated clearance of assets due for deletion, automated removal of assets from sharing with other productions, and reporting of newly added assets.

Management

Concise administration interface for users with the manage_medialoopster permission, with no need of administration privileges. It displays and filters sets of assets of various states (current, deleted, various asset types) and records asset activities performed by users in the browser interface (archive, share with a production etc). A few tasks can be performed on the current assets as well: delete, change deletion date, remove from sharing with another production, etc.

Model

A model contains the essential fields and behaviors of the data. One model maps to a single database table.

Probe

Extracts asset's technical metadata out of the asset's essence.

Proxy

A version of an asset essence rendered smaller especially by means of file size. Used to minimize the amount of data being transferred for displaying in the medialoopster browser user interface.

Rough cut

An editor where the video shots (further named clips) from favorites lists, belonging to various assets, can be quickly edited in a timeline. The favorite video assets will be displayed as well, but not editable in the timeline. It necessitates the rough_cut_editing permission.

Share

When you added at least two productions to the system, users can share assets via the browser user interface between productions on the same or different premises. A production content is automatically created, a HighRes is copied to a device on the target production and proxies are generated locally.

Technical Metadata

Metadata fields given by medialoopster describing the format of an asset's essence. E.g. codec, frame rate, camera model, resolution. 

Transcoding

Transcoding is the direct digital-to-digital conversion of one encoding to another, if the file comes in an unwanted or unsupported encoding, or within the same encoding, for compressing or scaling reasons.

Watchfolder

A periodic task that scans a folder (recursively or not) for files and creates new assets from valid files. 

The administration interface

It is an interface for profound background tasks for users with administrative privileges. These include setup, control, manipulation of metadata and user management.

The following is a description of the models from the main administration page, ordered according to their significance in getting medialoopster functional (in the administration interface the models being ordered alphabetically, according to the display language).

The main actions in the administration interface are to manually add, change and delete entries of any model. However, some models are recommended to be handled only automatically via user interface activities, in order to avoid database inconsistencies. A few models allow as well to search and filter via the administration interface through the model entries. 

Sites

A site in medialoopster is a (virtual) server instance with a URL registered into the DNS. The site is recommended to be unique within a geographical location, thus multiple productions installed on the same premise (LAN) should share the same site. You must add at least one site via the administration interface and assign it to the production's "direct attached site" field. 

Companies

A representation of your company, usually one single company per medialoopster system or installation, with more productions.

Productions

In medialoopster productions are used to manage a closed pool of content within a medialoopster installation. You must add via the administration interface at least one production for the local medialoopster installation, give the compulsory storage paths, default devices and sites, and control the read, write and delete permissions to users and groups. A user can share assets from a production to another. It is not recommended to delete productions, as the assets will become unusable.

Devices

Devices are used to divide and manage your media assets into groups with their own metadata and system logic. A device is defined by its unique directory path, together with all its subdirectories. A user can transfer assets from a device to another. Medialoopster does not support devices nested within one another.

Audio | Image | Video assets

Entities containing metadata about digital media content (essence). Medialoopster differentiates between Audio-Assets (audible content), Image-Assets (still images) and Video-Assets (motion pictures). The main sections are: general information, technical details, annotations and archive details. The assets are automatically added to the system most often via a user uploading a media file in the browser user interface. A few actions are then automatically executed, that generate the HighRes and proxy files, and fill the technical details fields: probe source file, proxy generation, device detecting, shot generation.

Audio | Image | Video asset archive details

For the assets that are archived, a synchronized copy of the automatially generated archive information is found here as well. It should not be set manually.

Audio | Image | Video asset technical details

Technical metadata details related to the audio/video content (essence): formatting, encoding, durations, brands, bit rate, a link to the asset, and at the end a section with extended information for each audio/video stream. When adding a new asset, these details are automatically extracted by probing the audio/video file, and should not be manually set. This is a synchronized copy from the asset administration page, adding the synchronized copy from the audio/video stream pages. The image assets do not have particular technical details.

Audiostreams | Videostreams

Extended information for each audio/video stream, such as codec, bit rate, frame rate, number of frames, channels, aspect ratio, etc. It is automatically extracted by probing the audio/video file, and should not be manually set. The information is synchronized to the audio/video asset technical details page.

Sequences, shots

A video asset contains multiple sequences, and a sequence contains multiple sequent shots. A sequence is used to manage metadata grouped over multiple shots, and a shot is usually a group of frames between two editing cuts or between turning on and off the camera button. Initially at asset creation there is one sequence assigned for the whole video duration, and the shots are automatically detected, on the principle that within a shot there should be more or less the same content. Users can afterwards split the existing shots in more sequences or define new shots via the browser user interface. In the editing software, the term shot is replaced with clip. It is not recommended to handle the shots or sequences manually via the administration interface.

Pseudoshots

A pseudoshot entry is automatically created from the shot info, when a shot is added to a favorites list, and its administration interface should be used only for visualizing. 

Audio | Image | Video keywords categories

Keyword categories for one of the three asset types. They are used to group keywords belonging to the same asset type. You can add a keyword category only via the administration interface. You may change its display order by adjusting its priority and may add one or more keywords to it. 

Audio | Image | Video keywords 

Keywords are descriptors that sum up the media content and can be used for extended search. Users can assign keywords to assets, video sequences and shots in the user interface, from a pool of predefined keywords that you should prepopulate the system with. You can add a keyword to the system for one of the three asset types only via the administration interface and adjust its priority within the category. 

Custom metadata sets

Custom metadata sets are used to group custom metadata belonging to the same asset type. You can add a custom metadata set only via the administration interface and you may add one or more custom metadata belonging to it. 

Custom metadata

A way to add extra fields for assets, with metadata information specific to your company, that can be afterwards used in the user interface for edit or search, like any other asset metadata. Hence the extra fields do not need to be predefined in the model. Custom metadata fields can be created only manually via the administration interface, then the user will edit them for the corresponding asset in the browser. Custom metadata must belong to one set. They can be displayed in the management interface as well, at "Custom metadata". 

Licenses ("Rechte"), licensings and licensors ("Herkunft")

Contrary to what the name suggests, these models have nothing to do with the license to use medialoopster functions and with their upper usage limits. These models define a system of aproving and tagging video shots and sequences for production, in addition to the possibility to approve/disapprove assets for editorial purpose.

Annotations

A way to add one single comment per video frame in the browser user interface. This is a synchronized copy from the asset administration page. It is recommended that in the administration interface to use the model only for visualizing. More details in the user handbook.

Validation rules

A way to add regular expressions that can be used in other models to validate their input fields, for example in Custom Metadata. You should manually add, change and delete the validation rules via the administration interface.

Transfer activities

A record of all activities of file and asset uploading, importing and transferring from a device to another. It includes as well the asset sharing from a production to another, since asset sharing is in the end an asset transfer from a device of the source production to a device of the target production. The same activities are shown in the management interface at "Filetransfer". In the administration interface the model should be used only for visualizing. 

Periodic tasks

A  recurrent task that the task scheduler will kick off at every chosen interval or crontab, for example for housekeeping, watchfolders, executing requests to send send assets to archive , or to share assets. They are then executed by available worker nodes from the cluster.

Crontabs

To schedule tasks, predefine a time with the cron time format "<minute> <hour> <day of week> <day of month> <month of year>". For example 4 hours would be "0 4 * * *".

Intervals

To schedule tasks, predefine a time interval "every <number> days|hours|minutes|seconds|microseconds".

Archive activities

A record of all archive store activities, automatically created at "send to archive" requests via the browser user interface. The activities are first set to "Waiting", then changed to "Successfully archived" after a periodic task takes them over. The same activities are shown in the management interface at "Archive". In the administration interface the model should be used only for visualizing. More details in the user handbook.

Archive connectors

A model that connects all the medialoopster pieces necessary in archive activities: it indicates the archive method ("engine"), it contains the path where to store the archives (that should link to its own device) and must get assigned to every device where assets are to be archived from. To let users archive, you must add manually at least one archive connector via the administration interface.

Restore activities

A record of all archive restore activities, automatically created at "restore from archive" requests via the browser user interface. The activity is executed immediately, as opposed to the store activities, which are first set to "Waiting" and require a periodic task. They are not displayed in the management interface, as opposed to the store activities. In the administration interface the model should be used only for visualizing. More details in the user handbook.

Deleted assets

Automatic history of non-archived deleted assets. The same list is shown in the management interface as well, at "Deleted assets". The model is to be used only for visualizing.

Device contents

A generic way to define the number of weeks an asset or project should live in the system. It overrides the default value from the settings file and it contains a unique pair of device and media type. The number of weeks, after which an asset or a project should be deleted, is used by the medialoopster housekeeping. Device contents can be added only via the administration interface.

Transcode activities

A record of alle transcoding tasks. The video transcode activities are automatically recorded in the administration interface at "Transcode activities" and in the management interface at "Transcoding". In the administration interface the model should be used only for visualizing. 

Transcoding profiles

You must add at least one transcoding profile to define the parameters for the video transcoding, via the administration interface, then add the profiles to each device. If more profiles added, then set one as default. More details in the dedicated administration page.

Generating proxy activities

A record of all proxy generation activities, automatically created when adding a new audio/video asset, or when specifically requesting the proxy generation via the administration interface (at "Video assets" → "Generate proxy for selected assets"). The same activities are shown in the management interface as well, at "Proxy". The model is to be used only for visualizing. 

Shared production content

A record of all asset sharing activities from a production to another, automatically created when the user shares the asset via the browser user interface (more details about that in the user handbook). The same activities are shown in the management interface at "Shared assets". A production content should not be manually added. You can however manually change the date to withdraw from sharing and delete the production content to immediately withdraw the asset from sharing (both actions as well as via the management interface). 

Search field mappings

A search field mapping is a search criteria mapped to an asset type (video, audio, image, project) and to one of its fields, via the Elasticsearch key of that field. Search field mappings must be prepopulated in the system via the administration interface. They can be then used for extended asset search via the browser user interface, where the user would enter a text, date, AutoSuggest, select or boolean value, to search within one asset field: keywords, description, last added, last modified, origin, is in archive, is in production, editor's name, cutter's name, license, licensor, etc.

Users

A model for the authentication and authorization system, defining contact details, login details and permissions for individuals using the system. You should manually add a few users via the administration interface and assign them permissions, or assign them groups from which they inherit all their permissions. 

Groups

A generic way to categorise users such that a user in a group automatically has the permissions granted to that group. A user can belong to zero or more groups. You should manually add a few groups via the administration interface and may assign them permissions. 

Permissions

A way to grant or deny users and groups access to various actions. The main permissions are to manually add, change and delete entries of any model in the administration interface, which gives access to the corresponding add, change and delete forms. Other permissions are for example "archive assets", "restore assets", "edit metadata", "transfer assets", etc. The permissions are already all added to the system, thus the model may be used only for visualizing via the administration interface. 

Ingest

The scope of medialoopster ingest models is to integrate and steer external ingest software (e.g. Softron MovieRecorder), from which metadata and video proxies are taken over, and the proxies displayed during the recording. The main ingest models are:

• Servers (also called ingest recorders) 

  • are steered by client machines, are equipped with video hardware that allow parallel recording and generate video proxy files from each recording. 

• Templates

  • data ingest templates for the data feeds

• Viewers

  • a model for displaying the recorded proxy

Project assets (projects)

A generic way to bundle media files (as assets) and non media files together. Each asset will be handled individually but remains part of the project.

Copyrights

A model that assigns copyrights to each video shot, based on the license setup. At the moment the model is not used.

Favorite item lists

An asset or shot can be added via the browser user interface to a list of favorites (the asset is the "item"). The aim of favorite lists is to quickly open all assets and shots from a shared or personal list in the rough cut timeline editor or in the medialoopster Adobe Premiere Panel. More details in the user handbook. Favorite lists may be editted via the administration interface as well, for example one can remove as asset from the list via "Favorite items → Delete" (the asset itself will not be deleted though).

Lock history

Automatic history of user asset locking and unlocking. When clicking on "Edit" on an asset in frontend, the asset becomes automatically locked and no other user can edit or unlock it. To release the asset, the same user must finish editing by pressing "Unlock". The model is to be used only for visualizing.