VOD asset aggregation and publishing from ingest via metadata, picture, audio, subtitle, enhancements to publishing and finally presentation on end-devices

Why is VOD Publishing more than just transcoding and uploading?

To answer this, we need to determine whether the content is ready to be published.

If it is, we can fully automate the content publishing and our article about our Automated Content Publishing Solution describes the fully automated end-to-end process, starting with ready to publish content packages to be processed and published on a VOD portal.

If it is not, we need to perform a partly manual content aggregation combined with fully automated publishing. This article is about that case.

But what else other than the video essence file is required for the content to be ready for publishing? We can answer this question after asking you what is required for content presentation at the VOD portal and its consumption on the end-user devices. The minimum we will need are a preview picture, a trailer, a scrubber board and short & long descriptions. In some markets, we will need censored versions, audio dubbing/translation, or subtitles. To manage the VOD portal, we will need to categorize and link the individual assets. Finally, we will need licensing and pricing information to achieve revenues.

This leads us to the second question about how these additional essences are added to complete an asset package and how this asset is then presented to the end-customer. Therefore, this article describes the end-to-end process, starting with the content aggregation and ending with a content presentation at the end-customer devices.

The VOD business process - more than just a publishing process.

Ideally, the business process starts with the acquisition of content usage right licenses from a broadcaster or network operator, for example, or the production of content and, therefore, the generation of rights to be licensed (see B2B Content Sales Solution). Usage right licenses are transferred via contracts and listed in attached tables. Such contracts and lists can be used as a primary source to set up assets within the content right management system and to fill them with initial contractual and basic descriptive metadata. So far, no essence files are transferred, but placeholders are being generated in the production management system.

Next (or the first), the actual video essences are delivered and ingested into the production management system. This is the starting point for aggregating the various essence files and metadata to complete the asset package for VOD publishing. A preview picture is either ingested or taken from the source video. A scrubber board (to navigate within the VOD player) is usually automatically taken from the source video. A trailer is either uploaded separately or cut from the source video. Basic metadata, including a short and long description, is derived from EPG text, TV magazine text, internal databases, external databases, or added manually by an operator. For certain target markets or customer age groups, a censored version of the main video is cut. In the multi-language environment, audio dubbing/translation and subtitling are required. Often, these tasks are performed by external suppliers. Therefore, a branded and marked low-res version of the main video is sent to them and assigned as a task to complete.

So far, no VOD specific metadata was aggregated or requested to be inserted by a human operator, but such data-like category assignment is required for proper portal management. Furthermore, pricing information or assignment to other business models (e.g. subscription) is also required. The content rights management system will fill in the usage time window and distribution channels. It will also control distribution channels and the total number of views.

Organization of the VOD portal happens in the Content Management System (CMS) backend via assignment to channels and sub-channels. The content order might get influenced manually or remotely by the content right management system by applying a campaign. On manual or scheduled publication, the content is moved to the CDN and made available within the front-end content catalogue. It is possible that more content (e.g. new artwork, newer audio language tracks, or subtitles) will be added to the currently published one. Once the end of license time window is reached, all content and metadata are unpublished and deleted automatically.

But there is more functionality required for professional VOD business. Most often, content is secured from abuse via a Digital Rights Management System (DRM). Such systems consist of various elements. Content is encrypted either prior to moving it onto the CDN or once it reaches the CDN. Encryption keys are stored within a Key Management Service. This service is contacted by the player application every time the end-user wants to watch the content. Whether a decryption key is handed out to their player depends on the business model. Within a subscription model, the Key Management Server checks with the Customer Relation Management System whether the user is entitled to watch that content. Within a pay-per-use model, it will bring up the micro-payment system to offer a purchase option. Within an advertisement based model, it might issue the key immediately but will use an ad server to compose a playlist with customer-specific commercials. Various other models are possible with our solution.

Aside from Video On Demand, there might be live programming as well. This is either given by the re-streaming of existing satellite TV channels or it can be exclusively produced for the portal. Special interest channels or local program channels are good examples of such exclusive content. They might be composed of the playout of VOD files, additional content or live sources. Within the portal, they are presented separately from the VOD content. But live content might refer to related VOD content. New business can be achieved if the related content might promote physical goods for purchase.

The Content License Rights Management System (RMS) is the element within our solution that tracks expenses, owned/acquired rights, and return on investment. For essence file handling, it connects to a production management system. We've selected BOSS from Bright Media as RMS within our solution.

The Production Management System (PMS) is the heart of content aggregation within our solution. It acts as the Media Asset Management System, Workflow System, and Traffic System. The PMS we've selected is Squared Paper's Busby. For customers with distributed organizations, the PMS can be deployed at every facility and connected to act as one global system via the flow-to-flow module.

The Transcoder and Processors are engines that help fully automate the end-to-end business process. The PMS allows integrating with any other existing or future software solution. For the transcoder, we've selected Cambria FTC from Capella Systems. Sound and video processing can happen as part of the transcoding process or in certain cases via specialized software services. Picture rendering and metadata processing are implemented based on components of the PMS. Subtitle generation and audio dubbing might be outsourced to external suppliers. For automatic transcription and translation, we've selected mediawen and Aiconix. We integrate with those companies via interactive user interfaces. For automatic quality control, we utilize Pulsar from our partner Venera Technologies and for manual quality control, we offer review user interfaces.

The Content Management System (CMS) is the backend of the content portal. This integrates with the player applications for browsers, smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs, the Customer Relation Management System (CRM) and the payment gateways.

The Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a distributed server network that takes the VOD or live content to the end-customers' devices. It includes functionality for time-shift, start-over, catch-up, and on-demand consumption. It also manages the content encryption as a basic function of the Digital Rights Management (DRM). We have several alternative providers for CMS, CRM, CDN and DRM, depending on the exact technical and business requirements.

The Live Playout provides live streams produced from files or live source streams. For this, we've supply our own development x-dream-Fabrik PLAYOUT.