TRP commission new MAM using CatDV and StorageDNA (reproduced with the kind permission of DAMsmart)
Canberra, May 2013 – DAMsmart, Australia’s leading specialist audiovisual digitisation, management and access solution provider has recently completed the commissioning of Thoroughbred Racing Production’s (TRP) first Media Asset Management system.
TRP provides exclusive production services to the Victorian Racing Industry, producing broadcasts for more than 525 thoroughbred race meetings across Victoria. The broadcasts are provided to ThoroughVision, Free-To-Air and other subscription channels in both Australia and overseas, to on-course patrons and importantly, the Stipendiary Stewards who mange the integrity of racing.
TRP produces thousands of hours of content each year and manages an extensive back catalogue of racing vision for ThoroughVision. In 2012, the organisation identified a need to evolve and grow its digital content storage and access infrastructure to deliver greater productivity and provide a greater level of security for its collection. Charles Cole, TRP’s Technical & Engineering Manager, said, “An integral part of producing race coverage is the management and maintenance of an archive to catalogue captured video. We identified a need for a system to facilitate multiple functions including replaying races for the industry stakeholders, use by Stewards in inquiries, indexing archived content and the preservation of Australian racing history.”
TRP went to market in late 2012 with a competitive tender seeking a solution for the storage and management of its digital video collection, which resulted in the appointment of DAMsmart as the preferred solution partner. DAMsmart proposed a comprehensive digital video archive management solution using CatDV Enterprise Media Asset Management software, from UK based company Squarebox, for collection access and control. The MAM application was integrated with Storage DNA Evolution LTO/LTFS archiving software, configured with an LTO5 library for storage of the high-resolution files.
Charles Cole commented, “We considered a range of options, including the cloud, and for us the DAMsmart solution made sense. CatDV suited the organisation perfectly. It is an enterprise-level application without the complexities of other applications that are focused on servicing large-scale broadcast environments. CatDV allows us to link our complex and extensive racing metadata with individual races enabling robust search functions. It is intuitive and customisable which was an important consideration as we have a range of system users, all with very different requirements. The web client enables remote access for both the Stewards for race assessment and the OB vans for offsite content management tasks.
The LTO/LTFS technology gives a stable, economical and secure storage platform that we can scale. The DNA Evolution software takes full advantage of LTFS enabling tape performance that is comparable to disk. Importantly, Storage DNA is based on open standards, which gives us confidence the collection will be accessible well into the future.”
Prior to commissioning the system, DAMsmart worked closely with all stakeholders in the organisation to identify user profiles and collate an accurate description of their needs. After commissioning, DAMsmart has continued to work with TRP to refine system workflows and tailor functions as users become more familiar with the system and its capabilities. DAMsmart, working with the Australian distributors of CatDV and Storage DNA, Blonde Robot, has provided training for the system, and provides ongoing support for the various stakeholders in the organisation.
Joe Kelly, General Manager at DAMsmart, said, “This was a really exciting project for DAMsmart as we are focused on making content accessible for today, and tomorrow. As the leading Australian provider of AV digitisation services, we know that digitising content is only part of the job. Managing digital media, either as a result of digitisation of legacy archives or born-digital content, is key to maximising the value of the asset. We have been working closely with our partners Storage DNA and CatDV to configure systems to suit a broad range of applications that are both economical and practical.
The solution we have provided for the TRP will enable them to get the most of the content they hold, and promote greater efficiencies and control for the access and management of the collection”
Now that the MAM system is commissioned, DAMsmart has commenced work with TRP to digitise its existing legacy videotape collection.
For further information please contact:
Adam Hodgkinson
DAMsmart | Business Manager
02 9907 1896
www.DAMsmart.com.au
Images in this case study are owned by Thoroughbred Racing Productions (Victoria) Pty Ltd. The DAMsmart logo is owned by DAMsmart.