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What’s New ............................................................................................................................................. 1
Supported Versions of Interplay Production ........................................................................................... 3
Supported Versions of Media Composer ................................................................................................ 3
Scaling Media | Director Installations ...................................................................................................... 3
Change log .............................................................................................................................................. 4
Notes and Limitations ............................................................................................................................ 13
Known Issues ........................................................................................................................................ 16
Important Information
Avid recommends that you read all the information in this ReadMe file thoroughly before installing or using any new software release.
What’s New
Please see the summary of new features in Media Director 1.6 below. For details please refer to the User, Engine Installation Guide documentation.
• Presets & Overwrides for Outgest To Op1a and Overwrides for Ingest From Op1a operations can now
be configured via the Profile Builder in the Media Director Drop Utility.
• Outgest To Op1a now supports
o transcoding to a different resolution
o defining the Op1a export name
• Direct Ingest, Direct Ingest via Cache and Ingest From Op1a now supports XML side car files.
o There can be a side car file per media file, or one side car file per folder.
o The content of the side car file can be accessed and used via token functions and xpath
expressions.
• Drop Utility enhancements:
o Favorites:
Support for more than 5 favorites.
Favorites can now automatically start actions like opening a volume in Clip Tools or
starting the ingest operation.
o Profile filtering: The Profiles and Templates list in the Profile Builder can be filtered by
clicking into the list and typing the filter string. The typed string will be used to match any
profile name that contains the string.
o The Drop Utility now automatically detects when a USB device gets plugged into the
machine.
o The Drop Utility Help menu allows showing the installed AMA plugin versions.
• Improved Profile Installer for easier integration of profiles
o Can install Adobe Premiere and BurstOnTV profiles
o Offers assistance for creating Burst profiles with XML sidecar support
o Offers profile backup and restore
o Downloadable from Media|Director the installer section of the Landing Page.
• Transcoding to Panasonic AVC-LongG and full ingest support for Sony XAVC Long GOP resolutions.
Supported operating points:
Name in Interplay Production
Bit Rate
Raster Frame Rate
Chroma Sampling
Bit Depth
Panasonic Name
AVC Long GOP 12 1080i 29.97 12 1920x1080i 29.97* 4.2.0 8 AVC-LongG 12
AVC Long GOP 12 1080i 25 12 1920x1080i 25.00** 4.2.0 8 AVC-LongG 12
AVC Long GOP 12 720p 59.94 12 1280x720p 59.94 4.2.0 8 AVC-LongG 12
AVC Long GOP 12 720p 50 12 1280x720p 50.00 4.2.0 8 AVC-LongG 12
AVC Long GOP 25 1080i 29.97 25 1920x1080i 29.97* 4.2.2 10 AVC-LongG 25
AVC Long GOP 25 1080i 25 25 1920x1080i 25.00** 4.2.2 10 AVC-LongG 25
AVC Long GOP 25 720p 59.94 25 1280x720p 59.94 4.2.2 10 AVC-LongG 25
AVC Long GOP 25 720p 50 25 1280x720p 50.00 4.2.2 10 AVC-LongG 25
AVC Long GOP 50 1080i 29.97 50 1920x1080i 29.97* 4.2.2 10 AVC-LongG 50
AVC Long GOP 50 1080i 25 50 1920x1080i 25.00** 4.2.2 10 AVC-LongG 50
AVC Long GOP 50 720p 59.94 50 1280x720p 59.94 4.2.2 10 AVC-LongG 50
AVC Long GOP 50 720p 50 50 1280x720p 50.00 4.2.2 10 AVC-LongG 50
Name in Interplay Production ***
Bit
Rate
Raster Frame
Rate
Chroma
Sampling
Bit
Depth
Sony Name
XAVC Long GOP 1080i 29.97 25 1920x1080i 29.97* 4.2.2 10 XAVC Long GOP 25
XAVC Long GOP 1080i 25 25 1920x1080i 25.00** 4.2.2 10 XAVC Long GOP 25
XAVC Long GOP 1080i 29.97 35 1920x1080i 29.97* 4.2.2 10 XAVC Long GOP 35
XAVC Long GOP 1080i 25 35 1920x1080i 25.00** 4.2.2 10 XAVC Long GOP 35
XAVC Long GOP 1080i 29.97 50 1920x1080i 29.97* 4.2.2 10 XAVC Long GOP 50
XAVC Long GOP 1080i 25 50 1920x1080i 25.00** 4.2.2 10 XAVC Long GOP 50
XAVC Long GOP 720p 59.94 50 1280x720p 59.94 4.2.2 10 XAVC Long GOP 50
XAVC Long GOP 720p 50 50 1280x720p 50.00 4.2.2 10 XAVC Long GOP 50
* Sample rate of 59.94 fields per second. ** Sample rate of 50 fields per second. *** Please note that different operating points are using the same display label in Interplay Production.
Please refer to the Interplay documentation for further details.
o Notes: In order to use
Panasonic AVC Long GOP operating points, an Extended Panasonic AMA Plugin of version 4.7 or
newer is required.
Sony XAVC Long GOP operating points, the new nablet Sony XDCAM 4.000.1.718 or newer is required.
Both plugins have to be installed on:
the Media | Director MAIN Engine
any Expansion Engine
on the client for enabling Panasonic AVC LongG / Sony XAVC Long GOP Clip Tool workflows
For using Panasonic AVC Long GOP and Sony XAVC Long GOP operating points 32GB RAM is required.
It may be necessary to purchase a license for the Extended Panasonic AMA Plugin functionality.
Supported Versions of Interplay Production
Media | Director 1.6 is compatible with all versions of Interplay Production starting from 3.0 up-to 3.7. It is expected that Media | Director 1.6 will also support newer (future) versions of Interplay Production. When rewrapping or transcoding into Panasonic AVC-LongG and Sony XAVC Long GOP media, Interplay Production needs to be version 3.7 or newer.
Supported Versions of Media Composer
When installing the Clip Tools functionality on a Media | Director 1.6 client machine, installed AMA plugins will interfere with a Media Composer instance that is installed on the same machine. As Media | Director 1.6 requires AMA Plugins that are not compatible with available Media Composer versions, we recommend to not install Media Composer and Media | Director clients on the same machine in case Clip Tools should be used.
It is safe to install Media Composer 8.7 versions alongside with the Media | Director Drop Utility in case you don’t intend to use Clip Tools.
For Panasonic AVC LongG and XAVC Long GOP AMA workflows with Media | Director and Media Composer, please check the Media Composer compatibility for Panasonic AVC LongG AMA and Sony XAVC Long GOP AMA.
Scaling Media | Director Installations
Media | Director has been qualified to run with up to three Expansion Engines per single Main Engine. If you plan to connect more than two Expansion Engines please contact your Avid representative for guidance regarding system setup and scaling. Remember that even a single Main Engine can already generate significant load on the connected ISIS storage. A single Main Engine can approximately saturate a single ISIS crate. If you plan on adding Expansion Engines, please make sure that your ISIS setup can support the required bandwidth without adversely affecting other operations.
Change log
Media | Director 1.5
• Transcoding from and Rewrapping to Panasonic AVC-LongG resolutions.
Supported operating points:
Name in Interplay Production
Bit Rate
Raster Frame Rate
Chroma Sampling
Bit Depth
Panasonic Name
AVC Long GOP 12 1080i 29.97 12 1920x1080i 29.97* 4.2.0 8 AVC-LongG 12
AVC Long GOP 12 1080i 25 12 1920x1080i 25.00** 4.2.0 8 AVC-LongG 12
AVC Long GOP 12 720p 59.94 12 1280x720p 59.94 4.2.0 8 AVC-LongG 12
AVC Long GOP 12 720p 50 12 1280x720p 50.00 4.2.0 8 AVC-LongG 12
AVC Long GOP 25 1080i 29.97 25 1920x1080i 29.97* 4.2.2 10 AVC-LongG 25
AVC Long GOP 25 1080i 25 25 1920x1080i 25.00** 4.2.2 10 AVC-LongG 25
AVC Long GOP 25 720p 59.94 25 1280x720p 59.94 4.2.2 10 AVC-LongG 25
AVC Long GOP 25 720p 50 25 1280x720p 50.00 4.2.2 10 AVC-LongG 25
AVC Long GOP 50 1080i 29.97 50 1920x1080i 29.97* 4.2.2 10 AVC-LongG 50
AVC Long GOP 50 1080i 25 50 1920x1080i 25.00** 4.2.2 10 AVC-LongG 50
AVC Long GOP 50 720p 59.94 50 1280x720p 59.94 4.2.2 10 AVC-LongG 50
AVC Long GOP 50 720p 50 50 1280x720p 50.00 4.2.2 10 AVC-LongG 50
* Sample rate of 59.94 fields per second.
** Sample rate of 50 fields per second.
o Note: In order to use this feature, an Extended Panasonic AMA Plugin of version 4.7 or
newer is required and has to be installed on:
the Media | Director MAIN Engine
any Expansion Engine
on the client for enabling Panasonic AVC LongG Clip Tool workflows
It may be necessary to purchase a license for the Extended Panasonic AMA Plugin
functionality.
• Support for integration of Adobe Premiere Pro with MediaCentral UX. MediaCentral and Adobe
Premiere Pro support the “MediaCentral Premiere Pro Connector” that supports the following:
o Create media compatible with Adobe Premiere Pro. The Connector uses Media Director to
create simplified versions of MediaCentral sequences or master clips and compatible media
for formats where the original media cannot be used directly in Adobe Premiere Pro.
o Use Media Director to send the active Adobe Premiere sequence back to MediaCentral. For
additional information, see the Media | Director User Guide.
• Processing sources with more than 16 tracks of audio.
• Post Processing of material created by Media Director allowing you to create a mixdown or sequence
from the generated media. For additional information, see the Media | Director User Guide.
• Support for creation of profile favorites. For additional information, see the Media | Director User
Guide.
• Support for automatically running a virus scan at the end of an ingest job. For additional information,
see the “Finalize the Installation” section in the Media | Director Engine Installation Guide.
• Clip Tools enhancement: Ctrl + Drag and dropping a volume to the Job Builder will automatically open
the volume in Clip Tools. For additional information, see the Media | Director User Guide.
Media | Director 1.4.1
When transcoding media from AMA sources the MedieRewrappingWorker services and Clip Tools
service might use a lot of memory. (MPI-16925)
Saving a profile in the ProfileBuilder fails in case an attribute name or value is left empty. (TI-3402)
Media | Director 1.4
Sony XAVC Long support:
o Support (transcoding from this format only) for the following source formats was added:
Sony XAVC Long 50
720p {50, 59.94}
1080i {25, 29.97}
1080p {23.98, 25, 29.97, 50, 59.94}
Sony XAVC Long 35
1080i {25, 29.97}
Sony XAVC Long 25
1080i {25, 29.97}
o Target formats when transcoding from Sony XAVC Long are:
XDCAM HD 50
H.264 (only to OP Atom)
Other target formats are expected to work but are not fully qualified or supported.
o Note: In order to use this feature a Sony Deck AMA Plugin of version 3.41 (Sony PDZK-MA2
v3.41) (or newer) is required and has to be installed on:
the Media | Director MAIN Engine
any Expansion Engine
on the client for enabling Sony XAVC Long Clip Tool workflows
OP-1a export (outgest) enhancements
o Support for exporting masterclips, subclips and sequences from Avid Interplay Production to
MXF OP-1a.
Note: Interplay Transcode is required for exporting sequences to OP-1a. Media | Director
will automatically trigger a sequence Mixdown operation before performing the OP-1a
export.
o Via the Media | Director REST API workerOverrides and workerPresets can be specified to
either override metadata on the MXF OPAtom source (workerOverrides) or target presets
can be configured for the MXF OP1a target (workerPresets):
workerOverrides:
Start of Media
Aspect Ratio
Active Format Descriptor
workerPresets:
Start of Media
Audio Channel Structure to define the number of audio tracks and channels
per track (currently only 1 channel per track are supported)
Container constraints template: Currently ARD/ZDF HDF is the only
supported template. This setting will write HDF conform MXF OP-1a files.
Note:
The following constraints apply when the HDF template is specified:
o The audio tracks need to be set to either 8 or 16 (channel per
track 1). If the source media has fewer tracks, silent audio tracks
will be added.
o Only the following source formats are supported: XDCAM HD 50
1080i/25; AVC-Intra 100 {720p/50, 1080i/25}
o Audio has to be 24bit 48kHz
o The source media must not have an ANC data track.
Ingest enhancements:
o New token: The {UI.Machine} token references the client machine that started a specific
ingest operation. This can be used to add metadata about the client machine that triggered
the specific operation.
o Tokens and token functions can now also be used as part of the PamDatabaseBasePath
backend configuration setting. Previously, tokens and token functions were only supported
in the ISIS storage path configuration settings. This can be used for ingesting the multiple
database root paths without exposing the full database path in the profile.
o The server side setting CreateSequenceForRegisteredClips can now be overwritten on an
ingest profile level (profiles where a register step is involved). This allows defining at the
profile level whether sequences are generated or not.
o AMA Plugin related profiles (Direct Ingest, Direct Ingest via Cache, Park and Register, Park,
Register and Transcode, HiRes Conform from Parked Storage) now support up to 12 freely
configurable UI controls (widgets) that can be used to add additional metadata to a job.
Previously, only 2 UI controls were available.
o AMA Plugin related profiles (Direct Ingest, Direct Ingest via Cache, Park and Register, Park,
Register and Transcode, HiRes Conform from Parked Storage) now support up to 10 custom
Interplay Production attributes that can be set on ingested clips. The custom attributes can
be populated from any token or UI widget, or combinations thereof including the results of
token functions.
o For partial ingest operations using the IngestFromOp1a profile the user can now configure a
handle length that will be applied on the in-point and out-point of the configured cut (via
REST API only).
o Via Media | Director REST API workerOverrides can be specified to override metadata on the
MXF OP1a source (Ingest from Op1a profile):
workerOverrides:
Start of Media
Aspect Ratio
Active Format Descriptor
Support for ingesting volumes into MXF OP1a:
o As an additional integration feature, Media | Director offers the ability to convert AMA
sources to the OP-1a container format. This new ‘AMA to OP-1a’ process can rewrap all
sources that are supported by the AMA plugins for Media | Director (MXF, P2, XDCAM and
Canon XF) to MXF OP-1a containers. The OP-1a files for a source volume are created in a
configurable folder structure, along with XML manifests that describe the volume and all
metadata information the volume brings along.
Please check the MediaDirector SupportedVolumesAndFormats.docx for a list of supported
source formats. All formats listed in section Supported source formats for consolidation
workflows (same docx) are supported as target resolutions for ingesting volumes into MXF
OP1a.
Note: The ‘AMA to OP-1a’ process is disabled by default because it is not applicable to
Interplay Production workflows. Even when disabled, the process is still available through the
Media | Director API. To also enable the ‘AMA to OP-1a’ process in the Media | Director user
interface, visit the System Administrator page of the Media | Director Administration pages.
The feature toggle can be found in profile MediaDirector, section Toggles, setting AMA-TO-
OP1A. The profiles will be enabled in the UI by setting the value to true.
o The following new profiles are then available:
Direct Ingest to Op1a
Direct Ingest via Cache to Op1a
Park and Transcode to Op1a
o Similar to the outgest functionality, ingesting into OP1a also supports workerOverrides and
workerPresets. Please see the section above for more information.
Client enhancements:
o MS Windows: The client side Clip Tools dialog now supports playback of the displayed clips if
a media player (e.g. VLC) is installed on the client machine and is associated with the
extension of the media files.
o MacOS: El Capitan client support (requires ISIS Client 4.7.7).
o Via the ProfileBuilder pane the profile administrator can now un-flag a profile from being
shown in the drop down list of profiles on the JobBuilder pane.
Last Minute Notes (MD 1.4)
The documentation regarding workerPresets and workerOverrides within the profile xsd files is slightly wrong. While workerPresets are supported for OutgestToOp1a and Normalize Op1a operations, they are not, yet, supported for IngestFromOp1a. workerOverrides are supported for all three operations: OutgestToOp1a, Normalize Op1a and IngestFromOp1a. There is a known issue with using the workerOverrides – Start Of Media for OutgestToOp1a operations. It is not recommended to use it in Media | Director 1.4. The same override works correctly on IngestFromOp1a and Normalize Op1a. Please see the table below for details:
Operation Overrides / Presets Type
Name Comment
IngestFromOp1a workerOverrides SOM Start of Media
Aspect Ratio
Active Format Descriptor
OutgestToOp1a
workerOverrides SOM Start of Media
Aspect Ratio
Active Format Descriptor
workerPresets SOM Start of Media
Audio Channel Structure (number of tracks and channels)
This preset defines the number of audio tracks and channels per track should be provided in the output media. Not existing tracks / channels in the source media will be filled with silent audio. Currently only 1 channel per track is supported.
templateName (ARD/ZDF HDF)
Formats: o XDCAM HD 50 1080i/25 o AVC-I 100 {720p/50,
1080i/25}
o Audio: 24bit 48kHz
Constraints: o Tracks: 8 or 16 o Channels: 1 o No data track
-
Media | Director 1.3
Panasonic AVC LongG support:
o Support (transcoding only) for the following source formats was added:
Panasonic AVC LongG 12 720p {50, 59.94} fps
Panasonic AVC LongG 25 720p {50, 59.94} fps
Panasonic AVC LongG 50 720p {50, 59.94} fps
Panasonic AVC LongG 12 1080i {25, 29.97} fps
Panasonic AVC LongG 25 1080i {25, 29.97} fps
Panasonic AVC LongG 50 1080i {25, 29.97} fps
o Transcoding Panasonic AVC LongG sources is supported for the following target resolutions:
XDCAM HD 50
H.264
o Please note that in order to use this feature a AVC LongG-licensed Panasonic AMA Plugin of
version 4.4.6 (newer versions are not supported) is required and has to be installed on:
the Media | Director MAIN Engine
any Expansion Engine
on the client for enabling AVC LongG Clip Tool workflows
o Due to a known issue in the Panasonic AMA plugin, Panasonic AVC LongG source media
(volumes only) might remain locked after an ingest operation. As a result the media cannot
be moved or deleted until the corresponding backend service got restarted.
There is a new setting in the Media Director profile on the Admin pages to automatically
restart those services. Set the following setting to true to configure auto-restart. By default
this setting is false.
Debug\RestartWorkerAfterGetVolumeInfo
Please note that restarting the backend services might have an impact on the overall ingest
performance.
o For additional limitations please check the limitation section below.
Windows 10 Client support
A job can now be canceled via REST API as well
Profile Builder enhancements:
o The Interplay Clip Name field now allows to use the following new tokens:
Source.Filesystem.Volume.Path.<n>
Source.Filesystem.Volume.Parent
Support for using the IngestFromOp1a profile from the Media | Director Drop Utility.
Usability improvements:
o Start jobs directly after dropping a volume
o Start or delete jobs directly from the JobBuilder queue without using the context menu
o Progress reporting has been improved
o Introduction of profile icons
o The Templates and Profiles section in the Profile Builder can now be resized
o The ClipTools cache location can now be reset to the default location.
Ingest comments are now also set on clips in Interplay Production. Before a comment was only set on
the parent folder of the clips.
Support for source volumes that reside on an FTP location:
o Windows: Navigate to the FTP server using Windows Explorer and drag & drop a volume to
the Media | Director Drop Utility.
o Mac: Mount an FTP server location and use drag & drop from a Finder window into the
Media | Director Drop Utility.
o Limitations:
Only park workflows are supported (Direct Ingest via Cache - Park and Register -
Park, Register and Transcode)
Clip Tools and Shift+Drop are not supported for FTP sources on Windows.
Media | Director 1.2
The new Clip Tools feature allows ingest operators to select individual clips of a volume for ingest,
instead of ingesting the whole volume. Please refer to the Media | Director user guide for a full
description of the Clip Tools feature.
Support (rewrapping and transcoding) for the following source formats was added:
o DNxHR
DNxHR 4:4:4
DNxHR HQX (High Quality Extended)
DNxHR HQ (High Quality - 8 bit)
DNxHR SQ (Standard Quality)
DNxHR LB (Low Bandwidth)
o Canon XF
MPEG-2 HD 50 and 35 Mbits (1920x1080, 1280x720)
MPEG-2 HD 25 MBits (1440x1080)
o Extended support for XAVC-Intra UHDTV1 {23.98p, 24p, 25p, 29.97p, 50p, 59.94p}
(transcoding only)
Support for transcoding all supported progressive UHDTV1 source media into DNxHR resolutions.
The Media | Director Main and Expansion engines can now be installed to be running with a Domain
user. This allows an easier permission configuration and management for providing Media | Director
services access to media shares on the network.
Fixes
o Fixed support for AMA-linking of MXF OP1a files that have descriptive metadata timeline
tracks that have multiple descriptive segments.
o Fixed support for AMA-linking of MXF OP1a files that have an SMPTE ST 381-3 AVC Sub-
Descriptor.
o Fixed support of AMA-linking and transcoding from MXF OP1a and Sony device media files
that contain XAVC 4:2:2 video of 720p/50 and 720p/59.94 rasters.
Note: Consolidate of such media is still not supported.
o Fixed an issue where transcoding from QuickTime files that contain ProRes444 media into
DNxHR 444 or H.264 8oo kbps could lead to a change on color (blue tint).
o Fixed an issue where consolidate and transcode of Sony device media XDCAM EX clips
became progressively slower with media duration.
o Fixed a situation where the Media Rewrapping services would terminate abnormally when
processing Avid Airspeed-created H.264 proxy MXF OP1a files.
Media | Director 1.1.2
Fixes:
o Improved stability on MediaRewrappingWorkers
For some media the MPEG-2 AspectRatio fixer component was writing out of buffer
boundaries.
Some specific IMX media tended to crash the MediaRewrappingWorker.
Media with bad indexTable was processed but resulted in wrong video track
duration. Now this media is rejected.
TapeName is now properly set on OpAtoms were expected / required.
o Relinking issues in Media Composer between AMA and Avid native resolutions were resolved
(those issues got introduced in Media | Director 1.1.1).
Media | Director 1.1.1
Fixes:
o XAVC-Intra 4:2:2 UHDTV1 source formats can now be transcoded
(Note: consolidation of these formats is not supported)
o Timecode and SOM related:
Some Omneon Spectrum generated XDCAM Op1a files with SOM = 0 cannot be
converted to OP Atom (IngestFromOp1a profiles)
SOM is now always been used from the video track, before there were occasions
where the SOM was used from an audio track
Source package start time code is off by pre-charge edit units
o Quicktime AMA Plugin
Decrease of memory consumption of the QuickTime AMA Plugin.
Issues around QuickTime AMA Plugin regarding interlaced and progressive media.
Some XDCAM EX MP4 clips failed to process.
o Improved MediaRewrappingWorker stability:
Improved error handling on file IO. Specifically when interacting with ISIS.
Operations are terminated with error messages and eliminating the risk of creating
partially invalid media or getting MediaRewrappingWorker crashes.
The following crash issues have been addressed:
issues related to writing out of buffer boundaries
issues related to exceptions being thrown in destructors of depending
libraries
o Media related:
MediaRewrappingWorkers were stalling when reading specific Hamburg Pro Media-
created MXF Op1a files with IMX payload
Harmonic Spectrum generated Op1a files with IMX payload could not be read
Grass Valley MPEG-2 Long-GOP 1080i/25 16ch OP1a file having 50 Mbps 4:2:0
payload cannot be converted to OP Atom
Adobe AVCI-1080i25-8ch P2-style volume cannot be consolidated or transcoded to
Avid OP Atom
Rewrapping from MXF OP 1a to Avid OP Atom for specific DV-based 25 NTSC media
is missing 1 frame
Duration in MC is 1 frame more than actual for OP Atom XDCAM file with pre-
charge
Outgesting previously ingested XDCAM HD with pre-charge and TC rollover
midnight: A/V out of sync in OP 1a
MXF and Panasonic AMA Plugin failed to process some media
24fps media with wrong dropframe flag can now be processed
o Improved error messages from media services
Media | Director 1.1
The target resolution transcode label of DNxHD Compact is no longer available. Profiles using this
target resolution will no longer be displayed or accessible from within the Media | Director Drop
Utility. Submitting jobs using a DNxHD Compact transcode target via the Media | Director REST API
will fail. Instead, users are recommended to use DNxHD Thin Raster. This will produce equivalent
media as the previous DNxHD Compact target.
The target resolution transcode label DNxHD Standard Thin Raster was renamed to DNxHD Thin
Raster.
Media | Director now supports transcoding to multiple target resolutions using the same profile.
A Register profile was added. This profile can be used to register volumes that were directly copied to
the parking storage.
The token / rule system has been extended. Media | Director now supports custom token functions.
Token functions are written in JScript. They can be used similar to tokens within fields of a profile.
Media | Director ships with the following pre-installed token functions:
o substr(inputString, startPosition, length)
Extracts parts of a string, beginning at the character at the specified position, and returns the
specified number of characters.
o length(inputString)
Returns the length of a string (number of characters). The length of an empty string is 0.
o split(inputString, splitChar, elementNumber)
Returns the n-th substring of a string.
Media | Director now supports multiple WatchServices.
WatchServices now support parking profiles as well.
Media | Director now ships with a very simple UserManagement. The user management comprises
two basic accounts, administrator and default. The default account is used when no credentials are
provided. The default user won’t be able to view details or modify profiles. The other user is the
profile administrator who can view and modify profiles in addition to starting ingests.
Media | Director jobs can now be prioritized (High, Media, Low) before submitting them to the Media
| Director Main Engine.
Media | Director now supports volume ingests via VPN or other high latency connection between the
Media | Director Drop Utility and the Media | Director Main Engine.
Some AMA Plug-ins decode frames in the plug-in even before handing them to the Media | Director
services. For this reason, source media supported by those AMA Plug-ins cannot be consolidated, and
has to be transcoded instead. The fallback resolution for this transcode operation can now be
configured; previously it was preconfigured to XDCAM HD 50.
Media | Director now ships with several new administration tools:
o WorkflowFoundationResetterTool: This tool will remove a broken Media | Director Workflow
Foundation installation.
o MAAdminPasswordChanger Tool: This tool can be used to change the password of the
MAAdmin user. It will automatically apply the change to all running Media | Director services
as well.
o MediaDirectorLogsCollector Tool: This tool can be used to collect all logs required for
diagnosing Media | Director issues.
o CPServiceTool: The Media | Director Drop Utility copy functionality was moved to an external
service. This tool helps to set the credentials of the copy provider service on the client and
Main Engine. As the service needs to access local as well as network shares, it should be
configured to run as a user with required access permissions.
Notes and Limitations
Language and character support
Fully supported languages are: English, French, German, Swedish, and Polish.
Media | Director is ready to support Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and, to a limited extent, other Unicode
character sets for end user relevant areas. In detail this means:
o Supported by Media | Director in:
Clip and PAM folder name building rules
o Not supported by Media | Director in:
Filenames
Other Operating System visible items (e.g. ISIS directories, temp directories, etc.)
Media | Director only supports characters from the Unicode Basic Multilingual Plane (BMP). Media |
Director does not support characters from the Unicode supplementary planes.
Whitespace and Soft Hyphen characters are not supported by token functions.
Important: Other products (e.g. Media Composer) typically used with Media | Director may have
different or limited support for international character sets. Please check interoperability for every
product involved separately before workflow pipelines that rely on international character sets.
Media Ingest
Stitching is not supported in this release of Media | Director.
AMA workflows for media with interleaved audio (e.g. Sony IMX, GoPro) require Interplay Production
3.1 and Media Composer 8.1 or better
General:
o 720p off-speed (23.98, 24, 25, 29.97) as source formats aren’t supported for transcoding and
consolidation.
o NTSC and PAL progressive (25 and 29.97 SD formats) source formats aren’t supported for
transcoding and consolidation.
o MXF OP1a media with unknown duration is not supported by the Avid AMA MXF plug-in.
o MXF OP1a media with multiple default descriptors for the same essence type aren’t
supported.
o QuickTime media that is exported from Media Composer applications will require the Avid
Codec Pack to be installed before it can be processed by Media | Director. The CodecPack
will automatically be installed on the Media | Director servers, but needs to get manually
installed on any Client that is using Clip Tools functionality.
o Audio-only media is not supported.
o Source media with alpha channel isn’t supported for transcode and consolidation.
o Media with 4k resolution and corresponding aspect ratio are not, yet, supported
o Media with variable or non-standard frame rates are not supported
o Long paths on parking or production storage are not supported. Please ensure that the paths
to parked media or media on production storage are not longer than 256 characters.
o Profiles that ingest into MXF OP1a targets don’t support the generation of EDLs / sequences.
Transcoding
o Cross frame-rate transcoding isn’t supported, except for:
720p/59.94 or 720p/50 to 1080i/29.97 or NTSC and 1080i/25 or PAL, respectively.
o Transcoding from interlaced to progressive formats (de-interlacing) is not supported.
o Transcode to DNxHR is not supported for QuickTime files that contain uncompressed 8 bit or
10 bit video.
o Transcode of XAVC-Intra UHDTV1 media to DNxHD 444 is not supported.
o Transcode profiles that ingest into MXF OP1a targets don’t support the following target
resolutions: H.264 and JFIF
For a full list of transcode target formats please check the MediaDirector
SupportedVolumesAndFormats.docx
Consolidating
o Some source formats are not supported for consolidation workflows with Media Composer
and Interplay Production Transcode. Please see the
MediaDirector_SupportedVolumesAndFormats document for formats that are supported for
consolidation workflows.
o Media | Director ‘full volume’ consolidation must be triggered from the Media | Director
Drop Utility.
o There will be no headframes created when consolidating DNxHR media.
o Consolidation profiles that ingest into MXF OP1a targets don’t support the following source
resolutions: H.264 and JFIF
Registering
o Currently Media | Director does not generate head frames for the clip in Interplay
Production when running park and register (without transcode) workflows.
o Media registration and AMA workflows are only supported when ingesting media into
Interplay Production.
o Sony clips that are only available in the AMA resolution and that were registered via the Sony
AMA plugin cannot be processed with the nablet AMA plugin (the nablet AMA plugin
replaces the previous Sony AMA plugins).
Audio Processing
o On consolidate and transcode audio is always written as single channel Avid OP Atom files.
Panasonic AVC LongG:
o The Panasonic AMA Plugin needs to be licensed to support Panasonic AVC LongG media.
o AMA workflows are planned to be supported with a future version of Media Composer
(Media Composer 8.4.4 and earlier don’t support Panasonic AVC LongG AMA workflows with
Media | Director)
o A Panasonic AMA Plugin version of 4.5 is required. Older versions of the plugin are not
supported with Media | Director 1.4.
Codecs:
o Some codecs, like DNxHD, require SSE4.1 instruction set support of the installed CPU.
FTP Sources:
o Only park workflows are supported (Direct Ingest via Cache - Park and Register - Park,
Register and Transcode)
o Clip Tools and Shift+Drop are not supported for FTP sources on Windows.
Other
There is no automatic enforcement of the maximum file count per folder on ISIS (5000 items per
folder). File count limitations must be implemented through suitable storage rules, using the week or
month tokens.
Media | Director is supported only for Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and Windows Server 2012 R2.
If a park/register/transcode workflow is run more than once with the same media, Media | Director
may create and append multiple edit resolutions to the asset in Interplay. Duplicate resolutions are
not rejected.
Long path names with more than 256 characters are not supported on Parking or Production storage.
Paths including a % (percent) are not supported to work with a volume scan for Clip Tools.
Performance
Volumes with very short clips adversely affect throughput due to the processing overhead involved.
The documented throughput is valid for clips of at least 10 minutes duration or longer where
processing and setup times are less relevant.
For AMA plugins that work in sample provider mode, the maximum achievable throughput depends
strongly on the performance of the plugin. Some plugins may, even with multiple parallel media
rewrapping services running, not be able to achieve 100% server usage.
User Interface:
Changes to the layout in the Media | Director Drop Utility don’t get persisted.
The Media | Director Drop Utility will limit copy operations to 3 parallel volumes from different discs
at the same time. Copy operations from the same source are limited to 1 parallel copy operations.
Parking volumes to an already existing location on the parking storage is prevented and will fail to
protect the already existing media. Please use rules that build hierarchies and ensure unique names
(such as appending a GUID to the volume copy) to avoid naming collisions on the parking storage.
Pending jobs in the JobBuilder staging area of the Media | Director Drop Utility will be removed after
a restart of the Media | Director Drop Utility or a reconnection to the Media | Director Central
Runtime service.
Progress UI
200 active (running) and 200 inactive (failed, succeeded) processes and 50 users are allowed
After a restart of the Media | Director Central Runtime service all active and inactive processes
disappear from Progress UI
Known Issues
MPI-20379 MXF SDK is unable to read or seek some MXF files that contain and open and incomplete header partition and do not have finalized header metadata in a closed Footer partition.
MPI-19973 Single frame partial rewrapping from OP Atom to MXF OP1a fails for AVC Intra source media.
MPI-15851 In some rare cases, the Media Rewrapping Worker services may hang with an OS kernel lock
MPI-14477 AMA-linking fails for OP1a files with distinguished value in FrameLayout property
MPI-14458 OP1a files that do not encode the optional picture essence encoding property are not supported
MPI-13041 Seeking for the in-point during a restore operation might fail for some OP 1a DV-based 100 1080i media
MPI-12945 MOG SDK Essence Reader fails to seek to the required position in a file with a valid CBE index table
MPI-12874 MRW crashes on AMA-to-OpAtom rewrap and transcode for media where IndexTable does not provide DeltaEntries - reproduces with 283 plug-ins
MPI-11012 When transcoding or rewrapping Op1a (ama-to-opatom) with undefined AspecRatio defined AspectRatio appears
MPI-9945 DV50 decoder produces incorrect output when decoding to SingleField
MPI-7440 Media Rewrapping Worker fails to rewrap Op1a media with a Stored Height of 0
MPI-6561 AVC-Intra media fails to be archived if media is missing AUD and SPS/PPS information
MPI-6482 Additional segments cannot be added to a MPI-generated MAM EDL
MPI-5326 Some Polish characters cannot be in the AAF or MXF file path under some conditions.
MPI-5044 Error cell in Workflow Monitor doesn't show warnings if in state "Reading essence: Read EMGuid from representative essence package" and other stages before that.
MPI-4452 Order Template: mismatch of order states in Restore Order Template and Workflow
MPI-4144 After rewrapping OP 1a having undefined Aspect Ratio to OP Atom exact Aspect Ratio appear
MPI-7216 Capture clips cannot be archived in case they were modified by Transcode, Media Composer, etc.
TI-5012 Sometimes widgetValues are not populated in the profile when a job gets started from MDDU
TI-2744 PAMWatchFolders that are longer than 256 chars will end in a loop of failing outgest operations
TI-493 Job can be submitted several times
TI-445 Job doesn't start if services aren't completely up, but no message indicating so
TI-438 Possible to edit MDDU UI error message text field.
TI-273 MDDU UI unable to modify job after server restart
Known AMA Plug-in Issues
Avid MXF Plug-in (version 1.14.0.3426)
MPI-20347 Avid Generic MXF plugin creates invalid AMA linked files for essence containing a mix of single channel AES3 elements carrying PCM audio and two channel AES3 elements carrying DOLBY-E audio.
MPI-13871 MSP_MXF plugin does not support Op1As without index tables
MPI-11761 Some Grass-Valey Op1a media not supported by Avid MXF plug-in
MPI-11011 MSP_MXF plugin does not support MXF OP1a file with unknown duration
Avid QuickTime Plug-in (version 1.4.0.8275)
MPI-13438 QuickTime AMA plug-in does not create AMA-lined AAF for some audio-only media
FRMA-123/ MPI-14119
The AMA Quicktime plugin sometimes intermittently fails to process volumes