[Mike Healey]

Yeah, I suppose that’ll work, too. Seems simple enough. Just had a case of tunnel vision. Although I did find out on another forum that PPro will allow me to read the custom metadata “user clip name” I created by tweaking the columns pre or post import so life should be less stressful now either way.

Thanks!

[Mike Healey]

Thanks Vince – I’ll have to dig a little deeper in the columns and check it out. I would really like to be able to import based on the MetaData recorded on the clip and not have to re-organize assets after the import process. I have the MetaData from the HVX being recorded in such a way that each clip that gets recorded gets assigned it’s own unique clip name in a sequence. ie, B-Roll 001 and Interview Take 001, etc. That’s the way it needs to come into PPro to be able to manage assets effectively.

The search continues….

~M~

[Mike Healey]

Nate – I appreciate the whole I-Omega issue. I had a few of those older drives for PC but never had issues. However, from my research and reviews, these REV Pro and new generation ER/XP drives have evolved from that original 25 year old technology. Thompson GV manufacture the the drives in their Infinity series and folks I’ve talked to seem to like the stability and performance. I’m only interested in the drive as a stand alone backup solution and seeing if anyone has had issues with the current REV Pro drives.

Thanks!

~M~

[Mike Healey]

I’m really not interested in archiving raw footage to a tape format who’s lifespan, like most, is questionable not to mention metadata is lost once it hits the tape. I’d also like to restore one, several or all archived assets without having to search thru tape. And then there’s the obvious cost of another deck. Kinda defeats the whole tapeless workflow I’m going for. But thanks for sharing!

~M~

[Mike Healey]

Sorry Michael! I guess I should have been specific and said Cox Media. My bad! I just take for granted that folks know Cox as the cable MSO while others know it as the “mother ship.” I get tunnel vision at times and forget who owns who and who it effects. HA!

~M~

[Mike Healey]

Michael – Here’s a little peak at the sign-up page.

https://spotxpress.coxmedia.com

Here’s an except from the memo I received from Cox:

Good Afternoon to All,

We are very excited to introduce Spot Express to our clients. As time progresses, we find innovative methods to improve the way we do business. SpotXPress is a “tapeless” delivery system that allows you to upload your advertising spots online through the SpotXPress website, electronically delivering your content to Cox Media.

Many of you have already begun using it with other companies in other markets and may be familiar with the procedures. It is very easy to use and will be the only form of delivery accepted after Oct 31, 2008. You will find 3 attachments that will explain in detail login procedures, how to use the program as well as the benefits it provides.

Some of the great benefits will be no additional cost for tapes or shipping, decreased time required to get your spot on air and eliminates loss of quality from dubbing.

They have it set up nice. Just register, select your region or multi-region in our case, enter contact info, location where spot needs to be sent, spot info, upload, make any comments and click submit. It gives you a confirmation dialog as well as an e-mail to confirm receipt and successful upload. It also allows us to contact the AE on the account and let them know the spot was uploaded. It’s pretty slick!

It looks like the site is administered in house but I was told by one of my other cable contacts that it’s third party and they brand it accordingly for each cable MSO. Haven’t been able to confirm that yet.

If more and more MSO’s and broadcast “groups” would go this direction it sure would make life easy on the distibution end!

Cheers!

~Mike~

Mike Healey Productions, Inc.
Media Production | Logistics | Fulfillment
http://www.MikeHealeyProductions.com

[Mike Healey]

Many thanks for the link Kevin. Particile Illusion is just the type of application I’m looking for to offer clients quick, out of the box effects.

Thanks!

~M~

Mike Healey Productions, Inc.
Media Production | Logistics | Fulfillment
http://www.MikeHealeyProductions.com

[Mike Healey]

Michael – Are you using traffic Manager with Flip Factory? Just curious. I did some reading online and Traffic manager sounds wonderful.

As far as tape as a HD delivery option for spot work I just can’t see boutiques, post houses and broadcasters trying to justify the expense. Folks I’ve been talking with are trying to go the same route as us and provide content in the digital domain.

I received a memo from COX corporate this week stating that they will no longer accept spots on tape after Oct. this year PERIOD! They’ve been using a popular online content delivery site and are going exclusive in just a few months. So, I guess it won’t make a difference which decks you have in the rack. You better be able to provide tapeless spots. 90% of my agency client base places media buys with Cox and other major MSO’s thoughout the US who will soon be heading in the same direction… Cox is not accepting spots in HD… YET… but I’m told that’s coming.

All this brings up yet another issue… What’s the standard “dub fee” going to be for digital :30 spots? Most post houses and stations in this region charge a set fee per BetaSP or DV Cam dub. Regardless of the line item and sales tax issues, it’s a service that generates revenue and the client pays a fee. I don’t know about the rest of you but for us, laying down bars/tone and a :30 spot takes a lot less time going to “tape” then encoding, burning, printing and duplicating a CD/DVD…

~M~

Mike Healey Productions, Inc.
Media Production | Logistics | Fulfillment
http://www.MikeHealeyProductions.com

[Mike Healey]

Tim/Mark – I feel you guys are spot on with regards to HD spot fulfillment/distribution. Once the bean counters get involved I feel (and hope) they see the benefits of Blu-Ray. I spent most of the day talking with corporate folks in many markets we distribute content to. Seems most of them are scratching their heads wondering the same thing. I heard complaints all morning about national clients wanting to send HD spots when the stations don’t even have HD playback capability. Not to mention a way to ingest it. Master control ops in many mid size and even larger markets I spoke with are not gearded up to accept HD content unless it’s pulled off the bird and they send it back out.

Steve, with all due resect, I’m afraid you’re missing the point. Dub houses don’t fool with 3-4 dubs in mid size markets. I’ve been down that road with them (and others) a long time ago when I was still producing spots for national cable MSO’s who required nationwide distibution of spot reels. We’re not talking about producing a generic spot for them to dub out to a host of local markets to customize. We get content from folks like them and WE turn around and turnkey the tagging and fulfillment. I appreciate your input as it relates to bulk distribution and quantity but we’re in a different situation on a market specific basis that requires each station get a specific “NLE Master” if you will, rather than a “dub” and then insert it in their market. We’re basicially on a one to one basis and customize spots for each market. It wouldn’t make any sense to use a dub house to do 1:1 or even 1:3 fulfillment. Especially when you consider most of the media buys in these markets are being done via one or two broadcast stations and via cable and/or interconnects.

Again, I mean no disrespect but we’ve been down this road in the past way before HD formats were a distribution issue and broadcasters just took BetaSP and life was groovy! = )

Forgive me for being blunt but I seemed to have absorbed a lot of frustration from the engineers and master control folks I spoke with today. ha! All the confusion and uncertainty surrounding HD formats and delivery seems to be a lot bigger issue than I thought. Now, we have to try to package all this together and present the findings to the client… The corporate types who just want their spots to be produced and distributed on HD because someone got them all hot and bothered over it and they don’t have a clue what they’re getting themselves (and the rest of us) into! urgh….

Sometimes I feel like I’m talking to my kids trying to get through to clients. If anyone has an “HD 101” one sheet suitable for client enlightenment, please…..name your price!!!! LOL!

Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to rant! ha!

~Mike~

[Mike Healey]

Thanks!

I have the tax issue in check. The issue I’m addressing here is a “Tapeless” HD delivery format of :30 spots on CD/DVD or Blu-Ray. We don’t require the services of DG FastChannel and the like. We already get content from them to tag here and distribute.

We’re in the business of taking those national taggable spots and doing the fulfillment and logistics on this end. We’re talking about several national spots that are made available for regional markets. We tag ‘n bag them for local broadcast and distribute to stations for the client. Some markets may need 1-2 dubs where other markets may need up to 10 or more dubs depending on the media buy in each market. Each spot is unique b/c each has a specific tag, ie. 1234 Market St., Sometown, USA Call 555-1212

Once the spots are tagged they have to be “dubbed” here and distrubuted to stations in each market. Not an issue with tape based SD delivery. With clients now going HD in many larger markets we serve, the need is there for HD fulfillment out our door. With so many stations accepting so many different formats we’re trying to nail down the most popular delivery formats and give them only a few options when ordering their customizable spots. We don’t want to get in a situation where the clients are wanting us to be able to offer every single HD tape and data delivery method to stations across the country. That would be costly for them and us at this point. Not to mention the web ordering logistics. Many clients who place the orders for taggable spots will have no idea what HD format their local broadcast station will accept or if they even accept HD content for local insertion.

I hope this clears up my point ansd what we’re trying to accomplish.

Thanks!

~Mike~