Benefits

Scalability

Metus MAM can scale from the single server and workstation to multiple sites on a WAN, that span over dozens of servers and hundreds of clients. For small installations, some or all of the server side components can be installed and work together on a single server. For larger installations the components each have their own servers, and the largest ones can have multiple server components of each type running and communicating together, for load balancing and/or redundancy. Multiple storage systems can be connected in each MAM installation, on one server or on different servers. The users see it as one space.  Multiple servers on different sites can communicate and synchronize with each other, over internet or WAN. There’s simply no architectural limit to the size of the system. 

We don’t tie users to us, by developing and using “optimized” and “high quality” custom formats, thus forcing them to keep using us because their archive is unreadable outside of the archive, unless exported by us into a standard format.  Instead, we believe in natively supporting as many open, industry standard formats as possible. And indeed, we support almost all of them. The media formats supported inside Metus MAM include:

Format Support

File wrappers: MPG, M2P, AVI, F4V, MXF, GXF, MOV, XDCAM, MP4, TS, Avid DNxHD,

                       WMV, WAV, M4A, P2, Microsoft Smooth Streaming™

Essences:        MPEG2, DV, DVCPRO, uncompressed, DVCPRO50,  

                       DVCPRO100HD, H.264, AVC, AVCIntra,

                       Apple ProRes, IMX, VC-1, PCM, AAC, WMA                      

Plus, almost all picture formats in the world are supported. And, let’s not forget about the document formats. Metus MAM supports Word, Excel, PDF files. It can also support popular archive formats like zip, rar etc.

Processing

Metus MAM is NOT simply an archive system. It’s also a multimedia processing solution. The built in video processing engine Metus Process Server (MPS) that comes inside the MAM, is faster, and has more features than many a dedicated file transcoding product.  For large systems it is deployable in a load balancing farm topology. Here are some of the tasks it can be used for, to give an idea about the wide range of applications:• Automatically creating proxy versions of assets a large number of users can view videos simultaneously without overloading the network.

• • Transcode between the file formats supported. Transcoding can be done during import, export, or any time in between, or based on a given schedule. Users can even, if they want, attach multiple transcoded versions of the file to the original assets, for instant on demand delivery in any format.
  • Cut, trim, paste and join video files for basic video editing.
  • Embed extra audio channels, surround sound.
  • Package to TS and adaptive bitrate formats for internet.

Files created and transcoded from Metus MAM are frame accurate, so that users can do things like seamlessly switch from proxy to hi-res during playback, or use the proxy files in editing software and switching on the timeline with hi-res versions later, without damaging the edit.

Storage Agnostic

NAS, DAS, SAN.. all types of storage technologies can be used as multimedia storage by Metus MAM. Ethernet, fiber, iSCSI, SAS, we work with them all.  MAM can also manage Tape drives and libraries as nearline/offline multimedia main storage or backup. Metus MAM is designed to make the most out of the storage systems available. The Information Lifecycle Manamagement (ILM) feature can automatically move files between fast, slow and nearline storage systems based on their access frequency, or other user defined rules.

Speed

Metus MAM is fast. Users can start working with assets as soon as import starts. Videos can be played, trimmed, cut, even before they finish copying into the storage. You can even edit videos that are still being captured by Metus Ingest. Metadata can be input during capture and edited later. Or metadata does not have to be input manually at all;  MAM will assign metadata automatically using custom templates you created, or via any xml based metadata form that accompanies the files. Or a mix of all methods can be used at the same time. The client user interface is entirely virtual. All objects, including bins, assets and even thumbnails are read from database so browsing bins that contain hundreds of assets is very fast. All searches done on MAM are done on a custom optimized database, so that archives made of thousands of assets can be searched in seconds. Metus MAM even allows users to work on nearline/offine media, as if they were online, by always keeping the proxy versions on HDD based storage. Users can play, mark, trim assets using proxy, only when they need the high res file does MAM actually retrieves it from tape.

Easy of Use

No one needs to be a rocket scientist, to become a content manager anymore, because Metus MAM is extremely easy to use.  All controls for daily operation are right where the operator needs, in a single interface. All controls that are not necessary are hidden away where only administrators can access them. Importing assets is a matter of dragging and dropping files into the client interface, or copying them to a folder in a client, which is watched by Metus MAM with its Dynamic Bin feature. Basic information about clips, like format, popularity, whether it is online etc. are available right on the thumbnail, and all metadata is available on the user interface at a single click. Storyboards are automatically created to get an idea about the video at a single glance, and to quickly navigate to that point. Clips can be played directly from the interface, or from a media player, where users can play fast or slow, mark points and regions, using keyboard shortcuts. Monitoring files with multiple audio channels is a breeze, done in a single click. Users can even have one language on the left headphone and another on the right.  Organizing clips is as easy as dragging to a folder, metadata entry is click and write. Search is as easy as writing in Google, or clicking on a folder. And export is as easy as dragging out of the software.. Of course, if you have the right to do so.

Metadata and Search

The whole point of having a content management system is a) cataloguing your assets with enough information so that b) you can find them immediately whenever you need them. Metus MAM allows for unlimited metadata in many types to be created by system administrators, right out of the box.  Users can add easy categories, marker and region definitions in sections of the assets to be used during searches. Assets can be organized in virtual bins. Virtual assets from the same file can be created with different metadata. Searches can be performed Google style as free text search, or users can build custom searches using any kind of metadata that exists in the system. Frequently performed searches can be saved as search bins, to be executed at a single click. Users can even optionally perform image search, to search for a picture frame inside all pictures and videos in the archive. It’s all about keeping your archive usable at your fingertips.

Export and Delivery

You imported your assets, you carefully added your metadata, you made your search and found what you needed. What then? Metus MAM opens new vistas in front of customers who need to deliver a large number of multimedia assets to multiple locations. Files can be made available to subscribers for web download via Metus Web client, or customized browser based clients. Files can be automatically transcoded on-the-fly during export to any number of formats defined by an export profile. If the exported files need to be imported to another system after MAM, custom xml based metadata form reports can be created and exported automatically together with the files.

Security

By default, it is not possible to access the files archived in Metus MAM, by any other way other than the Desktop Client, such as through Windows environment. Metus MAM has its own built-in security system, separate from Windows security. There are separate, and individually assignable permissions for adding, playing, editing, downloading and deleting assets. Contrary Windows environment, users with read permission, may or may not have the right to copy/retrieve. Or, users with the permission to add/write, may not have right to delete. These permissions can be assigned to the whole archive project, or on individual bins, or on individual assets, or even on individual metadata fields. A user with no permissions may still have the right to Request, which upon granting gives one-time use right. Parts of assets can be censured for video or audio only, non-destructively hiding sensitive information from regular users.

Management

Metus MAM makes a breeze out of managing huge archives. The archive is organized around Archive Projects, which are the collected sum of the multimedia files, data, and security. Different projects within the same Metus MAM installation, may have different media storages, archive servers, different metatada fields, different users. The same users can exist in more than one project, with different access rights. Metus MAM has detailed access monitoring and logging system called User Actions. Every action done in the archive, is logged, together with where and when and who. This log can be easily browsed, sorted, filtered and printed. All delete operations are virtual and can be retrieved from built in Recycle Bin by administrators. The assets can be optionally versioned, so that changes on them (metadata or video) can be tracked and rolled back.