Video logging is a process in which
video
Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...
footage is watched and labeled according to its content.
Logging in post-production
If a video has a high
shooting ratio, it can be impractical to remember exactly where each shot is on each source tape or source file. Finding a particular source shot by searching through hours of video during editing can be time consuming, as well as tie up expensive editing equipment and editors' time.
A solution widely employed in the professional industry is to log the content prior to editing. Loggers go through the source video material, labeling it according to its contents within the
metadata. This data is then available during editing, making the editing more efficient.
Software based logging systems allow clip lists to be imported directly into computer based editing systems.
Broadcast and compliance logging
Free-to-Air
Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscripti ...
and Subscription broadcasters often have a statutory requirement to keep a record of all programs that are emitted. This may be for legal or other compliance purposes—or simply good commercial sense to 'have proof' of events in event of a contrary claim.
Traditionally compliance recordings were made to long-play video-cassette decks, using three 8-hour tapes per day per channel. The unreliability of moving tapes & heads, along with the move to
centralcasting and distributed playback requirements, has made this method virtually impossible to maintain in the current operational climate.
Larger multi-channel broadcasters with hundreds of feeds running simultaneously could potentially use several thousand VHS decks in rotation, along with the equipment racking, tape storage space and staff to manipulate those assets—and tens of thousands of tapes required to span the compliance retention period.
Developments since the early 2000s have shifted to multi-channel server-based
rich-media logging, with a few brave souls using domestic PVR software to achieve the basic functionality at a reduced cost.
Since 2005, more advanced systems such as th
Actus DigitalIntelligent Monitoring Platform were introduced and provide data sync to
broadcast automation
Broadcast automation incorporates the use of broadcast programming technology to automate broadcasting operations. Used either at a broadcast network, radio station or a television station, it can run a facility in the absence of a human opera ...
systems, as well as alerts on basic signal status, event logging for review of non program related events which may have been visible on air, and notification of non-compliance with federal regulations such as requirement to broadcast Closed Captions and
CALM Act
The Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (/) (CALM Act) requires the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to bar the audio of TV commercials from being broadcast louder than the TV program material they accompany by requiring all "mul ...
Compliance.
In addition to logging to disk, some packages also provide live streaming for internal use, or to be repurposed to external web or news sites.
A variety of disk-based compliance logging packages suitable for a range of customer applications are available—each employing a number of proprietary methods and technologies.
See also
*
CatDV
*
Blackbird
* Actus Digital at http://ActusDigital.com
References
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Film and video technology
Television technology