Ingex
{{Short description|Software for digital capture of audio and video data}}
Ingex is an open-source (GPL) suite of software for the digital capture of audio and video data, without the need for traditional audio or video tape or cassettes.{{cite web
| url = http://ingex.sourceforge.net/
| title = Ingex
| accessdate=2009-08-24
| url = http://www.linux-magazin.de/NEWS/Fallstudie-Die-BBC-und-ihr-Projekt-Ingex
| first =
| last =
| author =
| authorlink =
| title = Fallstudie: Die BBC und ihr Projekt Ingex
| publisher = Linux Magazine
| location = Germany
| language = German
| date =11 April 2008
| accessdate = 2009-08-24
}} Serial digital interface (SDI) capture is supported, as well as real-time transcoding (with MXF). Portions of the software suite also act as a network file server for media files, as well as archiving to LTO-3 data tape. Audio and video media files can also be stored on USB hard drives or Network Attached Storage.{{cite web
| author = Rodney Gedda
| title = BBC moves Linux into TV production
| url = http://www.computerworlduk.com/toolbox/open-source/applications/news/index.cfm?newsid=7238
| publisher = Computerworld
| location = UK
| date = 2008-01-29
| accessdate = 2009-08-25
}} The software is heavily used by the BBC, and was developed by the BBC Research Laboratory.
Some of the early production projects which have used Ingex include a Foo Fighters music video, and the BBC television series Dragons' Den.
Features
The different software products in the suite support:
- Multi-camera video capture in a studio environment
- Video tape archive preservation
- Acting as a server to Avid editing clients
Media Harmony{{Cite web|url=http://ingex.sourceforge.net/MediaHarmony/|title=MediaHarmony - Media file interoperability for non-linear editors}} is a module for Samba Virtual file system (VFS). This allows editing clients, such as Avid, to use low-cost commodity storage for video and media files.
Ingex Studio provides studio-style recoding, capture, transcode, and MXF wrapping for multiple cameras, also known as multi-camera tapeless recording.{{Cite web|url=http://ingex.sourceforge.net/studio/|title=Ingex Studio - Multi-camera Tapeless Recording}} The software runs on commodity PC hardware and SDI IO cards. The media can then be edited by MXF-based editors, for example, Avid Media Composer.
Supported formats
Currently supported standard-definition (SD) codecs are:
- Avid-compatible JPEG codec resolutions known as 2:1, 3:1, 10:1, 20:1, 15:1s, 10:1m, 4:1m
- DVCPRO50 (50Mbit/s) and DV (25Mbit/s)
- IMX 50/40/30 (50/40/30 Mbit/s)
- Uncompressed standard-definition video at 8 bits-per-sample and 10 bits-per-sample
Supported high-definition (HD) codecs are:
- DNxHD (VC-3) at 120 Mbit/s and 185 Mbit/s
- DVCPRO HD
- Uncompressed high-definition video at 8 bits-per-sample
libMXF supports:{{Cite web|url=http://ingex.sourceforge.net/libMXF/|title=LibMXF - MXF software library}}
- MXF
- uncompressed video or audio, DV25/50, IMX, JPEG, DNxHD and DVCProHD files
- writes MXF OP-Atom files which can be used directly in Avid Media Composer and related editors
- media_harmony - per-client .pmr and .mdb database files so there are no conflicts between Avid editors
- mxf_harmony - on-the-fly unwrapping of MXF-wrapped DV essence so that a Final Cut Pro client can share the same DV media files as an Avid client
Ingex archive supports:{{Cite web|url=http://ingex.sourceforge.net/archive/|title = Ingex Archive}}
- MXF OP-1A file container, containing audio, video, and timecode data (also known as OP-1A MXF)
- LTO-3 data tape
- Video SMPTE 384M uncompressed 4:2:2 video at 8 bits per sample in UYVY format
- Audio SMPTE 382M uncompressed PCM audio at 48 kHz and 20 bits per sample
- LTO barcode information
- POSIX.1-2001 archive format (also known as pax Interchange format), a superset of the tar format which overcomes the 8 GiB limitation of tar format, to ensure future access to programmes
Metadata:
- Advanced Authoring Format (AAF) is used for storing edition metadata.{{cite web
| url = http://www.broadcastandmedia.com/article/the-mxf-files/485887.aspx
| author = Stuart Finlayson
| title = The MXF files
| publisher = Broadcast and Media
| location = Australia
| accessdate = 2009-08-24
| date = 2008-01-18
}}
Supported operating systems
- libMXF: Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
- Ingex Studio: openSUSE Linux
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
Project Pages:
- [http://ingex.sourceforge.net/ ingex.sourceforge.net]
- [http://ingex.cvs.sourceforge.net/ingex/ Sourceforge Ingex Project Page]
Whitepapers:
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/whp/whp133.shtml Improving workflow in practice for low-cost programme-making using MXF & AAF file formats]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/whp/whp141.shtml Tapeless and paperless: Automating the workflow in TV studio production]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/whp/whp155.shtml File-based Production: Making It Work In Practice]
Case studies:
From the Open Source Observatory and Repository (OSOR), a project of the European Commission's IDABC project:
- [http://www.osor.eu/case_studies/low-cost-high-tech-bbc-tries-out-open-source-based Low-cost high tech: BBC tries out Open Source-based tapeless recording]
- [http://www.osor.eu/case_studies/docs/bbc-tries-out-open-source-odt Low-cost high tech: BBC tries out Open Source-based tapeless recording, as ODT document]
- [http://www.osor.eu/case_studies/docs/bbc-tries-out-open-source-pdf Low-cost high tech: BBC tries out Open Source-based tapeless recording, as PDF document]
Category:Broadcast engineering