Avid ProEncode 1.7 User guide

a

Avid

®

ProEncode

™

Setup and User’s Guide

2

Avid ProEncode Setup and User’s Guide • Part 0130-05058-01 Rev. A • April 2002

3

Contents

Chapter 1 Overview

ProEncode Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Software Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

ProEncode Client. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

DMS Broker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

ProEncode Provider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

DMS Administration Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Configurations and Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Avid Unity MediaNet Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Local Area Network (LAN) Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

PortServer Pro Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Encoding Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

QuickTime Reference Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Using Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Chapter 2 Installing and Configuring ProEncode

Installation and Configuration Check List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Preparing the Network Environment for ProEncode . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Setting the Location of the Temporary File Folder. . . . . . . . . . . 26

Sharing Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Attaching the Application Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Setting Up the DMS Broker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Installing the DMS Broker Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Configuring the DMS Broker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Setting Up the DMS Administration Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

4

Adding Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Installing the ProEncode Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Setting Up an Encoder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Installing and Configuring the Encoding Application . . . . . . . 39

Installing the ProEncode Provider Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Registering a ProEncode Provider with the DMS Broker. . . . . 40

Configuring the ProEncode Provider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Setting Up a ProEncode Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Installing the ProEncode Client Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Configuring a ProEncode Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Checking the Installation and Configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Chapter 3 Using ProEncode

Encoding a Clip or Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Sending a Clip or Sequence to ProEncode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Adding a File to ProEncode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Monitoring the Encoding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Chapter 4 Using the DMS Administration Tool

The DMS Administration Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Opening the DMS Administration Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Exploring the DMS Administration Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Using the DMS Jobs Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Opening the DMS Jobs Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

DMS Jobs Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Customizing the Jobs List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Navigating the Jobs List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Updating the Jobs List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Purging the Jobs List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Viewing Details About a Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Canceling a Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Retrying a Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Using the DMS Providers Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

5

Opening the DMS Providers Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

DMS Providers Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Customizing the DMS Providers Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Deleting Providers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Using the DMS Users Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Opening the DMS Users Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Setting Up User Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Editing User Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Deleting User Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Reassigning Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Appendix A cleaner 5

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Installing cleaner 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Appendix B Exporting QuickTime Reference Movies

Exporting QuickTime Reference Movies to ProEncode . . . . . . . . . . 87

QuickTime Reference Export Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Appendix C Troubleshooting ProEncode

Finding Solutions for Specific Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

General Troubleshooting Procedure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Checking the User Information File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Checking the Log File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Index

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7

CHAPTER 1

Overview

This chapter provides an overview of the ProEncode application. It

includes the following sections:

• ProEncode Basics

• Software Components

• Configurations and Requirements

• Encoding Workflow

• QuickTime Reference Movies

ProEncode Basics

Today’s production houses face a rising demand for translating media

into formats suitable for distribution via the Web, DVD, or CD-ROM

— often at the same time. ProEncode software automates this

computing-intensive process and lets you move the encoding

operation to lower cost, dedicated workstations. These workstations,

connected in a network and working simultaneously, serve as your

“encoding farm.” Distributing the encoding frees editing workstations

to perform other tasks and allows you to generate two streams of

revenue-producing work in parallel.

8

For example, you can use Avid Distributed Media Services (DMS) and

ProEncode to send a sequence from your Media Composer

®

system to

multiple encoding workstations, which then simultaneously create a

QuickTime movie, an MPEG-2 movie, and any other formats available

from the encoding application. While these workstations are encoding,

you can work on your next Media Composer sequence.

You can use ProEncode in an Avid Unity

MediaNet environment,

where the editing station and the encoding stations are connected in a

Fibre Channel network. You can also use ProEncode in a local area

network (LAN), such as an Ethernet network, that uses an

Avid Xpress

®

DV system or Avid NewsCutter

®

XP system as the

media source.

ProEncode is also supported as a PortServer Pro client. PortServer Pro

client functionality is achieved by connecting the ProEncode Provider

to an Avid Unity PortServer workgroup. This allows you to access,

through the PortServer, workspaces in an Avid Unity MediaNet

workgroup and take advantage of the file-sharing capabilities, system

scalability, and flexibility offered by PortServer Pro and MediaNet

workgroup architectures.

ProEncode is a service that is layered on top of the DMS software

infrastructure. The DMS Broker and the DMS Administration Tool

manage all services that use DMS. As Avid develops new services, we

will use the same components to manage these additional services.

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Software Components

ProEncode consists of the following software components:

• ProEncode Client

• DMS Broker

• ProEncode Provider

• DMS Administration Tool

This section describes each component and how it functions. For

complete information about using the software components, see

Chapter 3.

ProEncode Client

The ProEncode Client software resides on the Avid editing system.

The Client starts the encoding process by placing your jobs in a batch

and submitting them to the DMS Broker for further processing. The

Client user interface includes the Add Jobs dialog box and the

ProEncode Client window.

The Add Jobs dialog box allows you to select the source movie and

other specifications for the job.

10

The ProEncode Client window displays information about the jobs

that you have added to your batch.

DMS Broker

The DMS Broker software resides on a computer other than the

computer running the Client software. In most cases, this computer

also performs the encoding, although you can install the Broker on its

own computer. The Broker serves as a go-between: it matches

encoding jobs and their corresponding settings with a suitable

encoding station. The Broker chooses an encoding station based on

which stations are available for use and which stations are configured

for a particular type of encoding.

The Broker also functions as a Web server for the DMS Administration

Tool (see “DMS Administration Tool” on page 12). Distributed Media

Services (DMS) is the software infrastructure on which ProEncode is

11

layered. For more information about DMS, see “ProEncode Basics” on

page 7.

The DMS Broker window displays information about the status of the

Broker and the jobs in the batch.

ProEncode Provider

The ProEncode Provider software resides on the computer that

performs the encoding (the encoding station or encoder). The Provider

starts the encoding application and sends it information about a job.

The Provider then monitors the job and sends information about the

job status to the DMS Broker.

The ProEncode Provider window displays information about the

status of the Provider and the job.

12

DMS Administration Tool

The DMS Administration Tool is a Web-based application that you can

access through a browser from anywhere on the Internet. The DMS

Administration Tool displays information about the ProEncode

system, such as job status and ProEncode Providers. It is also a tool for

managing jobs, providers, services, and users. For more information

about the DMS Administration Tool, see Chapter 4.

Distributed Media Services (DMS) is the software infrastructure on

which ProEncode is layered. For more information about DMS, see

“ProEncode Basics” on page 7.

13

Configurations and Requirements

You can configure ProEncode in three different network environments:

• Avid Unity MediaNet Environment

• Local Area Network (LAN) Environment

• PortServer Pro Environment

Avid Unity MediaNet Environment

Figure 1-1 shows ProEncode components in an Avid Unity MediaNet

environment.

14

Figure 1-1 ProEncode Components in an Avid Unity MediaNet

Environment

System Requirements

ProEncode components in an Avid Unity MediaNet environment have

the following system requirements:

• ProEncode Client: A computer running one of the following Avid

editing applications:

-Symphony

™

Release 3.1 or later

-Media Composer

or Film Composer

®

Release 10.1 or later

(Windows or Macintosh)

- Avid Xpress Release 4.1 or later (Windows or Macintosh)

15

- NewsCutter Release 2.0 or later

- NewsCutter XP Release 2.0 or later

Minimum hardware requirements are the same as the Avid editing

application’s requirements.

• DMS Broker: A computer running Windows 2000

-Pentium

®

-class processor or faster

- 94 MB of RAM

- 800 x 600, 16-bit display

The computer also requires Internet Explorer 5.5 or later. For more

information, see the Avid ProEncode Release Notes.

• ProEncode Provider: A computer running Windows 2000 that is

an Avid Unity client

- Pentium-class processor or faster

- 94 MB of RAM

- 800 x 600, 16-bit display

The computer also requires Internet Explorer 5.5 or later. For more

information, see the Avid ProEncode Release Notes.

n

The Broker can run on an encoder or on its own system.

• DMS Administration Tool: A computer running Windows and

Internet Explorer 5.0 or later or a Macintosh system running

Internet Explorer 5.0

You can download Internet Explorer from the Microsoft

®

Web site

(www.microsoft.com).

Network Requirements

ProEncode components in an Avid Unity MediaNet environment have

the following network requirements:

16

• Computers running the ProEncode Client and ProEncode

Provider need to be licensed and enabled as clients in an

Avid Unity MediaNet Fibre Channel network. Computers running

the Provider need access to all workspaces referenced by the clip

or sequence being encoded. For complete information on

configuring Avid Unity MediaNet clients, see the Avid Unity

MediaNet Windows Fibre Channel Client Setup Guide or the

Avid Unity MediaNet Macintosh Fibre Channel Client Setup Guide.

• The computer running the DMS Broker does not need to be an

Avid Unity MediaNet client but does need to be connected to the

MediaNet clients and encoders in a local area network. In most

cases, the Broker runs on an encoder.

• The computer running the DMS Administration Tool must have

an Internet connection to the Broker.

17

Local Area Network (LAN) Environment

Figure 1-2 shows ProEncode components in a local area network

(LAN) environment.

Figure 1-2 ProEncode Components in a LAN Environment

System Requirements

ProEncode components in a LAN environment have the following

system requirements:

• ProEncode Client: A computer running one of the following Avid

editing applications:

- Avid Xpress DV Release 2.0 or later

- NewsCutter XP Release 2.0 or later

18

Minimum hardware requirements are the same as the Avid editing

application’s requirements.

• DMS Broker and ProEncode Provider: A computer running

Windows NT. Encoding systems require cleaner

™

5.0.2 or later.

Minimum hardware requirements are the same as cleaner 5

requirements:

- Pentium-class processor or faster

- 94 MB of RAM

- 800 x 600, 16-bit display

The computer also requires Internet Explorer 5.5 or later. For more

information, see the Avid ProEncode Release Notes.

n

The Broker can run on an encoder or on its own system.

• DMS Administration Tool: A Windows system running Internet

Explorer 5.0 or later

You can download Internet Explorer from the Microsoft Web site

(www.microsoft.com).

Network Requirements

ProEncode components in a LAN environment have the following

network requirements:

• Computers running the ProEncode Client and the DMS Broker

need to be connected to the encoders in a LAN that uses the

TCP/IP protocol.

• The source folder for the original movie and the destination folder

for the completed movie need to be shared with computers

running the ProEncode Provider. For more information, see

“Sharing Folders” on page 27.

• The computer running the DMS Administration Tool must have

an Internet connection to the Broker.

19

PortServer Pro Environment

The following illustration shows how the PortServer and MediaNet

infrastructure fit together.

ProEncode supports jobs submitted by PortServer Pro editing systems,

such as NewsCutter XP. In addition, your ProEncode Provider

software can access, through a PortServer Pro connection, media files

stored in the Avid Unity MediaNet file system. This support frees up a

Fibre Channel port in the MediaNet workgroup and allows you to use

it for other purposes.

Avid Unity

MediaNet

file system

Fibre Channel

100BASE-T

PortSwitch

PortServer Pro

MediaNet client

Gigabit Ethernet

Ethernet

Avid Unity MediaNet

workgroup

ProEncode Provider

NewsCutter XP

with ProEncode

NewsCutter XP

with ProEncode

NewsCutter XP

with ProEncode

NewsCutter XP

with ProEncode

ProEncode Provider

20

Encoding Workflow

This section describes the typical workflow for using ProEncode to

manage encoding. For more information, see “Encoding a Clip or

Sequence” on page 53.

1. Make sure you have configured your ProEncode Client properly.

See “Configuring a ProEncode Client” on page 46.

2. In an Avid editor, select the clip or sequence you want to encode.

3. Choose File>DMS>ProEncode.

The Export window opens, and the ProEncode Applet window

opens. The Add Jobs dialog box also appears.

4. Select a Setting, Provider, and Priority.

5. Click Add To Batch.

6. Click Close.

7. Review the information in the ProEncode Client window.

8. Click Submit.

9. In the Export window, you can rename the output file name. Do

not change the location for the file in the Saved In text box.

10. Click Save.

The export operation occurs. When the editing system is finished

with the export, it notifies the Broker that the export is complete.

The Broker matches the job and corresponding settings with a

suitable encoder, based on availability and specific hardware

configurations (if applicable). When the ProEncode Provider on

the encoder signals that the encoder is available, the Broker tells

the Provider to start the job.

The encoded movie is stored in the specified destination and,

optionally, you receive a message that the job is complete.

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Avid ProEncode 1.7 User guide

Avid ProEncode 1.7 User guide

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