Scalable, distributed media transcoding from workgroups to enterprise

Media professionals are faced with an ever-increasing array of digital media file formats, with transcoding a key step in almost every video workflow. While many formats can be encoded or transcoded faster than real time, high-volume file format conversion remains a time-consuming task.

The Digital Rapids Transcode Manager software family provides centralized management, automation and load balancing for large transcoding jobs involving many media files, increasing your production volume while reducing the overhead and costs associated with manual management and monitoring. Scalable from small transcoding "farms" to enterprise level operations, a Transcode Manager server works in conjunction with multiple Transcode Engines, assigning jobs with sophisticated "intelligence" to use them most efficiently.

Designed for large studios, facilities and service providers, Transcode Manager FE combines these benefits with robust enterprise-class features and integration. For smaller studios and workgroups without enterprise requirements, Digital Rapids Transcode Manager LE offers the same core functionality and intelligence in a lower-cost configuration. (See chart for feature comparison).

Easy to Set Up, Simple to Operate

Digital Rapids Transcode Manager integrates easily into IP network-based digital media workflows. Transcode Engines are found automatically on the network using discovery protocols and can be assigned into groups, each monitoring specified watch folders (hot folders). Project files define transcode settings, video pre-processing functions (including inverse telecine, graphic overlay, color space conversion, scaling and more) and delivery options (including folders, web publishing, FTP and our optional Copper wirespeed, secure transfer software). Priorities can be assigned to each job type. Transcode Manager supports both high definition (HD) and SD content, with a broad range of compression and file formats. Its flexible software codec architecture insures against obsolescence, enabling the easy addition of new formats.

When files are dropped into a watch folder, tasks for each project file assigned to that folder are queued by Transcode Manager for intelligent distribution to available transcoders. Jobs can also be sent to Transcode Manager directly from Digital Rapids Stream encoding solutions through the Stream software interface.

Automated intelligence for maximum throughput and reliability

Digital Rapids Transcode Manager goes beyond standard load balancing mechanisms with intelligent job assignment, predicting which node can most efficiently process a given job. The Transcode Manager server tracks the performance of all Transcode Engines for each type of encode, “learning” which systems are best for each (taking advantage of faster CPUs, additional cores or specialized CPU instruction sets for more complex jobs) and allocating jobs accordingly to optimize utilization and throughput. (See our white paper for details).

Job failover for automated failure recovery ensures reliability. The Transcode Manager server monitors the status of its networked Engines, attempting to restart any failed transcodes. If a failure is detected and the transcode cannot be successfully restarted on that system, the job is resubmitted to another Engine, ensuring that the task is completed. Automated notifications also alert personnel to any failures, letting you leave the system unattended with confidence.

Enterprise-class capabilities for critical operations

Transcode Manager FE goes beyond the feature set of Transcode Manager LE with advanced fault tolerance, integration and management features. Server-level failover automatically transfers control to a backup server if the primary Transcode Manager FE server fails, ensuring that your transcoding operations continue uninterrupted. Features including head/tail clips and trimming enable the automatic removal or addition of bumpers, studio IDs, or other common content at the beginning and end of each transcode. Priorities can be manually overridden for time-critical tasks, while extended notifications and customizable report publishing keep you informed of job progress, completion and more. Transcode Manager FE tracks all events in either its embedded database (also available in Transcode Manager LE) or through support for a variety of third-party databases including Oracle 10g®, Microsoft® SQL Server 2005 and PostgreSQL. For those wishing to integrate Transcode Manager directly into their own applications, an comprehensive Web Services (SOAP) API is also available.