Autoingest

Designed for Sky Racing, Autoingest 2 (AI2) is responsible for automating the dynamic recording and transcoding of over 400 live races/day, 364 days a year.

Key Features

  • Seamless integration with Viz One

  • Seamless third-party integration

  • Automatic transcoding into multiple formats

  • Automated recording and scheduling

  • Rapid web and archive cuts

  • Rapid content delivery to various platforms

  • Enhanced management of metadata

  • Resilient and failproof processing

  • Dashboard updated with real-time progress

Reducing the manual load

One of the most significant features of Autoingest 2 is its ability to automate the entire recording and scheduling process of Sky Racing’s broadcasts. All recordings are now planned and executed by AI2 to cover scheduled race times. This automation has reduced the manual workload, minimised errors, and ensures that no race is missed, marking a greater leap in efficiency for Sky Racing.

Automated web uploading and archiving

The ability for Sky Racing to have web and archive cuts of recorded material automatically created is a game-changer. AI2 makes a web cut during the recording, enabling videos to be uploaded to the web almost immediately after a race concludes. This feature ensures that fans have timely access to content. Additionally, archive cuts are securely stored in AWS Glacier, allowing for long-term preservation and quick retrieval of recorded content.

Visibility and usability

AI2’s integration with Vizrt’s Viz One details the stored videos with accurate metadata, pulled directly from Sky’s systems. This makes cataloguing and accessing archived recordings a matter of seconds. AI2 also provides a detailed real-time dashboard that tracks the progress of each race, offering a higher level of transparency and control for Sky Racing’s broadcasts.

How Sky Racing was Transformed with Autoingest 2 Integration

Sky Racing, a prominent Australian broadcaster of live racing events, faced a significant operational challenge due to its labour-intensive workflow. Initially, the company would broadcast up to 150 races daily, with each race being manually marked for start and end times, then archived onto videotape. This manual-focused process not only limited the efficiency and scalability of their broadcasting capabilities, but was also prone to human error. The integration of Sol1’s Autoingest with Sky Racing marked a revolutionary step in automating their processes, increasing their broadcasting capabilities, and improving their access to stored resources.

The newest version of the system, Autoingest 2 (AI2), is tightly integrated with Vizrt’s Viz One and Sky Racing’s systems. It has successfully automated the broadcasting and archiving of their racing events, now capable of handling 300-400 races daily.

 

Capabilities

  • Automating the planning and recording of live races, covering scheduled times from up to 50 connected HD and SD sources. This has effectively removed the need for manually marking the beginning and ending of races.
  • During recording, AI2 simultaneously makes a web cut, allowing for the video to be uploaded online as soon as possible after the race has concluded. AI2 also creates a separate archive cut for long-term storage in AWS Glacier, ensuring secure and cost-effective archiving.
  • The web cut is transcoded into multiple video and audio formats for various OTT platforms and web partners using a mix of Elemental and Sol1 transcode.
  • AI2 handles uploading the transcoded files to Akamai for Sky Racing, any partners, and OTT delivery. After uploading, the system can trigger third-party workflows, such as registration and cache updating, to maintain a consistent and efficient workflow pipeline.
  • Videos stored in Viz One are tagged with detailed metadata that AI2 grabs from Sky’s systems, facilitating easy access and retrieval of stored races.
  • AI2 is designed with error handling in mind – failing and retrying gracefully. This ensures reliability and consistency in their race processing procedures.
  • A real-time dashboard that updates according to the progress and background processes of each race, offering staff visibility and understanding over the operations.

 

The implementation of Autoingest 2 has revolutionized Sky Racing’s broadcast and archiving workflow, proving the power of automation in transforming media operations. By almost tripling the number of races broadcasted, improving access to archived content, and streamlining distribution across multiple platforms, Sky Racing has set a new benchmark in the broadcasting industry.

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