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Dear Avid, After over a year trying to get you to fix a number of bugs in Interplay, and now Mediacentral, Capture I'm ready to throw the towel in the ring. Multiple cases further, bugs being logged, fixes being released that do not fix the problems, new features only being half ready in some beta stage. The new version numbering just being ignored. Anyway...

I have recently setup 6 Glookast servers with Capture 2017.2.4 and the system is basically unusable. Since the introduction of the new API device service that replaces the framework device service Interplay/Mediacentral Capture has lost the ability of correctly determining the status of airspeed and glookast servers. If, for example, a Glookast channel looses a valid SDI signal the system goes into a warning state it never comes out of when signal returns and that channel can't be used to record anymore. You restart the API device service and it all off a sudden become aware it can. If you dare to restart the API device service while some channels are recording you have lost those until you stop all recordings and restart all services again.

L2 support has been providing the help they could but the problem is 100% a development issue. My question is simple Avid: Are you going to put the development resources in to make Capture a product that can actually be used in a broadcast environment again or should we just buy Glookast, MOG or Telestream ingest servers and schedulers and not bother anymore?

A single channel failing requiring an API service restart, which requires you to stop all recordings on all channels is simply not viable. 

Hello everybody,

We have more than 10,000 items to remove from our Avid Archive connect in FrontPorch.

Someone knows if it is possible to import a list of elements in the Archive Engine from Access or other app ?

Or any other method or command that can prevent us from entering each item one by one in Access to remove it.

Thank you !

Mainly interact via Interplay window in media composer, to access assets that have been checked in from EVS/IPD. Very little further interaction within IW, searching, sorting & sifting done using AMC bins, folders & tools.

Smart folders in Interplay

Ideally I would be able to view a ‘smart folder’ that would show only clips that have been checked in in last x hours, that have not been checked out to an MC project. (Further and/or/not logic filtering would also be useful)

Smart bins in AMC 

Even better would be to have newly checked in master clips automatically populate AMC bins, preferably without having to close & reopen or refresh - i.e. have the smart bins reflect smart folders in Interplay.

So I might have a smart bin containing all incoming media and another containing only clips from last 24 hours that were given a 3* rating within EVS

Smart subclips from EVS clips

EVS clips come with handles. For a number of reasons it would make sense for these EVS clips be displayed as subclips in AMC (ie constrained by marks in & out but with handles available, in the usual way, by trimming or match frame to master clip). If those subclips could be further constrained to user-specified audio tracks (e.g. tracks 3&4 as stereo pair and A5 as a centre panned mono) it would be even sweeter.

I could ask this question to Support but I'd like to see what others are experiencing out in the field as well.

Since the removal of the framework in the media indexer and the introduction of the ActiveMQ connection, the FI database and mongoDB a lot of fixes have been introduced in the media indexer to resolve a multitude of problems. The most important fix being the improved memory management preventing slowness and crashes.

These crashes however made a certain architectual behavior visible of which I do not know if this is by design or if they could be considered bugs.

If the mongodb service crashes (with or without taking the classic MI service or the whole server BSOD with it) and it is brought back up, clients like a client local media indexer, transcode services, stp service, media central etc.. often nead restarts to re-connect to the media indexer. It is as if the ActiveMQ connection for these clients does not support automatic re-connection.

If this is by design, could it be wise to release a document/knowledgebase article which clients require a restart after each of the individual media indexer services is restarted?

Thanks.

Hello!

I have a query which I am hoping someone can help me with.

If a Hard Drive with a catalogue of albums in an MXF format is ingested in a core storage, to then be accessed within Interplay. Is it possible to search through this catalogue in Interplay? At the moment I can only search in Avid Access.

Is there a way to search through media from an ingested extrernal drive in Interplay or would there have to be an added third party search?

I hope this makes sense and someone can help!

Thanks,
Eve

Dear Avid, ACSR's and Avid shared storage users.

I'm going to describe a scenario I have just encountered that makes me wonder if I'm a massive idiot or if all these years 'we' missed a huge flaw in Avid's media indexer functionality.

First the simplified facts:

- ISIS 7000 suffers from an electonic component problem that can cause the ISB microcontrollers to fail booting if power is removed from an ISIS 7000 chassis. Avid will replace these controllers free of charge regardless of support contract status as this is considered a manufacturing fault. Kudos Avid! (I do however wonder if this policy to replace this these boards should be altered from 'when failed' to 'known to fail' but I can't estimate the costs)

- As probably everybody knows, the integrated media indexer on all media composer systems, standalone, using shared storage and in an interplay environment, continuously monitors the file count of local storage AvidMediaFiles folder and scans the storage if a mismatch is detected (or pmr & mdb files are not present) and if during the scan they detect a corrupt mxf/omf file they will move that file into the quarantine folder. This scanning process is a visible process.

- The integrated media indexer on Media composer systems with shared storage will do the same for the Avid MediaFiles\MXF\machinename.number folders in the ISIS/Nexis workspaces if no interplay components are installed. This is also a visible process. 

- In an Interplay environent the central media indexer takes care of all workspace indexing. It does not initiate an automatic re-index or re-scan when changes occur on workspaces. However it has a feature called the Media Indexer Full Resync Time which by default is set at 01:00 at night.  This process is only visible on the media indexer web page.

- Media Indexer relies on ISIS/Nexis file system notifications in detection of new files being created on the Avid shared storage. These notifications comes in three flavours, CREATED, UPDATED, DELETED. When a file is being created or updated, Media Indexer starts an index process for the file, providing the file is in a non-excluded folder. Media Indexer by default will ignore files in folders with names "temp", "creating" and "quarantined files", files created in these folders will be detected, but ignored.

The scenario:

An unlucky customer encounters an issue with his UPS and power fails at around 00:00 at night. PANIC!!! UPS techs, electricians and broadcast techs are called and those still on site are running around. At 00:15 slowly slowly power is restored to all equipment. Many will recognize this situation. PSU's not powered down for years failing, smoking capacitors, clocks needing setting, drives failing and raid sets (attempting) rebuilding and... ISIS 7x00 ISB microcontrollers failing. Disaster...

Before 01:00 all Avid servers are powered up and the system directors present the file system to all clients including the media indexers. But due to the multiple ISB failure most media is missing file parts. But no panic, the Avid storage support team is here to help 24/7 to get those failed ISB up and running a.s.a.p. However...

At 01:00 the media indexers perform the automated re-index and quarantine all media it considers corrupt. So it moves the files in their corrupt state. When after 24-48h the new ISB microcontroller boards arrive all ISB's are brought back up, 7 ISB's however remain in the unknown state. All of these 7 ISB's report one or both drives missing. 6 of these ISB's funtion normally after reseat, the 1 ISB does not play ball. The power cut has killed on of its drives but no panic hot Spare ISB(s) are available and the system was 'only' 90% full. Of course the ISB's perform their rectifying files when reinserted and a repairing mirrors because of the failed ISB's. To replace the failed ISB the spare is added and a redistribution starts. In the morning the redistribution finishes but 90% of the media is in quarantine and indeed trying several mxf's show they are corrupt.

Could this be prevented? Yes of course but is this procedure documented? Was it the quarantine action that killed the system directors ability to recover from this catastrophy, was it the repairing mirrors or the redistribution? All projects and other files outside of the Avid MediaFiles folders are 100% ok.

But this made me think (yes I know that's a bad idea). Why does the media indexer need to move corrupt media which is the last thing you want on any storage facing problems. For the local media indexer... let's skip that chapter for now.

 In an interplay environment, why can't the media indexer just flag the mxf's as corrupt without touching them? Why not allow a manual retry after a user was able to restore his ISIS to 100%?

The automatic re-index is only documented in the Best practices documentation. An ability to disable it is not available only to change the time it happens.

As an ISIS and Interplay ACSR I believe I should have known the above and how to avoid it or I should have known how to deduct the prevention of such a catastrophy by putting the functional knowledge of the individual parts together. But even if I did, if the power restore to the system directors and media indexers happens 5-10 minutes before the automatic re-index is initiated... is that a case of bad luck?

When we connect to one of our Interplay clients, all media is getting offline.

Have someone got this to work? How is your config?

Dear Avid,

On this very nice Sunday morning I'd like to introduce you to one of my favorite songs by two of my favorite artists Thom Yorke and PJ Harvey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTrGowDPjBk

The reason for this is found in the underneath picture.

Where it writes 2017.2.1 MediaCentral | Production Server the download provided is a new patched version of MediaCentral | Production Services also known in the past as Interplay production services or DMS Broker.

Is this just a small typo? A human mistake? Or a new method of saying that all indivual components and their patches will all have the same name as the bundle in the download center? 

I believe this is another result of the slow but steady decline in lack of focus. Avid I do not care if your marketing team wants to change the word 'Interplay' into MediaCentral. I wouldn't care if they changed it into Purple elephant or Flying hush puppies production. Neither do I care if you want to call the next version 3.9, 2017.3, 2018.4 or 'Sunday April 22 2018 518 years after the Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral lands in Brazil'.

What's in a name?

What matters is what organisational method is going to be used and followed across all products to have a consistent version and licensing scheme. First you decide to use the year.version sequence nr scheme to change that later to a year.month.patch version sequence nr scheme. What is next? A year.month.day.hour.minute.second.patch version sequence scheme?

But what really worries me is this:

What is this now Avid? After iNews command adapts to the new license scheme you go back to the old?

And than come the readmes... Command 2017.2 is supposed to be compatible with Windows 10. We gave it a try but quickly downgraded the workstation to windows 7 as it showed to same unpredictable behavior as all previous versions of command. Surpisingly 3.6.2 follows the old compatibility scheme.

So developement of the same products will now continue in both version schemes?

But it doesn't end there...

Yes! A new version of Capture that is required for the Glookast integration. Just in time as I'm about to install it this coming week. Hopefully it also has the fixes I (and many others) need to get Capture working on other sites. Quickly find the readme.

Oh no... not again. The documentation isn't ready yet. But wait a minute that date Dec 28. The 2017.2 readme was only released 2 weeks ago when the .3 version was already available in the download center. And this .2 readme also writes it was written Dec 22. Avid... please can we remain clear on the release dates of software and documentation?

Hello, please i need urgently the installer package of the INterplay Assist 2.4

Dear All

please if any one can help me in finding the setup for avid transfer manager 2.4