MediaPortal Bins [INT ENT 21.4 ARC]

MediaPortal bins are collections of assets which optionally have in and out marks to refer to a specific time span of an asset. To model these concepts in VidiCore, collections are used. The metadata field V3_CollectionType is set to PersistedBin (see Collection Types [INT ENT 21.4 ARC]).

The VidiCore collection contains one or multiple items in an ordered manner. Collections may also contain other collections.

In- and out-points and further metadata are stored as metadata on collection to entity relations with each item inside the collection using the standard VidiCore timecode notation. The key names follow the naming scheme used by VidiCore timespan elements as defined in a VidiCore MetadataDocument.

The key names changed in release 21.1 of VidiFlow to achieve consistent naming across all Vidispine products.

Please ensure to properly migrate existing data when upgrading to VidiFlow 21.1. A migration script will be available for this.

Key name	Meaning

Key name	Meaning
`start`	Zero-based relative in-point for the item, e.g. `10@NTSC`. If not present, the item is used from its beginning. The in-point is inclusive.
`end`	Zero-base relative out-point for the item, e.g. `1240@PAL`. If not present, the item is used until its end. The out-point is non-inclusive.
`description`	Optional plain-text description of the item. As it is not stored directly at the item, it may be different for the same item in different collections.
`V3_TcIn` DEPRECATED	This key name was used in VidiFlow prior to 21.1. Zero-based relative in-point for the item, e.g. `10@NTSC`. If not present, the item is used from its beginning. The in-point is inclusive.
`V3_TcOut` DEPRECATED	This key name was used in VidiFlow prior to 21.1. Zero-based relative out-point for the item, e.g. `10@NTSC`. If not present, the item is used until its end. The in-point is exclusive.
`V3_Duration` DEPRECATED	Duration of marked segment, e.g. `1240@PAL`. If not present, the item is used until its end.
`V3_Description` DEPRECATED	Optional plain-text description of the item. As it is not stored directly at the item, it may be different for the same item in different collections.

It is not suitable to store these values directly on an item as these values may differ for the same item in different collections. The usage of metadata on collection to entity relations ensures that the referenced items are not changed when placing an item into a collection.

When looking at a VidiCore collection with two partial items this would look like this:

<CollectionDocument xmlns="http://xml.vidispine.com/schema/vidispine">
  <id>COLLECTION-VX-3866</id>
  <content>
    <id>ITEM-VX-5480</id>
    <type>item</type>
    <metadata>
      <field>
        <key>V3_TcIn</key>
        <value>10@PAL</value>
      </field>
      <field>
        <key>V3_Duration</key>
        <value>27@PAL</value>
      </field>
    </metadata>
  </content>
  <content>
    <id>ITEM-VX-1810</id>
    <type>item</type>
    <metadata>
      <field>
        <key>V3_TcIn</key>
        <value>3848@PAL</value>
      </field>
      <field>
        <key>V3_Duration</key>
        <value>4570@PAL</value>
      </field>
    </metadata>
  </content>
</CollectionDocument>

VidiCore in versions <= 5.4 did not allow to store the same item in a collection multiple times. For an Enterprise MAM Solution this is essential, however. To achieve this, the following mechanism was used as an intermediate solution:

For each partial item create another “intermediate” item and put this intermediate item into the collection. V3_TcIn (zero-based in-point in VidiCore timecode notation) and V3_Duration (duration in VidiCore timecode notation) are used and are applied on the entity relation between the collection and the intermediate item. The intermediate item does not contain an asset and does not have metadata; instead it is marked as hidden (via V3_Hidden) and points to the actual item via a directed item-to-item relation with type=subclip.