We’d like to start this post with a BIG thank you! Whether this is your first visit to the blog or you have been a loyal reader since day-one, you personally have contributed to the thousands of Dalet Academy page views each month. And as the Academy community continues to grow, we are grateful to have readers in more than 100 countries. Your frequent feedback and ideas help us improve and keep our pipeline full of interesting, forward-looking and thought-provoking media-related technological topics. Keep on challenging us, we definitely need it!
As you may have noticed, 2015 was kind of a big year for the Dalet Academy… Following the launch of the platform back in January, we gradually introduced new themes, new topics and new authors. We are ending the year with dozens of educational articles on diverse topics such as: Workflow, Transcode, Metadata, DPP, MXF, Ingest, SMPTE, Captions, UQC, and Enterprise.
Now, what you have all been waiting for… Here are the top 10 posts you liked and shared the most in 2015:
- Media Asset Data Models in MAM Systems – An Evolutionary View
As Kevin Savina was working on a presentation illustrating the data models upon which MAM systems are built, he realized that looking at the evolution of these data models was a nice way of explaining them. From the “Dark Ages of MAM” to the current “Industrial Age”, explore the evolution of MAM platforms!
- Shared Storage for Media Workflows… Part 1 and Part 2
In part one of this article, Dalet director of marketing Ben Davenport lists and explains the key concepts to master when selecting storage for media workflows. Part two, authored by Quantum senior product marketing manager Janet Lafleur, focuses on storage technologies and usages, and the importance of choosing the right storage solution in a time when the digital footprint of content is growing exponentially.
- Troubleshooting – Top Tips to Make Files Work
So, you built yourself the world’s most perfect, IT-based file workflow and you have a state-of-the-art media facility? Congratulations, have a beer, but… at some point it’s going to go wrong! Get to the root of your media workflow issues with these troubleshooting techniques … when in doubt, KISS!
- How to bring standards to your organization
Bruce Devlin, Dalet chief media scientist aka Mr. MXF, explains how to bring standards to your organization in four easy steps (spoiler: step 4 is to enjoy the fruits of your labor!). Find out why implementing standards will make your operations more efficient AND more profitable!
- Bruce’s Shorts Blast Off for The Third Time
After a long wait, our educational video series Bruce’s Shorts came back, better than ever. We kicked off Season 3 of Bruce’s Shorts by taking a look at Ultra High Definition TV (UHDTV) and what the many different acronyms are all about.
- The rumours of Timecode’s death are highly exaggerated
Any responsible parent should teach their children to count. Most humans will teach their children to count in decimal. I am sure there are a number of computer experts who will teach their children to count in hexadecimal. Old-timers may teach them to count in Octal. I suppose that media engineers should teach their children to count in Drop Frame Timecode. I wonder how that would work?
- FIMS: A Plug-and-Play Solution
With so many systems with proprietary interfaces in existence, IT-based media projects these days require a great deal of integrations. Enter: FIMS. FIMS is the Framework for Interoperable Media Services. This framework simplifies the integration problem through better and stronger standards, which means vendors no longer need to build a custom integration for every single installation. Learn more!
- The Dalet Academy: A Free Platform for Better Media Education
There is something we believe in more than anything else here at Dalet. This something is education; it is part of every single layer of our organization. Growing one’s knowledge and expertise is crucial to finding success and blossoming in the professional world. This argument is even more compelling in the media industry where the landscape evolves at a frenzied pace that is extremely hard to keep up with.
- 6 workflow tips on SOA, BPM and Web Services
You can’t move today without someone mentioning workflow and the latest whizzy tool being thrust under your nose with a massive “Buy Me” ticket strapped to it. You’ll also find that descriptions of these products are so different that it’s hard to figure out a sensible way to compare them. Well fear not! Here I’m providing you with 6 tips to help you navigate some of the media workflow vocabulary so that you can tell a well-engineered solution from a hyped up marketing campaign.
- Humans & TTML – the ultimate answer to the captioning question?
According to the UK’s Office for Communications (OfCom), almost 80% of people who have used subtitles / captioning have no hearing impediment. Wow, that’s a big number. How does that equate to audience, and why is captioning and subtitling technology so impenetrable?
That’s it! Did you like it? Did you learn new things? Are you expecting more, less or something different from us? Have your say and let us know what we should include in the 2016 Dalet Academy editorial calendar.
See you all next year!
All the very best,
The Dalet Academy Team
