OPUS Media Asset Management Raises Bar For NRK Olympic Coverage

OmniBus Systems, a provider of comprehensive automation and content management solutions to the broadcast industry, has announced that Norwegian national broadcaster NRK (Norsk Rikskringkasting) has created an unprecedented asset management and logging operation for its Olympic coverage.
Using a customised schema based on the flexible metadata functionality of OmniBus' OPUS media asset management system, NRK's 12 regional production centres can rapidly locate clips with detailed search criteria in more than 140 data categories and gain instant access to material as it is logged in Oslo.
Up to 15 simultaneous Olympic feeds are recorded using OmniBus Ingest Manager at NRK's main Oslo site, with a team of eight loggers working in shifts to add metadata. Using OPUS search tools, staff at NRK's 12 regional production centres can immediately access the material and view copies of required clips. Logged events can be used for shot selection to build highlights packages quickly or to trigger media transfers to any of the NRK sites across Norway. NRK's separate HD Olympic production team also uses the metadata system for quick identification of required material from each feed.
To ensure operators would be able to keep abreast of the workflow, NRK's technical staff devised a custom metadata schema with advice from OmniBus specialists. The custom metadata schema allows NRK operators to define material by each event classification and by key points of interest within the event, such as break points in a tennis match.
Each event has its own further level of specific, custom data. To speed the logging process, the metadata fields are linked to a database of keywords, providing automatic completion of frequently used names and terms. OPUS G3 technology allowed NRK to create tailored interfaces for each event and, as a result, increase the efficiency of data entry. An additional 'Kuriosa' event feature allows operators and producers to identify amusing or odd moments in the action that do not fit into any of the other categories.
Stuart Pearce, Vice President of Development at OmniBus Systems, said: "For the team involved in the design and delivery of this complex OPUS project, it is tremendously rewarding to see the system being used for such a prestigious global event as the Olympics.
"This is the culmination of many months of hard work by the NRK and OmniBus design teams."
OPUS makes system-wide searches available to users across all 12 of NRK's regions, using either the OmniBus SmartClient, a leding edge Web-based technology, or the OmniBus G3 desktop applications for intranet searching, browse and keyframe viewing across the varied platforms comprising NRK's installations. In addition, staff at an OmniBus G3 desktop can control routing and machine operation via a consistent and unified user interface, whether ingesting, browsing the archive, or making shot selections and exporting content to a craft editor.
Further information is available at: www.omnibus.tv.
(KMcA/JM)