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Microsoft Studios
Microsoft Studios worked on over 2,500 projects in 2003, managed 11.5 TB of digital material online and has a total of 2.4 million assets in its Digital Asset Management system.
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Microsoft Studios is advancing new applications for use in the media industry
Microsoft Studios tests Digital Asset Management System and other new services for the media industries
Microsoft® Studios, the internal studio and production facility of Microsoft, is a real-world test bed of products and services for the media and entertainment industries.
The 65,000 square foot facility supports the marketing and presentation needs of Microsoft and its partner organizations throughout the world. Microsoft Studios boasts advanced production and post production facilities, including three large stages, state of the art digital post production facilities and an interactive media development group and technology integration lab delivering products across the full spectrum of media.
"We do a lot to facilitate the distribution of corporate communications through corporate events and news releases; we also create a lot of interactive media, DVDs and CDs for training and marketing," says Mark Beauchamp, engineering group manager, Microsoft Studios. "The other side of what we are doing is functioning as a lab for what Microsoft is doing in the media and entertainment space, to help make sure the products and services that the company develops are completely compatible with the expectations of the industry. In terms of research and development, we are leveraging Microsoft tools, platforms and technologies to solve a variety of production and business challenges. In some cases, we are developing new types of media applications."
One long term project is a Digital Asset Management (DAM) system based on the Microsoft .NET Framework. "We're looking at building a DAM system where we can start capturing content as files and for that content to always stay as a file wherever it goes, and where we can track where the file has been using metadata," says Brian Honey, group manager of Digital Media Services and the Media Integration Lab at Microsoft Studios. "Microsoft .NET is the key to having all the systems talk together and, as we develop, Microsoft .NET will form the basis of everything we build. Microsoft .NET provides the comprehensive means for interoperating and driving new value from all of our partners' and our customers' existing systems, regardless of the platform they run on or what programming language they were created in."
Individual users will be able to access the files in any quality they want, up to the original quality that the material was acquired in. Windows Media® 9 Series is a crucial aspect of this, as it enables video and audio content to be encoded in any definition up to HD.
"We're trying to automate as much as possible, so the end user won't even need to know what definition they need to access the files—the network determines that automatically," Honey says. "The key to it all is to lower costs and make production more efficient."
Innovation is key to Microsoft Studios' role and success. An example is the Live Playback System (LPS). Developed to address problems of cost and flexibility for complex synchronous playback of multiple AV sources at large events, LPS is a PC-based digital media breakthrough in high-quality, low cost flexibility. Debuted at the 2002 Microsoft Global Summit, LPS is an example of elegantly applied knowledge and experience that could revolutionize event based synchronous AV.
"LPS was on the floor at NAB 2004, controlling 25 720p Samsung plasma screens on the Microsoft booth," says John Deutscher, program manager, Microsoft Studios. "You are able to configure each PC to play different video and for them all to be controlled by a single director. The cost of running 25 screens from HD DDRs would have made it impractical to do before. So we're innovating and cutting costs at the same time."
Another innovation developed at Microsoft Studios is the player for D-Cinema playout, working with partner Digital Cinema Solutions (DCS). Microsoft Studios and DCS supplied the digital projection system to the Sundance Film Festival 2004 to digitally screen five movies in Windows Media 9 Series HD.
Microsoft Studios also created a new subtitling application to run from the PC controlling each screen. It demonstrates, Beauchamp says, how Microsoft Studios creates real-world applications of Microsoft technologies in concert with a broad cross-section of industry solutions and best practices.
For More Information
Microsoft Live Playback System
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