Media Ingest: The Future of Smart Content Management 🎥

The Media Ingest platform is a revolutionary content management system for modern entertainment. It supports live TV, VOD, series, brands, recommendations, and rich metadata. Media Ingest unifies and secures everything from content storage and organization to publishing and customization.

💡 Why Media Ingest

• Media assets—series, videos, logos, and program guides—are growing in quantity, variety, and importance.
  Platforms require more intelligent mechanisms to ingest, deliver, target, and secure content for viewers on multiple devices, languages, and user profiles.
• Media Ingest fulfills this requirement by delivering:
  Unified Workflows: Handles every type of media—live linear channels, VOD, EPG schedules, series, brand information, images, subtitles, and more—all in one place.
• Rich Metadata & Multi-Language Support: Adds rich tags, descriptions, images, genres, categories, and ratings in English and local Indian languages to each asset.
• Flexible Delivery: Prepares content with secure packaging and DRM for mobile, web, and large-screen environments, ensuring the appropriate content gets delivered to each user on each device.

⚙️ How Does Media Ingest Work?

1. Live Channels & Linear Internet TV
   – Media Ingest offers editors the ability to add new channels, set up metadata (ID, title, genre, provider, subscription package, etc.), and define platform flags for web, app, and smart TV delivery.
   – Editors can manage attributes like HD/SD, catch-up, cloud DVR, OTT, ad preview, remote record, and device targeting.
   – Linear Internet TV channels can be configured for scheduled, live streaming on the internet, simulating the familiar TV live experience on new platforms.
   – Subscription packages can be enabled for linear TV, tying channels to premium, free, and preview packages for user up-sell and content gating.
   – DRM is employed for both conventional live and Internet TV channels, providing content security and compliance.
2. EPG (Electronic Program Guide)
   – Each TV viewer demands precise, visually enhanced guides.
   – Media Ingest processes EPG ingestion (from Tata Play and Gracenote).
   – It supports 7 days back and 3 days forward for catch-up and includes deep metadata:
   – Multilingual titles and descriptions, genre, rating, provider, image URLs, contributors, episode information, and program groupings.
   – Editors can manually update and create EPG slots or auto-fill from sources and effortlessly override scheduling clashes.
   – Catch-up programs get tokenized playback URLs and license links for safe cloud delivery.
   – Big-screen and mobile platforms are accommodated with accurate playback choices.
   – Automatic reports keep teams informed of upload, import, and export status and progress.
3. Cloud DVR Support
   – Media Ingest supports cloud recording of live TV for subsequent playback:
   – DVR enablement flags, retention time, user-specific recording copies, and DRM application.
   – Editors select platforms for DVR availability (mobile, dongle, browser, Android TV, FireTV), allowing viewers to access their recordings anywhere.
4. Series & Brand Management
   – Content franchises and production networks are the hub of the new TV experience:
   – Add, edit, and search for brands and series.
   – Associate series with brands, link assets, and update with multilingual metadata.
   – Manage attributes for each series (season, episode, genre, contributors, images, program count).
   – Manage activation on platforms.
5. VOD (Video On Demand)
   – Media Ingest simplifies VOD management by enabling quick upload of videos with metadata, categorization and multilingual support.
   – It allows subtitle uploads, ad enablement, DRM protection (Widevine), and platform targeting.
   – Content can be linked to series or brands, with manual or bulk (CSV) ingestion and automated transcoding via AWS.
   – Editors can lock VOD types post‑registration to maintain catalog consistency.
6. User & Admin Management
   – The platform provides strong role-based access for creators, editors, and admins:
   – Users can be registered, roles defined, permissions set, and access time limits established.
   – An admin dashboard supports user and role management, role tracking, and permission updates with accurate controls.
7. System Masters for Organization
   – Media Ingest has master data management by genre, category, rating, language, and country so that editors can add catalog organization on demand:
   – Instant addition, deletion, mapping, or updating is offered — all with multilingual overlays.
8. One Way Recommendation (OWR)
   – Personalized viewing experiences are key:
   – Media Ingest allows editors to build, set up, and aim recommendation rails and areas for apps and set-top boxes.
   – Recommendations rely on user taste, location, watch history, and device type.
   – The system allows simple poster uploads, logo resizing, zonal targeting, and in-UI direct publishing through automated XML and JSON exports.

🧱 Architecture Highlights

• Modular microservices, event-driven process flows, and cloud-native scalability (AWS S3, Lambda, SQS) offer rapid development and consistent delivery.
• Strong integration services enable rapid onboarding or decoupling of partner APIs while keeping the system flexible for new content, providers, and business models.
• Independent deployment within AWS accounts provides greater control over cost and maintenance.
• Metadata, content packaging, publishing, and recommendations are all handled in a single modern application.

✅ Conclusion

• The Media Ingest solution enables broadcasters, content editors, and operations staff with a productive, flexible, and secure media management process.
• It caters to the current demands for multi-lingual regional content, OTT and VOD growth, and cloud security — while preparing for upcoming innovation in personalized and interactive entertainment.