Video logging is a process in which

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...

footage is watched and labeled according to its content.

Logging in post-production

If a video has a high

shooting ratio The shooting ratio or "Bertolo code" in filmmaking and television production is the ratio between the total duration of its footage created for possible use in a project and that which appears in its final cut. A film with a shooting ratio of 2:1 ...

, it can be impractical to remember exactly where each shot is on each source tape or source file. Finding a particular source shot by searching through hours of video during editing can be time consuming, as well as tie up expensive editing equipment and editors' time. A solution widely employed in the professional industry is to log the content prior to editing. Loggers go through the source video material, labeling it according to its contents within the

metadata Metadata is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including: * Descriptive metadata – the descriptive ...

. This data is then available during editing, making the editing more efficient. Software based logging systems allow clip lists to be imported directly into computer based editing systems.

Broadcast and compliance logging

Free-to-Air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the FTA Receiver, appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring ...

and Subscription broadcasters often have a statutory requirement to keep a record of all programs that are emitted. This may be for legal or other compliance purposes—or simply good commercial sense to 'have proof' of events in event of a contrary claim. Traditionally compliance recordings were made to long-play video-cassette decks, using three 8-hour tapes per day per channel. The unreliability of moving tapes & heads, along with the move to centralcasting and distributed playback requirements, has made this method virtually impossible to maintain in the current operational climate. Larger multi-channel broadcasters with hundreds of feeds running simultaneously could potentially use several thousand VHS decks in rotation, along with the equipment racking, tape storage space and staff to manipulate those assets—and tens of thousands of tapes required to span the compliance retention period. Developments since the early 2000s have shifted to multi-channel server-based

rich-media Interactive media normally refers to products and services on digital computer-based systems which respond to the user's actions by presenting content such as text, moving image, animation, video and audio. Since its early conception, various fo ...

logging, with a few brave souls using domestic PVR software to achieve the basic functionality at a reduced cost. Since 2005, more advanced systems such as th
Actus Digital
Intelligent Monitoring Platform were introduced and provide data sync to

broadcast automation Broadcast automation incorporates the use of broadcast programming technology to automate broadcasting operations. Used either at a broadcast network, radio station or a television station, it can run a facility in the absence of a human opera ...

systems, as well as alerts on basic signal status, event logging for review of non program related events which may have been visible on air, and notification of non-compliance with federal regulations such as requirement to broadcast Closed Captions and CALM Act Compliance. In addition to logging to disk, some packages also provide live streaming for internal use, or to be repurposed to external web or news sites. A variety of disk-based compliance logging packages suitable for a range of customer applications are available—each employing a number of proprietary methods and technologies.

References

{{reflist Film and video technology Television technology

Logging in post-production

Broadcast and compliance logging

See also

References