Let's Look at a Clip
September 14, 2013 2:18 PM Subscribe
A look at the flexible DVR systems and production workflow that powers clips used in television shows like The Colbert Report and others. Other organizations, including the police and local governments use them too.
If only mainstream news organizations were as capable of mining such a system for incriminating videos as Colbert and Stewart's crews.
posted by Ber at 2:34 PM on September 14, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Ber at 2:34 PM on September 14, 2013 [3 favorites]
If only mainstream news organizations were as capable of mining such a system for incriminating videos as Colbert and Stewart's crews.
I've worked for the comedy shows and for major mainstream news orgs, and the big, big difference is, of course, money. The comedy guys have no money and they don't worry about pissing off advertisers. They do what they do on a shoestring, especially in comparison to CNNBCBSABCFOXWHATEVER. The major networks have advertisers to whom they are beholden, and they do not want to upset them.
Somehow Viacom, who owns Comedy Central, really doesn't seem to care about their content. But even shows like 60 Minutes, who used to do this quite well and steadily, mainly seems to be doing stories related to products being sold by other divisions. It's really a shame. There just isn't any easy money in it, at all, and corporations aren't interested in it if it doesn't make easy money.
posted by nevercalm at 3:17 PM on September 14, 2013 [7 favorites]
I've worked for the comedy shows and for major mainstream news orgs, and the big, big difference is, of course, money. The comedy guys have no money and they don't worry about pissing off advertisers. They do what they do on a shoestring, especially in comparison to CNNBCBSABCFOXWHATEVER. The major networks have advertisers to whom they are beholden, and they do not want to upset them.
Somehow Viacom, who owns Comedy Central, really doesn't seem to care about their content. But even shows like 60 Minutes, who used to do this quite well and steadily, mainly seems to be doing stories related to products being sold by other divisions. It's really a shame. There just isn't any easy money in it, at all, and corporations aren't interested in it if it doesn't make easy money.
posted by nevercalm at 3:17 PM on September 14, 2013 [7 favorites]
Isn't this what Cision and other video monitoring services use? I'm not sure what Vanderbilt uses. Network news outfits produce their own footage and then license the footage.
posted by Ideefixe at 4:15 PM on September 14, 2013
posted by Ideefixe at 4:15 PM on September 14, 2013
I suddenly feel compelled to add some of this functionality to MythTV.
posted by wierdo at 4:18 PM on September 14, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by wierdo at 4:18 PM on September 14, 2013 [2 favorites]
If only mainstream news organizations were as capable of mining such a system for incriminating videos as Colbert and Stewart's crews.
IAABE (I Am A Broadcast Engineer), all the networks have these capabilities.
But unfortunately, they interest of most news organizations is not looking backwards, or shining a light on inaccuracy, it is simply "if it bleeds, it leads". Bad news and scary stuff is what people tune in to, not sober journalism.
posted by Argyle at 4:18 PM on September 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
IAABE (I Am A Broadcast Engineer), all the networks have these capabilities.
But unfortunately, they interest of most news organizations is not looking backwards, or shining a light on inaccuracy, it is simply "if it bleeds, it leads". Bad news and scary stuff is what people tune in to, not sober journalism.
posted by Argyle at 4:18 PM on September 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
Viacom has no fingers in DoD pies, right? I assumed that's why They didn't bother TDS and Colbert too much, plus runs on no budget compared to the viewership, etc etc.
posted by The Whelk at 4:47 PM on September 14, 2013
posted by The Whelk at 4:47 PM on September 14, 2013
Trying to remember the last time I read about some amazing technology running on Windows Server / Microsoft SQL...
I mean, reason suggests there's got to be some customers out there for it, I guess...
posted by Jimbob at 5:19 PM on September 14, 2013 [2 favorites]
I mean, reason suggests there's got to be some customers out there for it, I guess...
posted by Jimbob at 5:19 PM on September 14, 2013 [2 favorites]
I suddenly feel compelled to add some of this functionality to MythTV.
By all means.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:49 PM on September 14, 2013
By all means.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:49 PM on September 14, 2013
This is a great piece. Thanks for posting. It's good to be reminded of the awesome stuff consumers are denied because of overzealous copyright holders.
posted by Aizkolari at 7:16 PM on September 14, 2013
posted by Aizkolari at 7:16 PM on September 14, 2013
Very interesting, thank you!
They claim to use close-caption search, not manual work - though I think close-caption is manual at some point?
posted by alasdair at 6:22 AM on September 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
They claim to use close-caption search, not manual work - though I think close-caption is manual at some point?
posted by alasdair at 6:22 AM on September 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Just saying - gifting opportunity.
(Although I would use it more for my movie library.)
posted by Samizdata at 7:47 AM on September 15, 2013
(Although I would use it more for my movie library.)
posted by Samizdata at 7:47 AM on September 15, 2013
Viacom has defense contracts--not huge, but still.
Close captioning is manual for live programming, but anything with a transcript or a script is put in the system from the transcript. That's why Snap Stream doesn't search/save by visual references, and why most footage archives/vendors aren't always reliable about describing visuals. (Case in point--searching for "Marshall Applewhite" on a vendor site turned up Kris Kristofferson from the movie.)
Sporting events, like on ESPN, use a court reporter -like set-up. BBC does live subtitling by having someone re-speak what is being broadcast and captures it via voice recognition software which seems incredibly slow to me.
I know a doc producer who has a SnapStream server--cost him around $15K. There's J-schools that use this as well.
posted by Ideefixe at 10:01 AM on September 15, 2013
Close captioning is manual for live programming, but anything with a transcript or a script is put in the system from the transcript. That's why Snap Stream doesn't search/save by visual references, and why most footage archives/vendors aren't always reliable about describing visuals. (Case in point--searching for "Marshall Applewhite" on a vendor site turned up Kris Kristofferson from the movie.)
Sporting events, like on ESPN, use a court reporter -like set-up. BBC does live subtitling by having someone re-speak what is being broadcast and captures it via voice recognition software which seems incredibly slow to me.
I know a doc producer who has a SnapStream server--cost him around $15K. There's J-schools that use this as well.
posted by Ideefixe at 10:01 AM on September 15, 2013
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posted by nevercalm at 2:20 PM on September 14, 2013 [4 favorites]