KaltuaraAPI:MediaLifeCycle
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[edit] Description
This article describes The Life Cycle of a media clip uploaded to the Kaltura Network.
[edit] Upload
A media clip enters the Kaltura Network through either of the following paths:
1. Upload - The media is uploaded from the user's computer.
2. Import - The media is imported from an external repository.
In both paths the first stage is storing the raw media on Kaltura servers.
Usually media will be uploaded using Kaltura's Contributor Wizard however all upload methods are available through the Kaltura API as well.
[edit] Metadata
Each uploaded media acquires a unique entry_id. The entry_id identifies the media record within the Kaltura Network. The database record of every media may include name, tags, permissions and partner custom data (holding any special data the partner wishes to store alongside the media).
Kaltura's API gives access to all of the metadata using the media entry_id.
[edit] Transcoding
The media clip is handled according to its media type (the original media is always stored as well):
1. Image - images are scaled down to 640x480 resolution (while preserving the aspect ratio) in order to achieve faster download (viewing) time within the Kaltura player.
2. Video - videos are transcoded into the flash video format (flv). Each video is transcoded into to flavors, play and edit. The edit flavor is used by the Kaltura editor suits for creating a better user experience and editing capabilities.
Kaltura's transcoding process supports all sorts of codecs as described in the SDK faq.
[edit] Thumbnails
Thumbnails are created automatically for uploaded media:
1. Small thumbnail - A thumbnail of size 120x90 is created for using in thumbnail galleries.
2. Big thumbnail - A thumbnail of size 640x480 is created for showing as the first image in a Kaltura Widget (in case of images the resized image is used).
A video thumbnail is created by capturing the frame at the 3rd second of the video (in many cases this prevents the capture of a black frame).
[edit] Moderation
Uploaded media may require moderation before being publicly viewable. Each partner may choose his own moderation policy. If a partner chose to manually moderate any uploaded media the media will enter the database in a pending moderation status and will require an administrator to approve it.
