TABLE OF CONTENTS MXF came into existence through a strong collaboration between the end users of the format (broadcasters, production houses, etc.) and the manufacturers of broadcasting and editing equipment (through the Pro-MPEG Forum and the AAF Association). This section will investigate some of the user requirements that were created to ensure MXF was fit for its purpose.
MXF has two sets of user requirements. The first list is for the file format requirements, and the second, developed after considerable time, is for the descriptive metadata requirements.
The development of the user requirements list started at the October 1999 Pro-MPEG Forum meetings, and the initial list was handed over to the EBU in the spring of 2000. The list started life as a table that listed the requirement name and a desirability factor (A = must have, B = should have, C = may have, X = must not).
Several meetings between users and suppliers resulted in a refinement of this initial list. The table was later refined, with the inclusion of different application areas, and was finalized in 2001. The resulting table is included in SMPTE EG41 [4] (MXF Engineering Guideline).
Many major content-production facilities have custom methods for handling the descriptive metadata associated with the content. As audio-visual content exchange moves from tape-based to file-based operations, the opportunity arises to be able to both embed descriptive metadata in the file and...
