BMF enables metadata to be exchanged in a standardized form in television production. Interested users can register online at http://www.irt.de and obtain the new version 1.2 description of the class model.
BMF 1.0 already covered many areas of television production in a uniform data model. BMF 1.2 now expands this scope substantially. The new version can identify television contributions intended for online services, enabling cross-media use. It adds data structures for schedule and program planning, together with comprehensive options for describing audio-track assignments. The predefined value lists have also been extended, allowing BMF 1.2 to support further production use cases.
On request, IRT provides a corresponding XML schema for BMF 1.2. The ongoing registration of all classes and attributes with SMPTE, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, gives BMF recognition as an official exchange format. This also enables standards-compliant exchange of BMF metadata via MXF, the Material Exchange Format.
BMF 1.2 is available immediately as a free download from the IRT website for interested broadcasters and companies. Only contact-detail registration is required.
About BMF: BMF is a newly developed data model covering the entire television-production process, from program and production planning through production, exchange, transmission, and archiving. It is designed as a vendor-neutral metadata model and clearly describes the relationships among the data. With BMF, IRT establishes the basis for the standardized exchange of all television-production metadata. Existing data models can be connected easily and continue to be used internally. BMF therefore reduces the adaptation and integration effort associated with numerous proprietary data interfaces. To develop the data model, IRT comprehensively analyzed production processes from the initial idea for a program through planning and transmission. The analysis includes both feature production with staged content and current-affairs production with contribution-based elements. It also considers editorial and production systems, interfaces to the current ARD and ZDF archive systems, and program exchange.
