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Netflix’s Media Production Suite

netflixtechblog.com

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Re: Netflix’s Media Production Suite

#41

Post by VWWHFSfQ »

gcanyon wrote: post #33

I read through that whole article thinking, - I wonder what the UI looks like compared to tools I use now - I wonder if there will be a free tier, since my video needs are modest It never occurred to me until I reached the end that this wasn't a "enjoy this tool we made" post, but instead a "look how awesome we are" post. :-/

I've worked at a few different FAANG's (including this one). I've participated in some of these engineering blog posts.

They will never tell you anything that is real-world relevant for you.

At best, you might get some kind of _theoretical_ insight. It's because they're operating at a scale that just isn't realistic for hobby developers.

But they're still engineers just the same as you and me. So they write blogs like this. And it's interesting! I love to read them.

Re: Netflix’s Media Production Suite

#42

Post by mrandish »

fastball wrote: post #3

The tech is cool, but it seems like the main result of having such a pipeline is that Netflix has been able to produce an incredible amount of low-effort schlock that mostly lacks soul and artistic merit.

Using faster, easier or cheaper production workflows aren't significantly correlated with end product quality, other than perhaps in the obvious sense that investing a large amount of money/effort into a production might cause the investing party to take more care to ensure ROI. However, there are so many counter examples of very expensive, high-effort productions lacking artistic merit that the correlation is weak at best.

Re: Netflix’s Media Production Suite

#43

Post by fastball »

anigbrowl wrote: post #40
fastball wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just editing though, right? This whole system makes it more viable to just film tons of b-roll quality footage without worrying about the end result. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention, and this system makes it much less necessary to worry about what you're filming and why.

I mean you could say the same thing about video cameras making it too easy to shoot footage compared to film.

Yes, and it is arguably true, right? That doesn't mean digital shouldn't exist, but everything is a balance. The quality and effort put into the "average" movie has almost certainly gone down over the decades since the normalization of digital cameras.

If our ability (as a society or as individuals) to filter out the slop from the rest increases in lock-step, this is a non-issue. But it seems that this not what has happened, and instead we are inundated with mind-numbing content that absorbs our time and does little to impact us in any positive way.

Re: Netflix’s Media Production Suite

#44

Post by [deleted] »

gcanyon wrote: post #33

I read through that whole article thinking, - I wonder what the UI looks like compared to tools I use now - I wonder if there will be a free tier, since my video needs are modest It never occurred to me until I reached the end that this wasn't a "enjoy this tool we made" post, but instead a "look how awesome we are" post. :-/

[deleted]

Re: Netflix’s Media Production Suite

#45

Post by mrandish »

thecybernerd wrote: post #36

I wonder if Netflix will offer MPS as a service in the future for shows that are not on Netflix.

Probably not. One reason is that this is a competitive advantage for Netflix but I suspect the larger reason is that they created this to optimize their primary business, while operating it for other productions would be a secondary business and not mission critical. Another reason is that productions not on Netflix have other commercial options for camera to cloud production workflows (Frame.io for example).

This workflow and tool set is tuned for Netflix and is probably opinionated in a variety of ways to conform with Netflix production standards and requirements. If your production is being funded by Netflix then you're incentivized to learn and use their provided tools.

Re: Netflix’s Media Production Suite

#46

Post by penultimatename »

gcanyon wrote: post #33

I read through that whole article thinking, - I wonder what the UI looks like compared to tools I use now - I wonder if there will be a free tier, since my video needs are modest It never occurred to me until I reached the end that this wasn't a "enjoy this tool we made" post, but instead a "look how awesome we are" post. :-/

I’ve sat through a few Netflix talks and they’re all the same flavor of “look what you can achieve with millions of dollars and hundreds of engineers.” They’re somewhat interesting from an architectural perspective, but even scaled down versions aren’t feasible in most environments and it leaves a taste in your mouth that you just sat through a recruiting pitch.

Re: Netflix’s Media Production Suite

#47

Post by anigbrowl »

fastball wrote: post #43
anigbrowl wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean you could say the same thing about video cameras making it too easy to shoot footage compared to film.

Yes, and it is arguably true, right? That doesn't mean digital shouldn't exist, but everything is a balance. The quality and effort put into the "average" movie has almost certainly gone down over the decades since the normalization of digital cameras. If our ability (as a society or as individuals) to filter out the slop from the rest increases in lock-step, this is a non-issue. But it seems that this not what has h…

If you think something is bad, all I can advise is that you stop watching it. Of course if it's easier/cheaper to make content, more content will be made, and there will be proportionately more crap around. My point is that quality is not specifically a function of the technology or workflow.

Re: Netflix’s Media Production Suite

#48

Post by fezz »

progbits wrote: post #32
_m_p wrote: post #29

I was reading about the cinematography of _Collateral_, possibly the first large budget feature film to be shot digitally, and one of the issues back in 2004 when it was made was the amount of storage required for digital video and the risk of not being able to retrieve the images from the data stores: > “We did massive testing with the hard drives, and everything was great, and then we had an experience where we sho…

> we were backing up, two or three times So they just rediscovered what IT world knew for decades, or what am I missing?

When Data/File based workflows started in movies (around 2004), 2-3 copies was the standard from the get go and ideally this was with MD5 checksums (currently xxhash is more common because it's alot faster). LTO backups are also generally part of the copy chains as the 3rd or 4th copy. Before that, duplication with tape was while recording wasn't as common, but it was more common to duplicate after recording. Although you'd have some amount of generation loss depending on the format, not so with recording to multiple decks with the same source video. With film it obviously wasn't possible but original negative (o-neg) was much more cautiously handled. You'd have copies made going to an interpositive for editing and dailies process. Those wouldn't an identical quality so to get a negative copy, you'd be 2 generations of loss. By the time you're seeing a print in a theater, it would be 3 generations. (one->IP->IN->print)

Re: Netflix’s Media Production Suite

#49

Post by LeFantome »

penultimatename wrote: post #46
gcanyon wrote: post #33

I read through that whole article thinking, - I wonder what the UI looks like compared to tools I use now - I wonder if there will be a free tier, since my video needs are modest It never occurred to me until I reached the end that this wasn't a "enjoy this tool we made" post, but instead a "look how awesome we are" post. :-/

I’ve sat through a few Netflix talks and they’re all the same flavor of “look what you can achieve with millions of dollars and hundreds of engineers.” They’re somewhat interesting from an architectural perspective, but even scaled down versions aren’t feasible in most environments and it leaves a taste in your mouth that you just sat through a recruiting pitch.

Mostly agree though I find VMAF useful

Re: Netflix’s Media Production Suite

#50

Post by progbits »

wodenokoto wrote: post #37
progbits wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we were backing up, two or three times So they just rediscovered what IT world knew for decades, or what am I missing?

That you don’t film on two or three wheels at a time

I mean they should, film can get damaged too. The reason they don't are probably because it would be too expensive, bulky and film is single-use so also wasteful.

Even hobby level DSLRs have two card slots with option to write to both.

Professional cameras have tons of gear strapped to them, a second drive or some link to external storage is a no-brainer.

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