Frequently Asked Questions
Does Rhozet support Google's WebM project and VP8 codec? Answer
As the leader in Universal Transcoding, Harmonic is excited to be part of Google's WebM open video format initiative. The Rhozet team is currently in the planning stage for WebM support in our ProMedia Carbon software and will update this page with more details at a future date.Hide Answer
What is the Workflow System (WFS)? Answer
WFS is a software application from developed by the Rhozet team at Harmonic. Built as a replacement product for Carbon Server, WFS separates the workflow and automation processes from the transcoder allowing a much more robust and scalable architecture than offered before. The open API’s for WFS allow traditional outside integration as well as internal object API’s allowing 3rd parties to integrate themselves into WFS.Hide Answer
What is the Quality Control System (QCS)? Answer
QCS is a product developed by the Rhozet team at Harmonic. QCS allows customers to add automated and scalable video verification processes to their transcoding farm. QCS analyzes each and every file to help identify possibly problematic files both before and after the transcode process. QCS is fully integrated with WFS and ProMedia Carbon.Hide Answer
Do I need the Workflow System to use the Quality Control System?Answer
Yes. QCS is integrated into the Workflow System.Hide Answer
What is the difference between the Carbon Server and the Workflow System?Answer
We recommend Carbon Server for smaller farms with only a couple of nodes of ProMedia Carbon. For larger transcoding needs, we recommend the Workflow System (WFS). Hide Answer
Can I capture video from tape for transcoding?
Answer
ProMedia Carbon supports the ViewCast Osprey cards (230/240 or 540/560) for direct capture and transcode. In order to use the capture card, you will need to purchase the Capture Option for ProMedia Carbon. This option provides the necessary cable and jog/shuttle device to provide deck control during capture. Hide Answer
Is there a Software Development Kit (SDK) for ProMedia Carbon, Carbon Server and Workflow System? Answer
Yes. Every copy of ProMedia Carbon comes with Rhozet’s XML-based SDK. There is no additional charge for the SDK. This SDK can be used for automating tasks within a production facility, or to utilize ProMedia Carbon as a back-end transcoding service from an OEM application. The same SDK that controls ProMedia Carbon also controls Carbon Server and the Workflow System. This means that the same programming work used to control a single copy of ProMedia Carbon can be used to control an entire network of transcoding nodes. The SDK comes with every evaluation version of ProMedia Carbon, and can be found in the “Documentation” folder. You can also view the manual on our website by clicking here. Hide Answer
Does ProMedia Carbon come with hardware? Answer
No. ProMedia Carbon is a software transcoding application. You may run it on any Windows machine that you choose. For capture needs, ProMedia Carbon supports the ViewCast Osprey line of SDI and analog cards.Hide Answer
What is the difference between ProMedia Carbon and Carbon Server? Answer
ProMedia Carbon is a stand-alone transcoding application. You can run ProMedia Carbon in any one of four ways: via a user-interface, in automated mode with watch folders, controlled via the XML-based SDK, or as a node in a farm of transcoders under the control of Carbon Server. Carbon Server is a management tool that controls any number of ProMedia Carbon transcoding nodes. Carbon Server manages load balancing, job prioritization, error handling, FTP transfers, email notifications, etc. Hide Answer
What formats are supported by ProMedia Carbon? Answer
The video codecs shipped with ProMedia Carbon include: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.263, H.264, DV25, DV50, DVCPro, JPEG-2000, Windows Media, and RealVideo. Audio codecs shipped with ProMedia Carbon include: MPEG1 Layer 2, MP3, AAC, AMC, AMR-NB, Windows Media Audio, and RealAudio. In addition to a wide variety of codecs, ProMedia Carbon also supports many different media “containers,” including HDV, MXF, MPEG-2 Transport Stream, MPEG-2 Program Stream, GXF, LXF, QuickTime, WMV, ASF, AVI, VOB, 3GPP, 3G2, etc. In some cases, ProMedia Carbon does not support both input and export of a particular format; for example, ProMedia Carbon can decode JPEG-2000 files, but does not encode in that format. For a complete list of encode and decode formats, please click here. In addition to the included codecs, ProMedia Carbon will utilize any QuickTime or DirectShow compliant codec that you install. Examples of codecs that customers download and use with ProMedia Carbon are On2’s Flash and Avid’s DNxHD codecs. Hide Answer
Can I use codecs that don’t ship with ProMedia Carbon? Answer
As long as the codec is DirectShow or QuickTime compliant, ProMedia Carbon will recognize the codec and allow you to both import from and export to that format. We even have customers who use ProMedia Carbon with their own proprietary codecs.Hide Answer
How can I scale to higher performance transcoding? Answer
You can scale transcoding in two ways. The first is to increase the performance of an individual transcoding machine. We recommend dual-core, dual-processor systems. There are also four and eight processor machines available. The second way to increase performance is to add additional transcoding machines to your network. These transcoding machines can operate independently of each other or under the control of Carbon Server.Hide Answer
Can ProMedia Carbon do subtitling? Timecode burn in? Logo burn in? Answer
Absolutely. For a complete list of features, please see the ProMedia Carbon or Carbon Server brochures. Hide Answer
Does ProMedia Carbon handle HD footage? Does ProMedia Carbon ingest DVDs? Answer
Yes. And yes. For a complete list of features, please see the ProMedia Carbon or Carbon Server brochures. Hide Answer
Can ProMedia Carbon encode for cell phones? Broadcast playout servers? DVDs? Answer
Yes to all three. For a complete list of formats, please see the ProMedia Carbon or Carbon Server brochures. Hide Answer
Can I connect to remote video servers or Web servers? Answer
ProMedia Carbon includes the capability to transfer data from many different types of video servers, including those from Leitch, Grass Valley, and Omneon. For example, video can be transferred automatically from a video server and transcoded into a new format. ProMedia Carbon supports FTP transfers into the transcoding computer, while Carbon Server supports FTP transfer both into and out of the transcoding computer. Hide Answer
Can I capture video from tape for transcoding? Answer
ProMedia Carbon supports the ViewCast Osprey cards (220/230 or 530/540) for direct capture and transcode. In order to use the capture card, you will need to purchase the Capture Option for ProMedia Carbon. This option provides the necessary cable and jog/shuttle device to provide deck control during capture. Hide Answer
Is ProMedia Carbon licensed on a per CPU or per computer basis? Answer
ProMedia Carbon is licensed on a “per computer” basis. You may run it in a computer with any number of CPUs. ProMedia Carbon can run multiple transcodes simultaneously, taking maximum advantage of each processor core in your system.Hide Answer
What type of computer do I need? Answer
For best transcoding performance, we recommend a dual-core, dual-processor system. The fastest systems we have tested include those based on the AMD Opteron 285 or the Intel Xeon 5160 processors (also known as “Woodcrest” machines). ProMedia Carbon will take advantage of each processor core in a system, so running on the “dual-dual” systems will give you four separate CPU cores for fast transcoding. You should have at least 2GB of RAM (4GB if you are transcoding HD content). You can run ProMedia Carbon under Microsoft Windows XP Pro or Windows 2003 Server.Hide Answer
What OS do I need for ProMedia Carbon and Carbon Server? Answer
We recommend Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit) or Windows 7 (64-bit). Other Operating Systems that are supported are: Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista SP2, Windows 7 (32/64-bit), Windows Server 2003 R2 (32/64-bit), Windows Server 2008 (R1) (32/64-bit), Windows Server 2008 R2 (32/64-bit. ProMedia Carbon is not available for Linux or Macintosh.Hide Answer
How fast is ProMedia Carbon? Answer
ProMedia Carbon is only limited by the speed of the computer on which it is running and the speed with which data can be accessed and written. Transcodes can run much faster or much slower than realtime, depending on the type of transcode being executed. Every transcode type is different, so we recommend that you procure an evaluation copy of our software with which to test your chosen formats. This will help you determine the total computing performance that you will need for your desired throughput.Hide Answer
Is ProMedia Carbon multi-threaded? Answer
Yes. ProMedia Carbon takes maximum advantage of multiple processor cores in the host system. The multiple processors will be used for increasing performance when generating a single output or when generating multiple targets simultaneously. Hide Answer
Does ProMedia Carbon run on 64-bit Windows? Answer
ProMedia Carbon will run on a 64-bit Windows system, but it is only a 32-bit application. The reason for this is that a number of the codecs upon which ProMedia Carbon depends are not all available in 64-bit versions. One benefit of running on a 64-bit system will be the availability of a larger physical memory. Even though each process is limited to a 32-bit address space, ProMedia Carbon will spawn a process on each physical core. For example, on a dual processor, dual-core system, each processor core can access over 3GB of memory. Hide Answer
Can I get a version that doesn’t need a dongle? Answer
Each copy of ProMedia Carbon requires a security key (also known as a "dongle"). In the case of environments where individual keys per machine would be difficult to manage (for example, in a very large server array), then Harmonic makes available network license keys that allow a certain number of simultaneous transcoding machines on the network.Hide Answer
What is your support policy? Answer
Support contracts are available for purchase on an annual basis. Support contracts cover both technical support (phone and email) as well as maintenance updates. All updates to the product and the included codecs are included in the maintenance. Support hours are 8am to 5pm Monday through Friday. The cost for an annual support contract is 15% of the retail software price. Hide Answer
How do I automate transcoding? Answer
ProMedia Carbon provides basic automation tools for transcoding. You can set up watch folders with the application. Any files appearing in these watch folders will be automatically transcoded and sent to the specified location. ProMedia Carbon also supports the polling of FTP locations to provide automatic transcoding from remote locations, like an “FTP Watch Folder.” Carbon Server offers additional automation features, allowing both input FTP and target FTP transfers, as well as job queuing prioritization and email notifications. Hide Answer
Does ProMedia Carbon come with hardware? Answer
No. ProMedia Carbon is a software transcoding application. You may run it on any Windows machine that you choose. Hide Answer
What if I buy ProMedia Carbon now but want to upgrade to Carbon Server later? Answer
Your purchase price of ProMedia Carbon will be credited to your Carbon Server purchase. Hide Answer
What is included in the purchase price of ProMedia Carbon? Answer
The application, all codecs, and the SDK. The only option available for ProMedia Carbon is the Capture Option for working with capture cards. Hide Answer
Can I get a free evaluation copy? Answer
Yes. Please fill in the evaluation request and we will send you an evaluation copy.Hide Answer
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