How-to upload a video through FTP

Requirements

• FTP Client (e.g. FileZilla, Cyberduck, etc.)
• Code Editor (e.g. Atom, Visual Studio Code) - optional, for XML files

Why use FTP upload and not Web upload

You can use an FTP to upload a video to your VideoManager Pro account. The FTP upload takes less time than a normal web upload since the FTP protocol was designed to transfer large amounts of data and copes better with fluctuations.

FTP upload is particularly helpful for big files (1 GB or larger) or in the case of limited bandwidth. 

Step 1 - Establish the connection to your FTP Client

Open your FTP Client. This article will use FileZilla as an example, but you can use the FTP client of your choosing.

Insert the following credentials:

• FTP Server Host: ftpingest.video-cdn.net
• Username : Use your movingimage username followed by a colon and the VideoManager  Pro account ID you want to upload your video to (e.g. "example@movingimage.com:558")
• Password : Use your movingimage password

If you do not know your account ID number, you can check your VMPro Administration Overview page under "Account details" or contact your account manager.

In the FTP client, a connection to the workspace at its roots folder is created. The root folder contains the following folders:

1. fast_lane
2. output
3. workspace

Option 1 - SIMPLE

The fastest and easiest way to upload a video via FTP is to simply drag and drop your video into the fast_lane folder.

Once the upload is complete, you can find your video in your root channel ("All Videos") with the title being the name of the file you uploaded. From here you can edit its metadata, change the thumbnail, assign it to a specific channel etc.

NOTE During the upload, the video is not visible in your VideoManager Pro. You will see it after the upload is completed with the file name as the title of the video.

Option 2 - ADVANCED

You would like to upload a video to your VideoManager Pro, but you wish to upload it already with corresponding metadata? Do you want to upload the video directly to a particular channel, assign it to a specific ownership group, and directly add a corresponding subtitle file? If this the case, you have to prepare an XML file.

This article provides a complete overview of all settings that can be set in the XML file.

Step 2 - Prepare the XML file

In a code editor (e.g. Atom, Visual Studio Code, etc.), open a new file and paste in the following code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<job xmlns="http://schemas.video-cdn.net/vmpro/public/v1/ingest/ftp/job.xsd" reference="abc">
<title>FtpImportMetaData</title>
<description>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing
elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi
ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.</description>
<channels>
  <id>3054</id>
</channels>
<keywords>
  <keyword>summer</keyword>
  <keyword>autumn</keyword>
</keywords>
<customMetadata>
  <field name="production company">MGM</field>
</customMetadata>
<source>
  <file>video001.mp4</file>
</source>
<actions>
  <release>
    <publish>
      <period>
        <begin>2019-07-01T09:00:00+02:00</begin>
        <end>2019-08-01T09:00:00+02:00</end>
      </period>
    </publish>
    <download/>
  </release>
  <delete>
    <time>2019-08-02T09:00:00+02:00</time>
  </delete>
</actions>
<still>
  <file>Chysathemum.jpg</file>
</still>
<groupId>2233</groupId>
<securityPolicyId>950</securityPolicyId>
<inform>
  <email>employee.name@company.com</email>
</inform>
<ingestActions>
  <disableAutoDelete>source</disableAutoDelete>
  <disableAutoDelete>still</disableAutoDelete>
</ingestActions>
</job>

EXAMPLE

The case described here is an example of a possible use case. The settings to be added before the video upload are determined by your requirements. Only the <source> tag is compulsory. You can find out all the possible settings to include in your XML file here. 

In this example, you would like to do the following:

• upload a video with a specific title,
• in a specific channel
• assign the video to a specific ownership group
• select a specific thumbnail you wish to upload from your PC. 

Using the XML template from previous section, delete the attributes that you do not need, starting from the opening attribute (e.g. <inform>) and ending the closing attribute (e.g. </inform>). There might be attributes in the middle that you may not need, such as <email>employee.name@company.com</email>.

NOTE

Only <source> is compulsory and should never be deleted from the file

The file you will get will look like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<job xmlns="http://schemas.video-cdn.net/vmpro/public/v1/ingest/ftp/job.xsd" reference="abc">
<title>Title of the video</title>
<channels>
  <id>3054</id>
</channels>
<source>
  <file>Name_Of_Video_File.mp4</file>
</source>
<still>
  <file>Name_Of_Thumbnail_File.jpg</file>
</still>
<groupId>2233</groupId>
</job>

Change the following data:

• title attribute - insert the title you wish the video will have
• file source attribute - insert the file name of the file you wish to upload
• the still attribute - insert the file name of the thumbnail you wish to upload.

Now, you have to insert the desired channel and group id:

- Find out the channel ID: From your VideoManager Pro, select the channel. Here, you will find the channel ID at the end of the browser URL.

- Replace the channel ID from the template with the desired ID.

- Find out the group ID: From your VideoManager Pro, navigate to Administration. On the left menu click on "groups", then select the group to which you wish to assign the video. As well, select the channel, and you will find the group ID at the end of the browser URL.

Save the file and give the video a new file name (without its extension) in the .xml format. For example, if the file name is new_video > new_video.xml).

Step 3 - Start the upload

a. Upload the video file

Look for the video file you wish to upload. Drag and drop it into the "Workspace" folder.

(!Important) Wait till the upload is concluded before uploading the XML file.

b. Upload the thumbnail file 

Look for the thumbnail file you wish to upload. Drag and drop it into the "Workspace" folder.

(!Important) Wait till the upload is concluded before uploading the XML file.

c. Upload the .xml file

Look for the desired XML file associated with this upload. Drag and drop it into the "Workspace" folder.

When the upload is completed, the video with all the settings you set in the XML file, will be available within VideoManager Pro.