Getting Started with the Media Module

Through this document, you will become familiar with the Media module. This document shows you how to launch the Media module, walks you through different panes in the module, and explains what you can do to your media assets by using the menus in those panes.

The Video Cloud Studio Media module is a flexible, fast tool for managing your media. Getting familiar with its features and menus will allow you to navigate and use it more efficiently. This document also includes links to other topics that explain the different tasks that you can perform with the Media module.

In this article, you will learn about:

• Launching the Media module
• A quick tour of the Media module
  • Navigation pane
  • Action toolbar
  • Datagrid
  • Search Field
  • Details pane

If you're not already familiar with the Video Cloud Studio, read Getting Started with the Video Cloud Studio.

If you're already familiar with the Media module, you might want to read one of the following documents, which explain how to perform various tasks:

• upload new videos, singly or in batch
• edit video properties, including text metadata (like descriptions, tags, image properties, thumbnails, bumpers, and logo overlays)
• create and manage playlists
• program playlists into players
• preview videos and players
• create thumbnail and still images from your videos
• use Quick Video Publish to publish a single video to a player

Launching the Media module

To launch the Media module, use the following steps

1. Log into the Video Cloud Studio at http://my.brightcove.com.
2. Open the Media module by clicking the Media icon in the navigation header:
   

   

When the Media module opens, it shows a library of videos that have been uploaded and your available playlists and players.

A quick tour of the Media module

Detailed explanations of each Media module area and steps for you to follow in each area will help you become familiar with the Media module interface.

 Click the image to expand it.

Navigation pane

The Navigation pane on the left side of the Media module displays All Videos, Recently Uploaded (videos), All Playlists, Favorites, and All Players. Clicking any of these labels causes the corresponding items to display in the datagrid area.

The Navigation pane has three headings: Media Library, Playlists, and Players.

Media Library

• Click Recently Uploaded to see a list of the last 100 videos you have uploaded.
• To return to a complete list of your videos, click All Videos.

Playlists

• Click All Playlists to display all of your playlists in the datagrid area.
• Under Favorites, you can see the names of each of your playlists that have been marked as favorites.
• Click a playlist under Favorites in the navigation pane to select it and display its contents in the datagrid area.
• Right-click a playlist to edit or delete it, or to remove it from your Favorites.
• The total number of playlists in your account (in this example, 4) displays next to the All Playlists label.
• Tthe blue 'stacked video' icons indicate manual playlists.
• The gear on a playlist icon means it's a smart playlist: videos are added to these playlists based on business rules you configure.

Players

• Click All Players to display all of your players in the datagrid area.

Action toolbar

Use the buttons in the action toolbar to take actions on the videos, playlists, or player you have selected. The following is the toolbar that displays in the All Videos view:

Datagrid

The datagrid area displays the videos, playlists, or players in your Video Cloud account. Get to know the datagrid area through the following steps:

• Click a column head to sort the datagrid by that column. Click it again to reverse the order of the sort.
• Click Show Selected to filter the datagrid view to display only the selected videos.
• Select videos and click a button in the action toolbar to edit, activate, deactivate, or delete the videos; or to add them to a playlist.
• Drag and drop videos from the datagrid onto the name of a manual playlist in your Favorites list to add the selected videos to a playlist.
• If you are viewing All Playlists, select a playlist and click the > button in the right column. This causes the datagrid to display the videos in that playlist:
  
• Select a playlist and click a button in the action toolbar to edit, activate or deactivate the playlist; or add videos to the playlist.
• Select a player and click a button in the action toolbar to view the contents of the player, add playlists to the player, or preview the player.
  

Search field

The Search field helps you locate the videos, playlists, or players you want to work with. Enter a search word or phrase in the Search field and click the magnifying glass to view the search results. Video Cloud offers standard search and advanced search. Read about the differences between standard and advanced search, how to use them, and how to enable advanced search.

Details pane

The Details pane displays a quick reference to the properties of the selected video and quick access to the edit page where you can modify the video's properties. You can also click the preview video window in the Details pane to open a preview player that plays the selected video. The preview video window also gives you access to the image capture tool, which you can use to create thumbnail and video still images from frames of the video. Click the Quick Video Publish button to use the Quick Video Publishing feature.

Errors in the Media module

If you enter invalid information while editing a video or playlist in the Media module, the edit field is shaded and outlined in red until you correct the error, and you will not be able to save until you provide valid information.

Note that data validation is limited; we check that a URL has a valid form, but not that a page is returned at that URL.

If you take an invalid action (such as deleting a video that is part of a manual playlist), an error message will be displayed in the bottom right corner of the Media module. You can click on the error message to read more details.