About Us

2 minute read

MetaRex is like a zip file with a timeline. It’s used like an electronic FedEx service.

MetaRex is dedicated to developing an open-source framework for the transport of media metadata. This framework will allow you to preserve, transport, identify, and use metadata from many sources in a single workflow. This will make it easier to preserve production and post-production metadata than it is to lose it or leave it behind.

How does MetaRex work?

It’s super easy to send anything by FedEx - even a baby dinosaur! 🦖 You just put your stuff in a box (or letter) and they slap two labels on it with a barcode, then send it off.

With MetaRex it is very similar process, except no physical box or letter! MetaRex is like Fedex for metadata.

  1. The Destination - send to MetaRex HQ
  2. The Manifest - a barcode that points to a database. Magic happens and the box travels over train networks, air networks, couriers, bicycles and just gets to where you want it to.
MetaRex Flow Diagram
metarex flow diagram
  • Sender
    • The Sender wraps their metadata in a standardized container.
    • A label is applied to identify the contents
    • The mapper puts the container on a transport: NDI, ST 2110, email, FTP etc.
  • Receiver
    • The receiver takes the containers from the transport
    • The unwrapper reads the label to handle the data as clocked / unclocked, text / binary
    • The unwrapper extracts the metadata and may use a web service to do something automatic with the data e.g. make an overlay / transcode to the receiver’s preferred format.
    • The end user now has access to, potentially, several variants of the metadata before they write their first line of code.

Visit our FAQ’s page for more information.