Ingestion

Uploading and Downloading Assets

Overview

Nomad Media provides dedicated controls for uploading and downloading files and folders to and from your AWS cloud storage via the Content Portal.

Note: Nomad Media Fall 2024 Release or later is required for the upload feature. Downloading is available to all users by default. Uploading requires configuration to enable (see below). The Content Portal supports uploading files only — not folders. Folder uploads are available in the Admin Console.

Uploading Files

Click the dedicated Upload button to open a file browser and select files from your local computer or network (including local cloud storage drives). Multiple files can be uploaded at once.

An Upload Progress window tracks the status of uploads. The Cloud Tracker counter in the UI shows the number of active upload jobs and returns to zero (or disappears) when all jobs are finished.

Important: Do not close the browser or log out while uploads are in progress. Uploads are terminated if the tab or browser is closed.

After an upload completes, the asset is uploaded to S3 but may not be immediately visible for viewing. The Nomad Media Asset Registration process runs to capture screenshots, thumbnails, preview images, and transcriptions, and to transcode to other media formats. During this time the asset appears without a preview image. If registration errors occur, check the job history in the Admin Console.

Programmatic uploads: To upload assets from code instead of the portal, use an SDK — see External (placeholder-first) upload and Check a folder, then create and upload.

Enabling Upload System-Wide

Uploading is disabled by default. To enable it for the Content Portal, set the following in the portal config JSON:

{
    "allowUpload": true
}

Note: After changing this setting, invalidate the Nomad Media Public Sites CloudFront CDN distribution cache. The portal entry-point Lambda also caches this value and requires a cold start to pick up the updated config.

Downloading Assets

Multiple methods are available for downloading:

• Asset detail modal — Click any asset to open the detail modal and use the download controls.
• Thumbnail overlay buttons — Use the download button that overlays the thumbnail in grid view.
• List view download button — Use the dedicated download button in list view.
• Bulk download — Select one or more assets, collections, or folders and use the Download Assets menu option. Choose original or proxy version. An email is sent to your login address with a link to download a zip file.
• Export to Excel — From any search results or folder view, use the export button in the bottom status bar to download an Excel spreadsheet with asset metadata and IDs. Useful for getting asset IDs in bulk.

Downloading Transcripts

Overview

Nomad Media provides the ability to download video transcripts in multiple formats, allowing transcripts to be used offline and in other applications.

Requirement: Nomad Media Fall 2024 Release or later.

Downloading Nomad Media-Generated Transcripts

From the Content Portal, open the asset detail modal and click the Download Transcript button. A modal offers options to:

• Choose the export format
• Include or exclude timecode
• Include or exclude speaker names

To download a transcript in a different language, first change your subtitle preference in the video player (e.g. switch to Spanish in the Bitmovin player), then use the download button to get the transcript in that language.

Uploading Custom Transcripts Manually

Custom VTT or SRT subtitle files can be uploaded via the Admin Console. Navigate to the asset, find the Related Assets panel, and click the + icon next to Subtitles. Select the subtitle type and choose the file to upload.

This operation does not require transcription configurations.

Uploading Transcript Summaries via API

Transcript summary files (e.g. PDFs) can be attached to an asset as related assets using the Nomad Media API. The process involves:

1. Start a related asset upload (POST /admin/asset/{assetId}/related-asset/start)
2. Upload the binary file to the S3 pre-signed URL returned in the response
3. Complete the part upload with the ETag returned from the S3 PUT response
4. Complete the full upload (POST /admin/asset/{assetId}/related-asset/complete)

Required metadata type for transcript summaries: "newRelatedAssetMetadataType": "ac5146ea-4c01-4278-8c7b-0106f70c0125"

The S3 PUT call does not require an Authorization header — authentication is built into the pre-signed URL. Ensure the Content-Type header matches the file type being uploaded (e.g. application/pdf).

SDK shortcut: The SDK wraps this multi-step related-asset upload in a single call — see upload_related.

After upload, the file appears in the Admin Console under Related Assets for the asset. It can then be downloaded from the Content Portal via the Download Transcript button → Transcript Summary option.

Troubleshooting

If downloading a transcript format returns an error, verify that a valid transcription file exists for that format in the Admin Console under the asset's related assets. Try reprocessing the asset if the file exists but the error persists. Contact Nomad Media Support if the issue continues.