Let’s say I have a large library (>100,000 objects) of digital assets (audio, video, images, etc.). The library is managed by a digital asset management system (DAM). The DAM stores the meta-data both in the digital files and a proprietary database;
an SDK is available to get the assets’ meta-data as well as the UNC path to the source file.
The goal is to create a custom application to allow the user to select a subset of assets from the library (usually based on meta-data, i.e. project name, author, etc.) and do a
one-way sync to another device (laptop, SD card, etc). The catch is that when the files are copied/transferred, they should be converted and/or watermarked. For example, high-quality audio files should be converted
to lower-bit rate; HD video should be converted to a lower resolution; high-res images converted to JPEG format. I know the Sync Framework won’t help me with the conversion, this we will need to implement.
My question is, is there a way with the Sync Framework to intercept the transfer of the file, perform the conversion on the fly, and record the meta-data that would have been recorded as if the file had not been converted? By using the original file’s
meta-data, this would allow future sync passes to know that the file does not have to be re-transferred (and re-converted). Or is there a better way to do this?
Is the correct way to do this by creating a custom provider? If so, what additional value does this provide over a custom (non-Sync Framework) solution to copy and covert the files?