Axle AI Announces Searchr – Media Asset Management and Storage for Small Workgroups

[ Disclaimer: Larry has owned Axle since 2015. Axle also recently became Larry’s parent company.]

As Nick Pearce, then of Object Matrix, was fond of saying: “If you can’t find it, you don’t have it.” That has never been truer than today where we are deluged with media from even a “simple” shoot. Thousands of files, hundreds of gigabytes, cryptic file names …far too often all those “best shots” are lost forever.

THE SOFTWARE

Axle AI today announced Searchr – a new software/hardware bundle specifically designed for media asset management for small editorial workgroups. Searchr provides media search software, SSD RAID storage and fast networking for multiple editors that fits in a backpack.

Harnessing the speed of an QNAP NVMe server, Searchr allows workgroups as small as two, or as large as 1,000, to ingest, categorize, find, review and send video, audio or still images to the NLE of your choice. Or, simply review and log media on Searchr itself, without wasting time transferring files. It can also automatically convert speech-to-text without tying up an NLE, computer, or operator.

For example, using your browser, search for all Scene 23 media. Gather it into a bin. Drag that bin directly from Axle into Adobe Premiere Pro. Since this is network-attached, both Windows and Mac systems are supported by default.

I’ve owned Axle AI since 2015 and use it daily. While Searchr is priced and designed for small workgroups, both individuals and large organizations can benefit from it.

For example, this software/hardware bundle allows you to:

• Search, browse, play, and log audio, video or still image media
• Drag-and-drop selected files into Premiere Pro, Resolve, Final Cut Pro or Avid
• Use Google-like searches to find media files
• Access 1,000 hours of speech-to-text transcription at no additional cost
• Create and search custom metadata fields
• Generate proxy files automatically
• Access media via a local-area network, or directly connect two users via Thunderbolt 4 for extreme speed
• Extensively customize user permissions

THE HARDWARE

What makes this system so compelling is that it runs on a QNAP TBS-574X-i5 server using NVMe storage. The speed of NVMe makes search and transfer blindingly fast when computers are connected via a 10G Ethernet connection. And 3X again faster, when connected directly using Thunderbolt 4 (two ports included).

Weighing less than five pounds, small enough to fit into a backpack, and expandable from 5 – 20 TB of storage, you can take the entire system to any remote site and get directly to work. There’s none of the fragility of hard disk drives with this all-solid-state storage. The server supports Mac, Windows, and Linux clients. Plus, since hardware, software and media are all stored locally, you maximize your security.

While I haven’t tested this system, theoretically connecting to this server via Thunderbolt 4 should allow two editors to simultaneously edit native 8K video; or stream at least twelve angles of UHD multicam, depending upon system configuration.

To learn more:

Product: Searchr bundle
Developers: Axle AI and QNAP
Website: https://www.axle.ai/
Press Release: Announcing Searchr – Video search software, NVMe RAID storage and fast networking for editors that fits in a backpack!
Price: $4,995 for 2 users and 5 TB of storage. More users and storage available.