Review and Approve Videos – MediaSilo Knowledge Base

Learn how to leave comments and annotations on a video.

Log in to Comment

To start making comments on a video, click the comment box below the player.

If you are not already logged in, a window appears with login options.

To create an account for the first time, select “Create a New MediaSilo Account.” Enter your name and email address to create a user profile, which you can use to comment on any future links. This account is activated by clicking through the new account email that is sent to the email address you enter.

You can also create an account by logging in with your Google, Slack, Apple, or Microsoft account.

For SSO users, select the “Sign in with MediaSilo” option to go through your company’s login screen.

Commenting Tools

MediaSilo lets you comment at specific timecodes and to draw directly on a frame. If commenting options are not displayed, the sender did not request feedback on the link. The sender has the option to enable commenting without resending the link.

Type your comment in the text box below the video player and hit Enter. A white circle on the progress bar indicates that a comment was made at this point in the video. To see the comments you and others have made, click the speech bubble icon in the top right. This button opens and closes the comments drawer.

To draw on the screen, select the brush icon next to the comment box. When you’re finished drawing on the frame, you can enter your corresponding comment in the text box, and hit Enter.

Click the art palette icon to change your brush color. To erase a drawing, click the eraser icon and drag it across the lines you want to remove.

Export comments by clicking the down-arrow in the top right, followed by the “Export” button.

You can export comments in three different formats: txt, csv, and xls. Text files are formatted to be imported into Avid Media Composer's Markers panel as Comment Markers. Simply right-click within the Markers panel, select the text file, and click "Import Comment Markers." The comments will populate on the sequence timeline and match the color, timestamp, and commenter of the original comment.

To approve a file, click the thumbs-up button in the top right. When you approve a file, a check mark appears on your profile image in the top left.

Resolve Comments

Once a comment has been addressed, you can click the blank circle next to the comment to mark it as “resolved.” This allows you to hide comments that are no longer relevant and avoid clutter in the comments section.

Resolving a comment does not delete it. You can still see resolved comments by clicking the filter button next to the search bar and selecting “Show resolved.” You can uncheck the resolve button to "un-resolve" a comment.

Video Player Controls

Choose your viewing preference by clicking the button next to Play: select “Play Once” so the video player stops when the current video finishes playing, select “Auto Advance” to play the next video in the link automatically, or select “Loop” to play the current video on a loop.

Click the “1x” button to adjust your playback speed. Options range from .25x to 2x the normal speed.

The timecode is displayed in the center of the video player toolbar. You can choose from four different formats to display the timecode:

Standard: hours:minutes:seconds
Timecode: hours:minutes:seconds:frames
Timecode Offset: hours:minutes:seconds:frames
Frames: frames

Note that Timecode Offset is only available if the video has a timecode offset.

Click “Show Duration” to display the video’s duration alongside the timecode.

On the right side of the toolbar are the volume slider and the back and forward arrows, so you can go back or forward by five seconds.

Click the gear icon to access additional settings. The “QC Mask” menu lets you apply an aspect-ratio overlay to the video.

Click Guides to show lines indicating aspect ratio and action-safe and title-safe zones. You can select black, white, adaptive, or no guides. Adaptive guides change depending on the frame, becoming darker over bright areas of the screen and brighter over dark areas. This ensures your guides remain visible.

When you select “Show Comments,” comments are displayed directly above the progress bar. A comment appears as the progress bar reaches the point where the comment was made, and then it disappears automatically. This comment bubble also displays the profile image of the person who made the comment.

Turn on “Show Drawings” to see the annotations a person has drawn on the screen, or turn it off for a completely unobstructed viewing experience.

Select "Keyboard Shortcuts" to view a chart of time-saving shortcuts.

For more information on a file, such as file size and dimensions, click the options menu next to the video title and select "View file info."

If a file has multiple versions, click the blue “V” button at the top of the page to select different versions.

In-Project Asset Commenting

You can leave comments on an asset directly from your MediaSilo project, without creating a review link. First, go to the asset and click the blue “Review Mode” button along the top of the page. This launches a review screen with all your annotation and commenting tools.

A user must have commenting permission in order to view and make comments in Review Mode. To learn more about permissions in MediaSilo, please see our User Permissions Guide.

Who Can See My In-Project Comments?

The comments you make in Review Mode are visible to other workspace users with access to the asset. Your comments are also visible in review links that feature this asset. In addition, any comments made in review links will appear in your in-project comments section, providing you with one centralized place for all your feedback.

If your workflow requires a private review session, you can create a review link and turn on the toggle “On this link only.” This way, comments made in the review link are only visible to people with access to the review link, and comments made in the review link will not appear in your MediaSilo project when you enter Review Mode.

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