Broadcast files for Digital Delivery

[Vince Becquiot]

Hi Todd,

Thanks for stopping by. At this point in time, the best solution we’ve found was to export to Quicktime Animation from Premiere, “without downscaling” if the source is HD.

I always pick square pixels. 640×480 for SD 4:3, 854×480 for SD 16:9

If dowscaling is needed, I pass the file through After Effects, creating a new SD Comp and exporting again from there, also making sure that AE keeps the right field order, I think it does progressive by default.

The final export is done through Quicktime pro. Either Motion JPEG or H.264

The other reason this process is needed is because exporting directly to H.264 for example will cause that dreaded gamma shift, and Quictime pro just seems to get me a more even and reliable compression.

I’m not sure about the field order issue. I sometimes see weird things happen when getting files that were captured in FCP. I usually end up converting these to Animation prior to import, just in case.

Vince Becquiot

Kaptis Studios
San Francisco – Bay Area

[Oliver Maingay]

For broadcast I am very surprised you have deliveries accepted with those specs. Square pixels are for computers or HD, not SD televisions and the aspect ratio should be 720×480 for NTSC.

If you are editing uncompressed I would recommend delivering uncompressed, either 10-Bit using a codec such as Blackmagic or 8-Bit if file sizes are an issue. The station can then encode to their MPEG-2 specs for broadcast.

If you want to go down the MPEG-2 route you need to contact the network for their specifications.

Hope that is some help,

Oliver

[Todd Terry]

Thanks Vincent…

Most of these are SD delivery projects that started as SD, so the downscaling is not an issue.

I believe my editor tried exporting as a Quicktime Animation, but still had very poor results.

We have just not been able to hit on the right recipe. I’ll pass your notes on to him and see if he has missed anything… I’m trying as well. We’ve had two suites cooking on this for two days and still can’t seem to get acceptable results. Grrrrr.

T2

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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Todd Terry]

[Oliver Maingay] “If you are editing uncompressed I would recommend delivering uncompressed, either 10-Bit using a codec such as Blackmagic or 8-Bit if file sizes are an issue. The station can then encode to their MPEG-2 specs”

Yes, we edit uncompressed… but I can’t deliver such gigantic file sizes… our masters are typically 10-bit uncompressed AVI files that are pushing a gig for a :30 spot…. and I’m pretty sure Comcast wouldn’t be able to handle them or the format… they specifically asked for mpeg2 or mov files.

[Oliver Maingay] “you need to contact the network for their specifications”

We have, and they are clueless. They are asking (and requiring) something that they don’t even know how to properly ask for.

It’s frustrating…

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Vince Becquiot]

Oliver,

I was referring to intermediate transfers between Premiere and After Effects / Quicktime.

Misinterpreted PAR seems to be the biggest issue I see around between applications, often creating pixelated and soft exports.

I find that this creates the least issues, but your final export from Quicktime Pro can be anything you want, and certainly should adhere to the specs listed by the station.

Vince Becquiot

Kaptis Studios
San Francisco – Bay Area

[Vince Becquiot]

Todd,

Feel free to post all your settings on the next export.

Vince Becquiot

Kaptis Studios
San Francisco – Bay Area

[Oliver Maingay]

Though we’re a facility in the UK, we have delivered in MPEG-2 to US networks digitally before, I will have their spec at the office and will post it tomorrow when I get in. To start with it will be:

MPEG-2 / 720×480 / 29.97fps / DV (or DV Widescreen) Pixels Aspect / 8Mbps / Lower Field First / and I *think* GOP N=12 M=3

For QuickTime, one client requests QuickTime encoded to the following spec and results are often very good. Probably worth a try:

Codec: Photo JPEG @ 75% Setting
Frame size & rate as above.

[Daniel Low]

[Oliver Maingay] “If you are editing uncompressed I would recommend delivering uncompressed, either 10-Bit using a codec such as Blackmagic or 8-Bit if file sizes are an issue. The station can then encode to their MPEG-2 specs for broadcast. “

Stations don’t want to have to re-encode, they want something that works on their systems.

Certainly in my experience.

__________________________________________________________________
“There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.”

Steve Ballmer To USA Today

[Daniel Low]

[Vince Becquiot] “I find that this creates the least issues, but your final export from Quicktime Pro can be anything you want, and certainly should adhere to the specs listed by the station. “

As much of a fan of QT as I am (having worked with it before it was even available to the public), there are now too many ‘issues’ with it for it to be reliable for use as a format for delivery to a broadcast playout centre.

__________________________________________________________________
“There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.”

Steve Ballmer To USA Today

[Daniel Low]

[Todd Terry] “I believe my editor tried exporting as a Quicktime Animation, but still had very poor results”

Not the right format to choose, like the name implies, suitable for Animation, not video. Oddly enough though, PhotoJPEG would be a much better choice.

__________________________________________________________________
“There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.”

Steve Ballmer To USA Today