Broadcast specs making my head spin …

[Mark Pommett]

Last questions I promise. Do I need to fade ins and outs on the commercials and if so how many frames?

And finally, our program is in 4:3 SD and the commercials are 16:9. Should my countdown slate and bars and tones be in 4:3 or 16:9? Thanks!

[Dylan Reeve]

My countdown clock varies. I make new ones when I get bored or have free time (not often now).

Generally it’s just simply numbers cutting every second from 30 (or 15) to 3, with a single frame flash of 2 (the 2-pip) and then 1 sec 24 frames of black. I haven’t delivered to BBC for a while, so my clock has no circle in it at the moment.

As for your commercials. It’s a toss up – in normal broadcast situations the channels don’t normally dissolve between commecials (although some do). They should be able to cut end to end. If that really doesn’t work then I guess you could put a 4 or 6 frame dip-to-black on the cut.

The mixed aspect could be a huge pain. Does the network broadcast 16:9 or 4:3? If they broadcast 16:9 you’ll need to ‘column’ your 4:3 material and leave the 16:9 ads as FHA. In FCP that’d probably mean making a 16:9 anamorphic timeline and taking the program sequence into it – should end up with black columns left and right.

If they broadcast 4:3, you’ll need to letterbox the ads.

Whatever you deliver, as it’s a single master for broadcast without breaks you’ll have to deliver a consistent aspect ratio throughout. If it’s 16:9 you’ll need to reformat program for that. If it’s 4:3 you’ll need to reformat ads for that.

Good luck.

[Steve Mcgarrigle]

I’ve not heard of a show being delivered complete with ads – these are usually scheduled from a different playout server completely.
If it is WYSIWYG then obviously you wont need to include the black or 10 second holds on the ads.