encoding for broadcast

[Mark Petereit]

(Any way to subscribe to a thread without replying to it?)

[Walter Soyka]

[Andy Hunt] “Hi- I’m relatively new to Hi Def but I am shooting everything on it now- Most TV Stations here allow me to send electronically- I subscribe to https://www.mailbigfile.com- but no one gives me specific encoding instructions so I just make-do. I use QT Conversion default settings with H264 compressor- I then change the size to NTSC 720 X 480 with 16 X 9 Aspect ratio and send it off. No one has complained but I was wondering if there is a better-more industry standard-way of doing it.”

You might be able to get precise delivery specs for their playout systems, but you might need to talk to an engineer to get them.

That aside, do you have to downconvert from SD to HD, or can you deliver HD?

Also, have you looked at using Compressor instead of using QT conversion? You can get a lot more control over the encode.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Andy Hunt]

Hey thanks for the response- I’m gradually dragging info out of the TV Stations- many have no idea what I’m talking about but I’ve been following up and the word I’ve gotten back is that the spots I’ve been sending look great so I guess I’m doing something right. Here in Charleston Sc, they still only accept SD so I have to downconvert. I do use compressor sometimes and it works well.

Thanks so much!!!

[Mark Petereit]

Interesting! I’m up in Florence, SC. I’ve been holding off on TV advertising, waiting for the local stations to get their HD act together.

Do you have any examples of your SD down-converted commercials available on the net? I’d like to see how they look.

Mark Petereit
Family Worship Center, Florence
fwcflorence.com

[Andy Hunt]

OK, I just uploaded a spot that I shot in HD 720 30fps and converted for airing on local TV.

here’s the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYWYKkaOzLs

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[Mark Petereit]

Just seems strange to me that all the local TV stations have all the equipment they need to transmit HD from their networks, but none of them have the equipment necessary to handle a local HD commercial.

[Mark Petereit]

Nice work! Can you upload the version that you downconverted to SD for the local TV station?

[Andy Hunt]

Hi Dave-I was a Promotion manager for years at WCSC-TV in Charleston and at WMAR-TV in Baltimore-been doing my own thing for 10 years now. The whole downconverting thing is confusing as well-I have a Kona Card and use it to down-convert to tape-works well.

[Andy Hunt]

Well, i never recorded to tape- most stations accept spots via FTP sites now so I simply encoded as a Quick Time but converted it to NTSC with a 16 X 9 aspect ratio- that’s how it’s running.

A

[Mark Petereit]

How does it appear when the station airs it? Letterboxed?