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Google TV spec asks for upper field first.
Hi All,
I know Google TV airs only on a limited number of systems that are mainly satellite, and their spec seems pretty standard for US broadcast, BUT they require upper field dominant.
Everywhere else we’ve uploaded footage or sent a tape, the requirement has been lower/even field first.
Anyone else have experience with Google’s specs? Why would they ask for this? I don’t recall Dish Network needing upper first, when we sent them spots in the past.
Here’s the specs as they were provided:
Format: AVI, MOV, TS (MPEG2 Transport Stream)
Size: 100MB or lessResolution:
– 720 x 480 @ 29.97fps (NTSC)
– frame aspect ratio: 4:3
– pixel aspect ratio: 0.9
Upper/Top/Odd field first
Codec: AVC H.264 (Main Profile 3.0), MPEG-2 (Main Profile @ Main Level),
Uncompressed/RAW (except V210/10-bit), DVVIDEO
Bitrate: At least 6Mbps (CBR).
Luma should occupy full spectrum between NTSC standard 7.5 IRE black and
white level at 100 IRE
# of frames for NTSC format
15 sec ad: 450 frames
30 sec ad: 900 frames
45 sec ad: 1350 frames
60 sec ad: 1800 frames
75 sec ad: 2250 frames
90 sec ad: 2700 frames
120 sec ad: 3600 frames
Text overlays should be title-safeAudio:
Samples: 48Khz, 16bits
Dynamic Range: no greater than 7dB
Codec: MPEG1-Layer 2, AAC, PCM
Bitrate: At least 256kbps
Number of channels: 2 (stereo)MacPro 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 14GB memory – OSX10.6.4 FCP7
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4 Replies
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Upper field first isn’t particularly unusual.
There are a couple of things in that spec that strike me as a bit odd, although there may be a degree of interpretation possible, e.g., dynamic range no greater than 7dB means that the sound has to be very heavily compressed, but it also begs the question of what method should be used to measure it.
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[Ann Clark] “Everywhere else we’ve uploaded footage or sent a tape, the requirement has been lower/even field first.”
Lower first was set as the standard for all NTSC tape-based formats (a matter of hardware compatibility), but once you are inside a computer you can set the field of your convenience. As long as the player know the correct field-order there is no problem.
rafael -
As it turns out, I elected to follow some instructions from the Goog’s website regarding how to output from FCP via Compressor into an H.264 formatted file. (Hold your nose, punch in the numbers in the fields and hit Go.) The MPEG2 conversion they offered didn’t yield a result I was happy with, so I used the H.264.
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Audio compression is one of those many things that have TV commercial producers vexed. FCP 7 doesn’t have a great way to measure whether you’re exceeding the C.A.L.M. requirements, and broadcasters aren’t putting their own limiters on the output from their stations. They simply reject any TV commercial with peaks that exceed their requirements. Audio software with easier to use compression filters can be a big help there, but I’m sure not everyone has access to just the right tools.
As media buyers, ourselves, we often air commercials for other producers, but nowadays we run each of these outside ads through our “Evaluation” process, which includes checking for Luma levels and audio peaks. We send our evaluation to the producer, they make corrections, and then send us their cleaned up ad — assuming they have the tech savvy to accomplish the task. The VAST majority of these small producers really don’t know what they’re doing though, and a few just get angry at the critique and don’t air the ad at all.
MacPro 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 14GB memory – OSX10.6.4 FCP7
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