Need software advice for matching delivery specs

[Eric Strand]

It looks like they need a XDCAM HD422 1080i50 file. Which NLE are you editing in. I know FCP 7 had an option to export to XDCAM.

@ericstrand11

[Justin Schultz]

Thanks for the reply.

I’m editing in PPro CC.

Yes, it does seem like that is what they want. However the XDCAM HD 422 1080i50 presets in AME are missing many of the line items listed in the specs, e.g.:

Video
Format settings, BVOP
Color space: YUV
Compression mode: Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame): 0.997

Audio
Format settings, Sign : Signed
Codec ID: sowt
Or the ability to set the audio bitrate to 1536kbps

Wrapper is a little vague in the specs but all of my options are different in AME whether i choose .mpg, .mxf, or .mov

I was hoping someone could tell me that some of these specs are assumed in certain settings or referred to as something else. Or if they knew whether Episode Pro would display more of the spec line items.

I will probably download the trial of Episode Pro to see if that answers my questions, while setting up some test deliveries from my AME choices.

It’s a tough topic to not be verbose with! Thanks for reading.

[Eric Strand]

Hi Justin, those settings are assumed. I just did a test here with Media Encoder and choosing Format: Quicktime, then codec XDCAM HD422 1080i50 output settings that matched. Make sure you changed your audio settings to uncompressed. When I output an MXF, the audio bitrate was a bit lower, so they must want an .mov.

@ericstrand11

[Justin Schultz]

Thanks so much for the reply Eric. Very helpful and much appreciated.

[Manny Kivowitz]

Super helpful thread but unfortunately the one thing that Justins specs didn’t include which the specs we received, for 10 different major markets in the US via Comcast, was requirement of embedded (not sidecar) closed captioning in the MPEG 2 file.

The specs for our 12 individual PSA’s also required encoding for both HD & SD – both in mpeg 2. The SD specs were slightly different of course but similar overall.

After trying Adobe Media Encoder (which won’t output closed captioning to mpg) and Episode Pro (which also wouldn’t output embedded closed captioning), as well as trying encoding.com and Amazons Elastic Encoder – both of which we failed to get successful results from, we finally decided to go to an outside vendor to run the final deliverables from ProRes HQ masters (seperate masters for HD & SD). The vendor, Sycro in NYC, used Telestream’s enteprise grade system, Vantage to do the job.

It just seems unreal to us that in 2015, formats that have been used by broadcasters for years are not included in Pro encoding software.

The final kicker was that when we received the encoded files back from the vendor, we could not check the closed captioning properly without having to purchase a player like Switch or Drastic Preview.

If anyone has any thoughts on the above, we’d love to hear them!

[Craig Seeman]

[Manny Kivowitz] “The vendor, Sycro in NYC, used Telestream’s enteprise grade system, Vantage to do the job.
“

[Manny Kivowitz] “Episode Pro (which also wouldn’t output embedded closed captioning)”

I believe Telestream is listening.

[Manny Kivowitz] “t just seems unreal to us that in 2015, formats that have been used by broadcasters for years are not included in Pro encoding software.”

One may well do this in 2015.

[Manny Kivowitz] “we could not check the closed captioning properly without having to purchase a player like Switch”

Probably not a feature you’d find in a free player. Development involves resources and the market is small so returns on development investment have to happen.

[Daniel Fletcher]

Have you called the broadcaster directly and spoken with the people that will receiving your files?
They may be able to offer you some insight, suggest an encoder or offer you other options.