Tape not dead yet (again)

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Michael Gissing] “This was a response to your post that said we could fix file delivery with ‘a standardized delivery format’ That is an easy thing to say and obviously you agree by saying there are no more standards so how can it be easy to do. It isn’t easy so it is only easy to say not to do. “

Deliverable standards are just as fragmented as everything else in the professional video world.

There are certain formats that do carry recommendations, but they sometimes cost money as you have to buy software to create them, or if they are free, they are not nearly straightforward enough, and therefore they aren’t adhered to. XDCam is a good one, 45 Mbit mpeg2 program streams another, Avc-intra MXF yet another.

[Michael Gissing] “The issue with my friends and their festival experience is that it was less economic and actually offered them no advantage to take files. Of course they can improve issues like acceptance and perhaps even publish some basic specifications. My point is that regardless of that, the extra effort did not and may not pay off so why change from a working system like tape until such time as tape is harder and more expensive to them. Deliverables are driven by the clients customer in my case. If it makes it harder and more expensive for them to take files then that explains why they mostly don’t.”

It goes back to the infrastructure. I’m sure it would be much easier for the participants to deliver files, I know it is for me. The difference being, the delivery infrastructure is pretty well in place for the services I use (and even for station by station deliveries), and I can understand why your friends don’t want to figure that infrastructure out. At this point, it’s not worth it.

On another note.

What I do find interesting is what Apple did with ACVHD and Mountain Lion in that if it sees the avchd package, the OS turns the files into quick viewable pieces.

It’ll be interesting to see if that trend will continue with other ‘file bundle’ deliverables. It might help to simplify a few of the more complicated formats.

[Jeremy Garchow]

And have a look here. It looks there is going to be an HD standard emerging:

With third party support, this can work in FCPX today.

https://www.digitalproductionpartnership.co.uk/technical-standards/

A pertinent quote:

“From 2012 BBC, ITV and Channel 4 will begin to take delivery of programmes on file on a selective basis. File based delivery will be the preferred delivery format for these broadcasters by 2014. This announcement represents long notice lead-time to the industry, and will enable production and post production companies to ready themselves for this transition”

Jeremy

[Michael Gissing]

Thanks for that find Jeremy. I really hope there can be a sensible international standard for file based delivery to replace tape. I still think we are years off and it is also clear that Apple dropped tape too early but that is consistent with their history of going early.

All this is still consistent with my thoughts that tape is and will be the standard for broadcast deliverables for a while longer.