[Ann Clark]

Ty,

An interesting find. Downloaded the demo version.

The Loudness Change test drive…

This could be a good tool for finding peaks and overall level problems. It does what it says it will.

What the tool does quite well is point out a potential problem, and you can do the math in your head to reset the level for the flagged item, since LKFS measures in decibels.

I may go ahead and buy the real thing, but I do have a few reasons to hesitate:

* It’s set up for the European standard, so you have to manually type in US info. (I sent them the US broadcast standards that I’d received from a national network – maybe they’ll create a new US template)
* The screens and reports are a bit clumsy, as they’re designed by a non-English person and with European designations for all the things it measures.
* It requires a WAV file as input, an extra round-trip for us.
* There’s a technical translation that must happen between the many new flavors of information that make up the CALM Act standard and what systems like FCP tell you about your levels.

I’ve been tweaking the audio within FCP and other software such as Soundtrack Pro and ye olde Soundbooth. All of these systems have no clue as to LKFS. So I’ve followed the rule of keeping the peaks below -6dB on the FCP Audio meter, and keeping the lows around -12dB, and the overall levels pretty even throughout. Aside from the tape dub problem, I’ve been doing okay with this method.

Loudness Change provides data, but it’s up to the editor to interpret, make corrections, re-test, etc.

What I’d really like (and which will never happen) is a CALM filter within FCP (or another Mac friendly NLE) that’s as simple as Final Cut’s Broadcast filter for luma/chroma level corrections. Drop it in, render, done.

BUT – I’ll see what I can do using Loudness Change – might be the only game in town!

– Ann

MacPro 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 14GB memory – OSX10.6.8 FCP7

[Ann Clark]

OK, so instead of ProRes422 you used H.264, I suppose.

With satellite-broadcast, regional sports nets like Root Sports, you can be assured that DirecTV would have directed it to local viewers. For example, the programming for their Northwest version of the same channel would have all different games on it, so if you were airing during a Pirates game, it would be airing locally in Pittsburgh, not in the Northwest.

Congrats on getting your first commercial out there. 🙂

MacPro 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 14GB memory – OSX10.6.8 FCP7

[Ann Clark]

Hey Ty, and the rest of the group,

So, over a year later the CALM Act stuff is still a mystery. I have workarounds to attain a complaint signal, but there just isn’t an easy plug-in or low-budget meter that does the trick. It’s all hand work and guess work.

We had a production recently (30-sec spot) that went to the dub house in good shape, then to the network — which made a point of rejecting the ad for “low volume.” They wouldn’t tell me what they meant (how low?), but they made quite a stink about it before telling me they raised it a little bit and went ahead with airing it. Indeed, broadcasters have mostly abdicated responsibility to output a good signal.

Long and short – got the tape back and the dub house reported that the dub itself was just recorded a little bit low, not wildly low, just a bit.

Since our productions are often budget priced TV spots, we won’t be buying any $4,000 sound equipment any time soon (we’re not an audio post house, either). Going to an audio post house would actually be great, except that it would be an expensive thing to do, and unappreciated by our tight-budget customers. We’re hoping for some simpler, cheaper solutions that can be added to the current workflow without a lot of hoops.

Anything new out there? 🙂

MacPro 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 14GB memory – OSX10.6.8 FCP7

[Ann Clark]

And what format did you eventually deliver in? Their originally requested 1280×720 59.94 fps QT ProRes422? Or did they agree to accept another format?

By the way, was this a local ad or national?

When you say “broadcast,: do you mean over-the-air (NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, CS, etc.), or cable, or satellite?

This kind of info is helpful to fellow Cows…:-)

MacPro 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 14GB memory – OSX10.6.8 FCP7

[Ann Clark]

I suppose one editor’s perfectly normal is another editor’s perfectly ridiculous. 😉

29.97 ain’t so bad. The only problem might be if you’re not shooting and editing in a US standard format. Still, with Final Cut, I’ve been able to combine different frame rates by converting the various clips, so really, it’s just a matter of adapting to what you need to do.

Keep in mind that the number of large and small broadcasters, cable casters and satellite providers all across the US actually vastly outnumber those in your native Britain. Each one would be required to change a huge amount of expensive hardware. When you think about it, that’s a lot of 29.97 hardware on the planet. Most networks would be hard pressed to reconfigure from the ground up, just to lose some frames. And that doesn’t even take into consideration all the US TV sets that expect a 29.97 signal.

The broadcasting world has been turned upside down with the hundred or more HD formats available now. The fact that 29.97 has remained a constant in this format maelstrom is actually a plus for many producers.

If you’re finding 29.97 vexing, consider a tutorial or two on the subject. You might just grow to hate it not quite so much. (Seriously, it’s easy to work with once you get everything set up.)

Best of luck with your video ventures!

MacPro 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 14GB memory – OSX10.6.8 FCP7

[Ann Clark]

Alex,

I assume you have gotten your spot to the station OK.

Regarding ISCI codes, you can create your own code using a basic pattern like ABCD-1234 where the letters hint at the name of the advertiser and the number is a version or other identifier, and you might add -HD at the end to differentiate it from an SD ad. That is usually enough for a small station.

So, what format did you eventually deliver?

MacPro 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 14GB memory – OSX10.6.8 FCP7

[Ann Clark]

It should be easy to spot of you do this:

Go to your Macintosh HD,

open Users

open Library

open Preferences

scroll down till you see the file: com.apple.motion.plist

You might also just do a search for the file.

Then again, if you’re not the Admin on your laptop, perhaps you can’t see this file? Hm.

Try the above, and let us know if you find the file.

– Ann

MacPro 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 14GB memory – OSX10.6.8 FCP7

[Ann Clark]

It should be easy to spot of you do this:

Go to your Macintosh HD,

open Users

open Library

scroll down till you see the file: com.apple.motion.plist

You might also just do a search for the file.

Then again, if you’re not the Admin on your laptop, perhaps you can’t see this file? Hm.

Try the above, and let us know if you find the file.

– Ann

MacPro 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 14GB memory – OSX10.6.8 FCP7

[Ann Clark]

Thanks for your reply.

Does this mean that the clip is probably not drop frame?

I need the clip to be drop frame for broadcast.

I was contemplating exporting it from FCP as 29.97 – would this cure the anomaly?

MacPro 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 14GB memory – OSX10.6.8 FCP7

[Ann Clark]

What are you getting at, Terry?

I know of at least one major cable operation in the Southeast who, strangely, insists on 100% SD. They love to brag on their HD capabilities, and then they refuse HD ads.

National nets all accept HD, but they do still run SD as well.

I think it’s best to be be prepared for varying requirements. Your HD ad should be designed so it can be center-cut, because many stations run both SD and HD, and will want to have the flexibility to crop for their SD broadcasts.

MacPro 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 14GB memory – OSX10.6.8 FCP7