Formats for Commercial use?

Hi Folks,
I read a recent post regarding formats for broadcast tv. I presume that "broadcsat" refers to actual over the air transmission and it appears that our spiffy little videos we put on a dvds rate a bit north of garbage for that purpose!!??

Here's my premise.
Say you want to assemble a program that can be sold to small local "broadcasters" as well as the cable guys, aaannnnd .... the new folks that will be using internet tv. I am making a wild guess here that internet tv is the place to be in the coming years.
Everything from 30 sec commercials to 45 minute programs.

What formats or how many hoops will I be jumping through?

I realize this is a complicated issue with myriad possible solutions. If it's too much to address here, could someone point me to a website or book that can help me understand this better. Not only the formats involved but what hardware I need to start shopping for.

thanks,
Rick
anybody in or close to Memphis I can call and chat with?

It is a very broad question, because all broadcasters are different. Each one will give you specifications that you have to meet in order to pass their Quality Control, or, in very small places, that suit the equipment that they have.

So it could be anything from MPEG to high level HD tape delivery.

Some will accept a DVD. Some will scoff in your general direction. Some will drive you absolutely crazy with tiny details like how long each segment can be to the second. Some will drive you crazy with the fact that their technology is so old that you have to find legacy equipment to meet their rules.

There's no harm in targeting a couple of them and asking what their delivery requirements are, so you can be prepared. In fact some may even have a section on their website, if you're lucky.

No brainer: ask the broadcasters who are displaying the work. Only THEY know exactly what format / frame rate / codec / tape they need. All else from everywhere else is guesswork. I have been doing this for 12 years and I still ask the questions for every project that airs.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Can I chip in here and agree with both of the above...



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

There are two basic approaches. You can produce your product to a specific target format or you can produce it at the highest possible quality, then convert for delivery on various platforms.

In years past, prior to HD, there were limited choices for delivery, basically PAL or NTSC delivered on one of a handful of tape formats. At that point in history is was best to produce your product in the delivery format. Format conversion was costly and generally not great.

Now of course there are seemingly endless formats you may wish to deliver. In the US half of the broadcasters favor 1080i, the rest 720p. Local affiliates generally follow there network partners, but not always. Web delivery works best in progressive formats. DVD and BluRay may need to be factored in.

Your best approach is to shoot in the highest quality format you can afford for a particular production. If possible favor progress formats with the least amount of compression you can arrange. Then find out what your delivery spec is and convert your final output to that spec. Making smaller, more compressed images from larger less compressed ones yields the best results. Up-converting smaller highly compressed images is not recommended.