specs for delivery of Quicktime files

Hello to all,

I am doing a SD project for television broadcast. The final output will be either DVCPro SD or MPEG2.

The files are being delivered to me as Quicktime files. I've requested the following:

DV/NTSC OR DVCpro 50

720 x 480

What bit rate should I request?

Should I list any other specs for the Quicktime files?

If some files are in HD format, what specs should I request?


My final delivery instructions are:
Video:
? MPEG-2, Main level, main profile
? 4:3 (16x9 letterboxed to 4:3 may be used but not preferred)
? 4:2:0 chroma subsampling
? Frame rate of 29.97 for video and 23.97 for film
? Black Level at 0 IRE
? 3 seconds of black at start of clip and 3 second of black at the end of clip
(Minimum Requirement). Recommended black at the start is 7 seconds.
? Video data rate of no greater than 3.18Mbps
? Stream Type 0x02
? Stream ID 0xe0
? PID 0x1e1 (481)
Audio:
? 2-channel Dolby AC-3 at 192kbps
? Sampling Rate 48000sps
? Stream Type 0x81
? Stream ID 0xBD
? PID 0x1e2 (482)
? ISO-639 Language Descriptor

Secondary Audio:
? 2-channel Dolby AC-3 at 128kbps
? Sampling Rate 48000sps
? Stream Type 0x81
? Stream ID 0xBD
? PID 0x1e3 (483)
? ISO-639 Language Descriptor


Bit rate:
? Single program transport stream with a base data rate of 3.75Mbps or less
? Constant Bit Rate

As always, thanks in advance!

Peace,
Lisha
Final Cut Pro 6.0.6
Dual 2.3 GHz Power PC G5

>If some files are in HD format, what specs should I request?

I don't get your question. You just listed your delivery specs and it says Mpeg2. So you get your quicktime master, and encode into that format.



www.strypesinpost.com

Hi Strypes,

The people sending me the Quicktime files are asking me what format should they send. When I said "DV/NTSC OR DVCpro 50, 720 x 480" I was told that was not enough information. What bit rate should they use? Any other specifications I should provide?

As for the HD files that are Quicktime, again someone asked what format should they send? I said just send the file and they are insisting on specs. What should I tell them?

Additional note: I am assembling an hour long program for television broadcast using several Quicktime files. The files are being delivered to me from different sources.

DV and DV50 are constant data rate formats. You don't have a choice about what data rate to use; it's always either 25 or 50 megabits per second.

>I am assembling an hour long program for television broadcast using several Quicktime files.

In SD, Uncompressed 10 bits. If you don't have the space, and your source is 8 bits, I wonder if Uncompressed 8 bits offer an edge over ProRes HQ.



www.strypesinpost.com

Thanks Jeff!

Should I tell them 25 or 50 megabits?

Any input on the people who have Quicktime files that are HD? I said just send me the file/s as is and again I was asked for specs.

Hi Lisha,

The response your "people" gave you doesn't make any sense. When I get footage from my clients, it's usually in the format it was shot in - DV, HDV, DVCProHD, XDCAM - or converted from a raw format into something I can edit, like ProRes. At no point is the bitrate ever an issue; it's simply 'set' into the recorded format and it's not something you usually try and alter.

I'm gonna take a stab here and guess that the "people" are trying to do you a favor by converting their footage for you into another format. And from the sounds of it, they're going about it all wrong. If they're asking you for a bitrate, they may be using the "Quicktime Conversion" output which is usually used to compress video for the WEB or an iPhone or whatever. That's NOT how I would want anyone to provide me footage!

They need to properly Transcode the clips into a decent SD format you can use, and if they don't know what that means then they shouldn't be doing this conversion at all. Ask them what the ORIGINAL, unaltered formats of all the footage is. Is there any reason they can't send you the original clips? Let us know and then we can help you find the right solution.

HTH,
JK

_______________________________________
SCQT! Self-contained QuickTime ? pass it on!

Hi John,

I thought the same thing and told the producer that the people sending the footage don't know what they are doing! I've never run into this question nor has it ever been a problem.

The footage, I found out last night, is mostly music videos coming from different record labels or people representing recording artist. One person, when asked for a broadcast quality Quicktime file, sent a file used for You Tube. Another person said, "When you say for broadcast do you mean for the internet, for You Tube, cell phones or what?" And went on to say that they provide a different bit rate based on what type of broadcast the footage is being used for. I shook my head because, like I said this has never been a problem before.

I'll find out from the sources what their ORIGINAL, unaltered formats are. Thanks so much!!!!!

Peace,
Lisha

Well, just the fact that they think "broadcast" is for web or cell phones suggests they've never dealt with post-production. Quite frankly, even DV at full quality falls a bit short of true broadcast standards, and is only really done if the first-generation camera master was DV to begin with.

You're gonna have to do some babysitting on this one. I've dealt with people like this, and they might take some garbage 320x240, 300kbps, e-mail-ready MPEG file and convert it to DV and send it to you. Make sure you know what the highest-quality masters are.


www.derekmok.com

Oh my goodness! Derek, that is EXACTLY what someone did! Babysitting it is. Thanks Derek!!!