Delivering SD to TV sations

[AaronPicot]

I am delivering commercials I shot on RED to local TV stations. Is there a best practice for this using Final Cut Studio?

What I've done this far:
Shot 3K, 23.98fps, build 30xx
Offlined with ProResHQ
Finished in 1080p.
Put finished spots into a 720x480 UncompQT timeline and exported.

What would you have done differently?

Thanks,
Picot

 

[Jari Perho]

Doesn't pretty much every broadcaster have their own technical specifications and several options for deliveries?

One thing I would have generally done differently is export the SD version straight from your 1080 timeline. There's really no need to first render it in a different resolution timeline, when you can can convert it from what you already have.

 

[Greg Huson]

I am delivering commercials I shot on RED to local TV stations. Is there a best practice for this using Final Cut Studio?

What I've done this far:
Shot 3K, 23.98fps, build 30xx
Offlined with ProResHQ
Finished in 1080p.
Put finished spots into a 720x480 UncompQT timeline and exported.

What would you have done differently?

Thanks,
Picot

If it's Standard Def, it needs to be 29.97. I believe FCP will do that conversion for you if you drop the HD sequence into the 29.97 SD timeline as you've said - but I don't have the software handy to check just now so don't quote me on that.

You need to know the delivery requirements for the station to which you're sending. One of the better known distributors to TV stations is DG Fastchannel. They use a version of Mpeg2 for SD distribution- there are presets available (google) for episode pro, probably some for compressor... and a preset comes with CS5 - that's the one we've been using lately when delivering to DG.

We also prep clips for distribution via private web site to a TV station group - those are posted in various sizes of H.264- pretty hi-rez h.264, but still h.264. The site distributes a lot of stuff, so we need to keep the file sizes reasonable.

If it's for your local TV station, they probably have Apple ProRes - that's a very high quality format that you could FTP or maybe yousendit to them. But just ask them what they'll take! It's possible they won't accept digital delivery at all (that's where we come in, digitalservicestation.com)

Be sure to use your broadcast safe filter at some point, and don't neglect your audio. Typical broadcast audio should not have peaks above -10 or -8. There is a whole science to metering for 'average' level now, too - (thanks dolby grrrr) - but you may not have to meet those restrictions on a local level. Just make sure it's clean and loud, but not too loud.

They may ask you to put bars and tone on the spot. FCP generates this, no problem. Digital tone is typically set at -20 (which is roughly where your most persistent audio should be.) Keep in mind that FCP puts tone at -12. Just turn it down to -20 before making your file.

Hope that helps a little. Or did I misunderstand your question?

 

[AaronPicot]

If it's Standard Def, it needs to be 29.97. I believe FCP will do that conversion for you if you drop the HD sequence into the 29.97 SD timeline as you've said - but I don't have the software handy to check just now so don't quote me on that.

You need to know the delivery requirements for the station to which you're sending. One of the better known distributors to TV stations is DG Fastchannel. They use a version of Mpeg2 for SD distribution- there are presets available (google) for episode pro, probably some for compressor... and a preset comes with CS5 - that's the one we've been using lately when delivering to DG.

We also prep clips for distribution via private web site to a TV station group - those are posted in various sizes of H.264- pretty hi-rez h.264, but still h.264. The site distributes a lot of stuff, so we need to keep the file sizes reasonable.

If it's for your local TV station, they probably have Apple ProRes - that's a very high quality format that you could FTP or maybe yousendit to them. But just ask them what they'll take! It's possible they won't accept digital delivery at all (that's where we come in, digitalservicestation.com)

Be sure to use your broadcast safe filter at some point, and don't neglect your audio. Typical broadcast audio should not have peaks above -10 or -8. There is a whole science to metering for 'average' level now, too - (thanks dolby grrrr) - but you may not have to meet those restrictions on a local level. Just make sure it's clean and loud, but not too loud.

They may ask you to put bars and tone on the spot. FCP generates this, no problem. Digital tone is typically set at -20 (which is roughly where your most persistent audio should be.) Keep in mind that FCP puts tone at -12. Just turn it down to -20 before making your file.

Hope that helps a little. Or did I misunderstand your question?

Hey Greg, thanks for all that, no you didn't misunderstand. I knew most of that stuff already. I tried for weeks to get the TV stations to send me their requirements and when they finally did, they were pretty vague. Nothing about 29.97, or -20db, etc. I've sent them all a high quality h264 revision. Well see how this goes.

Yeah all stations do things differently. If I wanted to cough up $100 I could go get a Beta tape made downtown, and just walk that into the stations and make dubs, but part of me says "really? with today's technology?"
Thanks.

 

[David Battistella]

Picot,

Here is where I would have changed that workflow.

HD operates in a different color space than SD.

I would have done a Color correction pass in the SD color space to ensure accurate color for the 601 Color Space.

If you look at each on a broadcast monitor and scope you will notice a large hue shift when you drop HD material into an SD timeline. The best way to test this is by dropping HD bars into an SD timeline and noticing where the vectors fall. The colors will not be in their boxes.

SD always requires a separate color pass.

David

I am delivering commercials I shot on RED to local TV stations. Is there a best practice for this using Final Cut Studio?

What I've done this far:
Shot 3K, 23.98fps, build 30xx
Offlined with ProResHQ
Finished in 1080p.
Put finished spots into a 720x480 UncompQT timeline and exported.

What would you have done differently?

Thanks,
Picot

 

[AaronPicot]

Picot,

Here is where I would have changed that workflow.

HD operates in a different color space than SD.

I would have done a Color correction pass in the SD color space to ensure accurate color for the 601 Color Space.

If you look at each on a broadcast monitor and scope you will notice a large hue shift when you drop HD material into an SD timeline. The best way to test this is by dropping HD bars into an SD timeline and noticing where the vectors fall. The colors will not be in their boxes.

SD always requires a separate color pass.

David

Yeah you're right. Damn, I forgot about that. Friggin SD....