Topics include:
Frame size
Video codec
Frame rate
Interlaced or Progressive?
Audio Sample Rate
Audio Sample Size
Settings when you export from Premiere
Other considerations
Amongst the many different video attributes you can use for your films and VT materials, the studio system is quite fussy as to which formats and codecs it can use. We can playback files using a few different codecs, but the Gallery software likes to stack only video of the same codec at once. So having all files in one format makes playback more straightforward.
The studio works in HD (high definition) - a frame size of 1920 x 1080 square pixels - a ratio of 16:9. This ideally should also be the frame size you use to capture (shoot) your material.
A lot of platforms are codec agnostic - they don’t care which codec has been used to make your video file, they can play it. But the software in the gallery is more choosy.
Edited videos should be exported in Apple Pro Res 422 (LT)
We work in the UK standard of 25fps, sometimes doubled to 50fps.
The studio prefers 25fps.
Movie makers love progressive, but TV has traditionally produced INTERLACED pictures.
The studio system can only work with interlaced footage, usually shown by an ‘i’ not a ‘p’ in the file format name.
48000Hz
24 Bit
The gallery equipment can only use certain types of video files.
Export as Apple ProRes 422 LT
VIDEO: AUDIO:
Frame size: 1920 x 1080 Sample rate: 48000Hz
Frame Rate: 25fps Sample size: 24 bit
Field Order: Upper first
Aspect: Square Pixels
Bring to studio on a USB stick or drive
Other Considerations
In order for the director, vision mixer and sound mixer to get your video ‘on air’ cleanly you should do the following:
Start the video with the first frame of pictures…..NOT with a frame of black.
Sound should also start in the first frame BUT it helps if critical sound starts 1 second in.
At the end make sure there are a few seconds of pictures beyond the ‘editorial end’ of your piece. Do not cut straight to black.
Because of this little bit extra at the end, each video will have a ‘clip duration’ and an ‘editorial duration’. The video clip might be 2:15 in length, but the actual content - interview, etc - will perhaps be only 2:12 in length.
The ‘editorial’ duration is the shorter of the two and is the timing which goes in the programme running order and is used by the PA to count down to the end of the VT
Written by PS