Submission/Proxy Upload Specifications
For an initial submission to stations like MTV, VH1, BET, REVOLT, etc. You may optionally submit a lower quality bit rate file via 5050MG. *Note that you will be required to follow the specifications for the delivery of the Final Master
HD SD
Codec: H.264 H.264
Width/Height: 1920x1080 720x486
Video Bit Rate: 10 to 15 Mbits/s 3 to 8 Mbits/s
Final Broadcast NTSC Master Upload Specifications (Closed Captions Required)
HD SD
Codec: XDCAM HD422 1080i60 CBR
XDCAM HD422 1080p30 CBR
MPEG-2 IMX NTSC 50
MPEG-2
MXF
Video Bit Rate: 50 Mbits/s 50 Mbits/s
Frame Rate: 29.97/59.94fps 29.97fps
Drop frame: Yes Yes
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 4:3
Width/Height: 1920x1080 720x486
720x480
Chroma: 4:2:2 4:2:2
Interlacing: 1080i (Upper/top field first)
1080p (Progressive) 480i (Upper/top field first)
Audio Type: PCM Audio/SMPTE 302M PCM Audio/SMPTE 302M
Audio Sample Rate: 48kHz 48kHz
Audio Bit Depth: 16, 24 16, 24
Final Broadcast PAL Master Upload Specifications (Closed Captions Not Required)
HD SD
Codec: XDCAM HD422 1080i50 CBR
XDCAM HD422 1080p25 CBR
MPEG-2 IMX PAL 50
MPEG-2 (576i/25)
MXF (576i/25)
Video Bit Rate: 50 Mbits/s 50 Mbits/s
Frame Rate: 25fps 25fps
Dropframe: Yes Yes
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 4:3
Width/Height: 1920x1080 720x576
Chroma: 4:2:2 4:2:2
Interlacing: 1080i (Upper/top field first)
1080p (Progressive)
108050i
108025p
Audio Type: PCM Audio/SMPTE 302M PCM Audio/SMPTE 302M
Audio Sample Rate: 48kHz 48kHz
Audio Bit Depth: 16, 24 16, 24
Audio Channel Assignments
Channel 1 - Stereo Left
Channel 2 - Stereo Right
Closed Caption Information
Closed Captions (CC) are the text that appear on a video, which contain dialogue and audio cues such as music or sound effects. The purpose of closed captions is to make video accessible to those who are deaf or hard of hearing, for viewers whose native language is not English, and for when the audio cannot be heard due to noise (restaurants, public spaces, etc.) or a need for quiet (libraries, hospitals, etc.).
All final broadcast deliveries MUST be closed captioned.
The FCC requires the majority of English and Spanish programming seen on broadcast TV in the United States to be captioned. The CRTC requires the same for Canadian broadcasts.
There are two types of captions in North America: EIA-608 and EIA-708. 608 is also known as 'Line 21' captions and is typically utilized in SD video delivery. If you see those moving white lines at the very top of your video - those are closed captions.
708 captions are typically utilized for HD video delivery. They offer a wider array of character sets and the use of colors. A variant, CEA-708 captions are injected directly into MPEG-2 video streams in the picture user data.
Captions need to be the last step in creating/submitting a final master, as you cannot edit a video once captions have been applied or they will be lost.
How To Caption Your Video
Your existing production house might offer this service. Ask them for more information, but make sure they are captioning correctly and digitally! You don't want to lose time having the file rejected due to incorrect captioning or because of a loss of quality due to 'old style' bounce to tape captioning.
5050MG Captioning Services. 5050MG can also closed caption your video. We can either complete the entire process or properly encode captions to your file with a provided SCC file.
In each of the cases above, you need to provide a transcript for your video.