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    Video Guidelines

    The below guidelines are to assist you in preparing a broadcast quality master to upload into Yangaroo. Once created, this high quality format will then be transcoded to most other formats required for previews, downloadable formats for presentations, and nearly all digital and mobile formats needed.

    Spot & Video broadcast master requirements

    ADVERTISING VIDEO MUSIC VIDEO
    NTSC North America, Pan Regional Cable, and all Central and South American countries, except for the PAL listed countries below.
    PAL United Kingdom, Argentina Local Stations, Uruguay & Paraguay
    PRE-ROLL MANDATE All spots & long-form video NTSC video only
    SLATE/CLOCK MANDATE All spots & long-form video
    CLOSED-CAPTION MANDATE Canadian spots & all long-form video

    Advertising (only) File naming conventions

    NAMING YOUR VIDEO RECOMMENDATIONS
    1. AD-ID/ISCI names need to be between 5 and 12 alphanumeric characters, as many destinations won’t accept files outside of that range.
    2. Only Alpha-Numeric characters are allowed (A-Z, 0-9).
    3. End with an ‘H’ for HD files.

    NTSC Advertising & Music Video Specifications

    Master Video Composition

    5 Second Slate
    2 Seconds of Black
    Video Content

    Master Video Specifications

    HD VIDEO SD VIDEO
    CODEC’s XDCAM HD422
    MPEG-2
    MXF
    ProRes 422
    H.264    		 IMX NTSC 50
    MPEG-2
    MXF
    ProRes 422 NTSC
    H.264
    VIDEO BIT RATE 50 Mbits/s*
    *ProRes is exempt from bit rate specifications
    FRAME RATE 24 / 29.97 / 59.94 29.97
    DROPFRAME YES
    ASPECT RATIO 16:9 4:3
    WIDTH/HEIGHT 1920 x 1080 720 x 480, 720 x 486, 720 x 512
    CHROMA 4:2:2
    INTERLACTING 1080i (Upper field first)
    1080p (Progressive)    		 480i (Upper field first)
    ProRes (Lower field first)
    AUDIO TYPE PCM Audio/SMPTE 302M
    SAMPLE RATE 48kHz
    AUDIO BIT DEPTH 16,24
    PRE & POST ROLL (30 SEC SPOT EXAMPLE)
    SLATE 5 SECS 00:00:00:00 – 00:00:04.29
    BLACK 2 SECS 00:00:05:00 – 00:00:06.29
    TVC 30 SECS 00:00:07:00 – 00:00:37.00
    VISION & AUDIO
    1. NO bars & tone.
    2. NO variable frame rates.
    3. NO variable bit rates (VBR).
    4. NO anamorphic videos (SD).
    5. NO lower/bottom field dominance (HD).
    6. HD VIDEO to be submitted “center-cut-safe” as some destinations require it.
    7. NO mono audio files (watch audio output settings).
    8. Max peak audio no greater than -2 dBFS.
    STEREO AUDIO 5.1 SURROUND AUDIO
    Channel 1 – Stereo Left Channel 1 – Left Front
    Channel 2 – Stereo Right Channel 2 – Right Front
    Channel 3 – Mute Channel 3 – Center
    Channel 4 – Mute Channel 4 – Low Frequency Effects
    Channel 5 – Mute Channel 5 – Left Surround
    Channel 6 – Mute Channel 6 – Right Surround
    Channel 7 – Mute Channel 7 – Stereo Left
    Channel 8 – Mute Channel 8 – Stereo Right

    PAL Advertising (only) Specifications

    Master Video Composition

    5 Second Slate
    2 Seconds of Black
    Video Content

    Master Video Specifications

    HD VIDEO SD VIDEO
    CODEC’s XDCAM HD422
    MPEG-2
    MXF
    ProRes 422
    H.264    		 IMX NTSC 50
    MPEG-2
    MXF
    ProRes 422 NTSC
    H.264
    VIDEO BIT RATE 50 Mbits/s*
    *ProRes is exempt from bit rate specifications
    FRAME RATE 25 fps 25 fps
    DROPFRAME YES
    ASPECT RATIO 16:9 4:3
    WIDTH/HEIGHT 1920 x 1080 720 x 480, 720 x 486, 720 x 512
    CHROMA 4:2:2
    INTERLACTING 1080i (Upper field first)
    1080p (Progressive)    		 480i (Upper field first)
    ProRes (Lower field first)
    AUDIO TYPE PCM Audio/SMPTE 302M
    SAMPLE RATE 48kHz
    AUDIO BIT DEPTH 16,24
    PRE & POST ROLL (30 SEC SPOT EXAMPLE)
    SLATE 5 SECS 00:00:00:00 – 00:00:04.29
    BLACK 2 SECS 00:00:05:00 – 00:00:06.29
    TVC 30 SECS 00:00:07:00 – 00:00:37.00
    VISION & AUDIO
    1. NO bars & tone.
    2. NO variable frame rates.
    3. NO variable bit rates (VBR).
    4. NO anamorphic videos (SD).
    5. NO lower/bottom field dominance (HD).
    6. HD VIDEO to be submitted “center-cut-safe” as some destinations require it.
    7. NO mono audio files (watch audio output settings).
    8. Max peak audio no greater than -2 dBFS.
    STEREO AUDIO 5.1 SURROUND AUDIO
    Channel 1 – Stereo Left Channel 1 – Left Front
    Channel 2 – Stereo Right Channel 2 – Right Front
    Channel 3 – Mute Channel 3 – Center
    Channel 4 – Mute Channel 4 – Low Frequency Effects
    Channel 5 – Mute Channel 5 – Left Surround
    Channel 6 – Mute Channel 6 – Right Surround
    Channel 7 – Mute Channel 7 – Stereo Left
    Channel 8 – Mute Channel 8 – Stereo Right

    PAL Music Video (only) Specifications

    Master Video Composition

    Video Content

    Master Video Specifications

    HD VIDEO SD VIDEO
    CODEC’s XDCAM HD422
    MPEG-2
    MXF
    ProRes 422
    H.264    		 IMX NTSC 50
    MPEG-2
    MXF
    ProRes 422 NTSC
    H.264
    VIDEO BIT RATE 50 Mbits/s*
    *ProRes is exempt from bit rate specifications
    FRAME RATE 25 fps 25 fps
    DROPFRAME YES
    ASPECT RATIO 16:9 4:3
    WIDTH/HEIGHT 1920 x 1080 720 x 480, 720 x 486, 720 x 512
    CHROMA 4:2:2
    INTERLACTING 1080i (Upper field first)
    1080p (Progressive)    		 480i (Upper field first)
    ProRes (Lower field first)
    AUDIO TYPE PCM Audio/SMPTE 302M
    SAMPLE RATE 48kHz
    AUDIO BIT DEPTH 16,24
    VISION & AUDIO
    1. NO Pre-roll.
    2. NO bars & tone.
    3. NO variable frame rates.
    4. NO variable bit rates (VBR).
    5. NO anamorphic videos (SD).
    6. NO lower/bottom field dominance (HD).
    7. HD VIDEO to be submitted “center-cut-safe” as some destinations require it.
    8. NO mono audio files (watch audio output settings).
    9. Max peak audio no greater than -2 dBFS.
    STEREO AUDIO 5.1 SURROUND AUDIO
    Channel 1 – Stereo Left Channel 1 – Left Front
    Channel 2 – Stereo Right Channel 2 – Right Front
    Channel 3 – Mute Channel 3 – Center
    Channel 4 – Mute Channel 4 – Low Frequency Effects
    Channel 5 – Mute Channel 5 – Left Surround
    Channel 6 – Mute Channel 6 – Right Surround
    Channel 7 – Mute Channel 7 – Stereo Left
    Channel 8 – Mute Channel 8 – Stereo Right

    Music (only) S&P Submissions

    For an initial submission to stations like MTV, VH1, BET, REVOLT, etc. You may optionally submit a lower quality bit rate file via DMDS. *Note that you will be required to follow the specifcations 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

    Access the easy step-by-step tutorials

    Here’s some additional help as to how to best export the correct file formats from some popular desktop editing software.

    premiere icon

    Exporting From Adobe Premiere

    Adobe Premiere – DMDS.pdf
    vegas icon

    Exporting From Sony Vegas

    Sony Vegas – DMDS.pdf
    final cut icon

    Exporting from Final Cut

    Configure Your Sequence
    final cut icon

    Exporting from Final Cut

    Exporting HD & SD Files

    Closed-Captioning

    What is closed-captioning?

    Closed Captions (CC) is the text that appears 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.).

    Do I need to closed-caption my video?

    All spots and music videos MUST be closed captioned for Canadian broadcasters. 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 broadcasting.

    Closed-caption requirements:

    SD: CEA-608 (Line 21) or DTV-608 (QuickTime close caption track) required. HD: CEA-608 or DTV-608 required. CEA-708 and DTV-708 are optional. 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 do I closed-caption my video?

    We’ll do it for you

    It’s that simple, just order your closed-captioning with us and we’ll handle it for you.

    Work with An Expert

    1. 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.
    2. DMDS Captioning Services. DMDS 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.

    Caption Yourself

    DMDS works with a leading software vendor and innovator in the Closed Captioning space called CPC (http://www.cpcweb.com). Utilizing their software you have the ability to insert your own captions. CPC and DMDS have worked together to create documentation and video tutorials on completing this process correctly and to our specifications. As a DMDS customer, you are entitled to a discount on the CPC software. Please contact DMDS Support or your Sales Representative for more info.

    Uploading

    3 Easy Ways To Upload Your Spots To DMDS

    SINGLE UPLOADS MULTIPLE UPLOADS ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS
    DMDS DROP (Advertising only)
    Best for fast single spot uploads. Login to drop.dmds.com and follow the prompts.    		 DMDS UPLOAD MEDIA
    This ‘upload media’ option is better for multiple files and required for long form. Login to dmds.com and click on the “Upload Media” button.    		 We can accept files via multiple alternative methods (Aspera, FTP). Please work with your account manager to arrange a set up.