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 | |
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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 |
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NTSC Advertising & Music Video Specifications
Master Video Composition
Master Video Specifications
HD VIDEO | SD VIDEO | |
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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 | 23.976 / 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) | ||
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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 |
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STEREO AUDIO | 5.1 SURROUND AUDIO |
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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
Master Video Specifications
HD VIDEO | SD VIDEO | |
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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) | ||
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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 |
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STEREO AUDIO | 5.1 SURROUND AUDIO |
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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
Master Video Specifications
HD VIDEO | SD VIDEO | |
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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 |
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STEREO AUDIO | 5.1 SURROUND AUDIO |
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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 Video (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 | |
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Codec: | H.264 | H.264 |
Width/Height: | 1920X1080 | 720X486 |
Video Bit Rate | 10 to 15 Mbits/s | 3 to 8 Mbits/s |
Music Audio
Many radio engineers prefer or require uncompressed audio. It’s strongly recommended audio tracks are uploaded as WAV. DMDS will automatically create a 256kbps MP3 version for recipients who prefer to download MP3 files when WAV is the source file uploaded.
Codec: | PCM (.WAV) |
Bit: | 16 bit stereo |
Sample: | 14.1 kHz |
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.
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
- 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.
- 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.
Uploading
3 Easy Ways To Upload Your Spots To DMDS
SINGLE UPLOADS | MULTIPLE UPLOADS | ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS |
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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. |