WORKING WITH DIGITAL FILES



WORKING WITH DIGITAL MEDIA

Technical Specs For Post Production

Filenames, Roll and Interviewee information

Please ensure that where possible your files are named clearly and include the camera roll number and interviewee names if relevant.

Ideally, any filenames should be formatted as follows: 001-James Smith.MP4

Where 001 would be the Roll No. and James Smith would be the interviewee name.

Please note that the hyphen separating the roll # and interviewee name is important, and no other hyphens should be included.

Video file formats for uploading

Ideally, we would prefer you to send us .MP4 files (compressed using H.264 video codec and AAC audio codec) to the following specifications. Please keep file sizes to 450 megabytes or less (see Compression below).

For Transcription of Rushes:

.MP4 files with BITC (compressed using H.264 video codec and AAC audio codec)

Dimensions: 352 * 288 pixels for 4:3 aspect ratio, use 352 * 198 for 16:9

Video bitrate: 128kb/s

Audio bitrate: 64.0kb/s

Audio sample rate: 48khs

Audio bits/sample: 16 bit

For Transmission (Post-Production) Scripts:

As per the above specification, but with a video bitrate of 196-240 kb/s.

The increased video bitrate allows us to see captions, credits, clock screens etc. and identify characters more easily.

Other video file types

Apart from .MP4s, we can also work from the following:

.WMV Windows Media Video files

.MOV Quicktime Video files (please use H.264 video codec and AAC audio codec)

.MXF Material eXchange Format (Please call us before sending these files)

.FLV Flash Video files

.MPG MPEG 1and MPEG 2 files

.AVI Audio Video Interleaved files

.DIVX DivX Video files

Depending on file sizes, you may be able to upload them (preferably a maximum of 300MB per video file for 30 minutes of material). If not, we can accept them on DVD or hard drive (please note that transfer fees will apply if you send the files in this way). Please call us to confirm the best way to send them over to us.

Audio file formats for uploading

Stereo MP3 with LTC on one channel or with timecode in ID3 tags

These files are small and therefore easy and quick to upload.

We can work with LTC on either Channel 1 or 2. Alternatively, we can work with files where the timecode is embedded in the ID3 tags.

Stereo WAV with LTC or Broadcast WAV with timecode in metadata

We can work from either of these file types. However, they tend to be much bigger and therefore take longer to upload. Ideally, please convert all Broadcast WAV files to MP3s before uploading. You can do this using BWF Widget Pro ().

If you are unable to supply timecode as either LTC or as a metadata tag, we can work from a start timecode if we are given one.

NB Polyphonic Broadcast WAV files

If you are recording polyphonic Broadcast WAV files, please ask your sound recordist to mix these down to stereo files before sending them in. However, if they do not have time and will, therefore, be supplying polyphonic files, please ask them to label each channel clearly and supply us with accurate information on which channels require transcription.

MP3 Audio File Compression

Bit rate: 44.1KHZ at 256 or 320Kbps. Any lower and you get TC fluctuations and no higher please.

Audio with no timecode

If there is no timecode in your audio file, we can either set the beginning of the file to a 00:00:00:00 (”zero zero”) timecode, or synchronise each file with a start timecode you specify.

Other Audio File Types

Apart from MP3s, .WAVs and Broadcast WAVs, we can also work from the following:

.WMA Windows Media Audio files

.MOV Quicktime Audio files - please use AAC audio codec if possible 

.DSS Digital Speech Standard files

.AAC Compressed Mac Audio files

.AIFF Uncompressed Mac Audio files

.OGG Ogg Vorbis files

Depending on file sizes, you may be able to upload them. If not, we can accept them on CD, DVD, Flash Card or hard drive (please note that transfer fees will apply if you send the files in this way). Please call us to confirm the best way to send them over to us.

Compression and Challenging Audio

Transcription software has a limitation on file size that is acceptable. File sizes should be no larger than 450 megabytes. File sizes exceeding this limit will need to be compressed. Please make sure file sizes are kept to the specifications above. If we have to compress the files to fit our transcribing software an additional charge may be applied and your turnaround time will be delayed.

 

Challenging Audio is classified as files which require multiple passes by transcribers to understand what is being said. Subpar audio recording, high background noise, cross-talking or heavy speaking accents all contribute to the degree of difficulty in transcribing. If we receive files we discover have any of the above you will be advised of the problem and an additional charge may apply. Note: Files with Challenging Audio issues may result in transcripts with a larger than usual number of “inaudibles”.

If you need any further assistance, please call Jason Reeves (310) 734 8853 (Ext. 6)

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