Making an FCP sequence broadcast legal

[Nick Wilson]

Hi

Is there any quick and easy way of making a sequence in FCP broadcast legal, or is applying the broadcast safe filter to each clip the only method?

Cheers, Nick

[Olof Ekbergh]

How are you laying off to tape?

Most cards like Matrox or AJA will "legalize" video as it plays to tape.

To be really sure you need a set of scopes hooked to your tape output.

[Nick Wilson]

Output to DVD via Compressor. "Broadcast legal' is a bit of a missnomer as the output is not for broadcast, but I have found that older DVD and TV combinations react badly to over-bright scene, with buzzing in audio. So I prefer to clamp the white levels to 100%.

Cheers, Nick

[Tim Dashwood]

If you want to clamp the white levels just nest your whole sequence and then add the "Broadcast Safe" filter from the Color Correction filter folder.

You can set broadcast safe to clip at 100IRE if you want.

FCP also has a range check function for luma and chroma (it is in the view menu.)

[Shaun Roemich]

If you need broadcast legal, even using the Broadcast Safe filter only BEGINS to deal with all the issues:
- black needs to be above 7.5 IRE (0 IRE IF the playback device automatically takes care of this - some DVCam decks do this automatically for analog output)
- white needs to be under 100 IRE for most broadcasters (but the exact amount one is allowed to "overshoot" 100 IRE varies from broadcaster to broadcaster)
- colour needs to remain within YUV colour space (on your vectorscope monitor you can't "overshoot" any of the target reticals)

I believe the Broadcast Safe filter only looks after Luminance (and not Chrominance)

I use the Luma & Chroma check range functions Tim mentions and then adjust each individual clip with the 3 Way Colour Corrector with the Waveform & Vectorscopes open. It's a lot of work but that's why broadcast is broadcast and industrial is industrial...

[William Hohauser]

Broadcast safe is an amorphous term but it can refer to creating a signal that will not overwhelm the transmitting equipment. A bad signal will break the frequency bandwidth limits set by the FCC and leak into another signal. Over limit whites and reds will break into the audio of an analog station when you watch it on a TV set by the RF/Antenna input. Over limit signals will get a broadcasting station in big trouble with the FCC if it's a persistent problem.

Years ago many stations and cable channels (especially local) did not have the equipment to compensate for over limit luminance or chroma. These days most transmitting facilities have that (frame syncs, proc amps, server controls) and are also running digital which reduces, if not eliminates, the problem. The producer isn't expected to really worry about these issues although a badly color balanced master is another matter. Many DVCam decks have a luminance cutoff when they record and playback, DigiBeta might also although I never had the reason to check. A transmitting facility I had chance to refurbish some years ago eliminated their over limit video problems when they switched entirely to DVCam from 3/4, BetaSP and yes, SVHS. These older tape formats were a headache when sent into the cable company's 20 year old analog audio/video modulators for transmitting to the company's head-end master control. The in-deck TBCs had no white or chroma limit, you could accidentally blast the signal. The facility recently added MPEG2 files pulled from DVDs which playback fine from the server.

The "Broadcast Safe" filter is generally reliable method to get those whites and colors down to safe levels. Check with the place you are sending the tape to and see what their specs are. If it's 100% then you can fix that by dragging the entire finished sequence into a new sequence and applying the filter once to the whole thing. If it just a few scenes then do those only. If they say 120% then do nothing as that's the default limit in most codecs. If you are doing something unusual, artistic overexposure or very bright special effects, you should alert them that these scenes are intentional.

[Nick Wilson]

Thanks all - that's helpful.

N