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Video House, 87 Boundary Road,
St. Johns Wood, London NW8 0RG

Phone: +44 (0) 20 7624 1711
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7624 2683

Intervideo Limited

QC at Intervideo

Since a lot of our daily work is for International Distributors, Intervideo provides a Broadcast Programme Quality Assessment service which has recently been upgraded to HD.  Our QC suite has the latest in signal Test & Measurement equipment from Tektronix, incorporates a HD Gordon Photo Epilepsy Monitor, and the latest SONY BVM-L230 Multi Definition LCD reference Monitor with Dual link inputs for 4.4.4.  The suite has its own local Digi-Beta and HDCAM playback facilities for all Television standards.  Full Internet access is also provided for our clients.  We can carry out Quality Assessment and Compliance checks for International Programme Distribution in all SD and HD Television standards.   

We are often asked the question what do we check for during the QC of a programme? The answer to this question is a fairly simple one.   Anything which should not be there!

However, on a more technical basis we would perform our assessment in order that we check the following technical parameters:

  1. We check programme line-up at the beginning of the tape in order to ensure that signal levels for Colour Bars and Audio reference tones have been recorded at the correct level in accordance with EBU/SMPTE standards and recommendations.
  2. We check that the information provided on a VT Clock or pre programme identification slate has the correct information for the programme which follows.  
  3. During the programme, signal measurements are made in order to ensure that Vision and Sound levels are correct for Broadcast and any impairments noted will be included in our computer generated report.  This can be emailed to the client as either MS Word or pdf file format.  A hard copy of the completed report is also placed inside the tape box of the evaluated tape.  
  4. For International versions where there are usually clean scenes recorded after the programme for local versioning,  these sequences are carefully examined in order to ensure that they are all present,  and that they are of the required length in order to facilitate easy insert editing for subsequent re versioning of the programme. 
  5. We also look out for any obvious spelling errors on Captions and titles etc.
  6. Image geometry is closely observed and we view each tape in whatever the original Aspect Ratio of the recording, with particular attention being paid regarding the safe Caption area for titles etc.
  7. In accordance with OFCOM regulations, each tape is passed through our Gordon Photo Epilepsy Monitor which checks for any offending Patterns and Flashes etc.  Any objectionable alarms are noted and are included in our final report. All UK Broadcasters are bound by the OFCOM Broadcasting Code which contains guidance on the types of images and image sequences which can potentially cause PSE in some viewers.  Full specifications can be found by visiting: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv/ifi/guidance/bguidance/guidance2.pdf
  8. At the end of the assessment process, the show will be graded separately for Sound and Vision in accordance with the ITU grading scale of 5 being excellent and 1 being bad.

We will always make a decision to Pass or Fail the tape and make necessary recommendations as to what needs to be done in order to rectify fault conditions.  All of our QC work is undertaken in a dedicated & controlled monitoring environment. Guidance on our Technical Specifications for deliverables can be obtained by emailing us at info@intervideo.co.uk

 

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