QG Lip Sync QG Errors Can Hide Below Threshold Scenario #1 Show: -1 frame, looks OK Station: -1 frame, looks OK Broadcast Show: -2 frames, looks bad Solution: All sync must be correct (not just look it) QG WGBH Public Television Quality Workshop Errors Can Cancel Scenario #2 Show: -3 frames Station: +3 frames Broadcast Show: 0 frames, looks good But two wrongs don’t make a right! Good shows will look bad on this station! Solution: All sync must be correct QG WGBH Public Television Quality Workshop Errors Can Drift Scenario #3 Broadcast Now: Good Broadcast Later: Bad Solution: Be Careful! Change Channels! Millions of commercial and consumer MPEG decoders drift! QG WGBH Public Television Quality Workshop Error Perception Can Drift Scenario #4 Sync Now: looks good Same Sync Later: looks bad Solution: Patience Need tight shots of people talking Some people talk out of sync! Stare at sync long enough, you will start seeing things! QG WGBH Public Television Quality Workshop Production Tips Delay audio with every video delay Framesyncs Switcher effects LCD & Plasma Displays! Don’t trust your ears TEST! QG WGBH Public Television Quality Workshop Station Tips Align sync at every point Framesyncs & processors MPEG & ATSC encoder settings Surprises Don’t trust your ears TEST! QG WGBH Public Television Quality Workshop Test Tools Edit Suites and QC Stations syncheck.com TV Stations ID with 1 frame dot and beep, then non-linear editor Normal programming with Miranda or Evertz solutions QG WGBH Public Television Quality Workshop Consumer Tips LCD & Plasma TV's Internal decoder should be OK Separate decoder & audio systems require offset! MPEG decoders Try changing channels QG WGBH Public Television Quality Workshop TV Loudness QG Industry Progress Early Confusion Subsequent Conflict & Loudness Wars Recent Consensus: ATSC A85! www.atsc.org/cms/standards/a_85-2009.pdf QG WGBH Public Television Quality Workshop Production Tips Buy an LKFS meter (BS.1770) Your mix engineers will like it! No money? Dialog peaks at -10 dBFS works pretty well Produce content to -24 LKFS Average over entire show, ± 2 dB Dramatic moments can still be ±10 dB! QG WGBH Public Television Quality Workshop Station Tips Set plant for unity gain Set encoder dialnorm to -24 Get an LKFS meter (BS.1770) Measure day-long compliance with -24 LKFS Apply processing if needed Compare local stations and share QG WGBH Public Television Quality Workshop Tolerance QG 5.1 Surround QG 5.1 Surround PBS Submission Requirement Effective March 2011! Up-mix OR actual 5.1 production Requires Dolby E Caution Calibrate your LFE monitoring per ATSC A85 Insure downmix is compatible Most stations cannot afford to broadcast 5.1 QG WGBH Public Television Quality Workshop