Last week the trade body for UK-based production facilities UK Screen organized a conference on QC and workflow automation. Speakers from broadcasters, manufacturers, national industry bodies and the EBU presented the latest developments in automated Quality Control and Media Integration, including the EBU QC and FIMS work.

The UK post-production houses are especially interested in these topics, as by 1 October 2014 the main broadcasters will require file delivery of programmes. This way of working not only means adhering to specific file standards; it is also likely to require more Quality Control checks to be performed at the programme producing side, instead of at the broadcaster.

Clear requirements

The UK Digital Production Partnership (DPP) has created very clear guidance on what file formats to provide and it will also specify exactly what QC is expected to be performed by the facilities providing material. This work is based on the EBU specified QC Tests. Besides knowing what to check, facility houses and broadcasters want to optimize how they integrate these checks together with other tasks such as transcoding and ingest.

A key activity in the media industry targeting integration is the Framework for Integrated Media Services (FIMS), which provides an open, interoperable way of connecting equipment from different vendors into an integrated system. During a panel session at the UK Screen event, the EBU’s Jean-Pierre Evain stressed the importance of both users and vendors to support this new platform, especially to guarantee the design of cost-effective and future-proof facilities with minimum risks of vendor lock-in.

Photo: Frans de Jong presented the EBU's work on file-based Quality Control. (Credit: Neil Hatton, UK Screen)