MuchFACT: A Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent

Video program material shall be produced using current industry standards and accepted norms.

Tapes delivered to CTV must be XD-HD in the 50Mb, 1080i/ 59.94 and signal parameters must conform to SMPTE 274M with no visible video impairment such as blocking errors or pixelization artifacts. Delivery on HDCAM or HDCAM-SR in the 1080i format (1080 lines interlaced 2:1 at a frame rate of 59.94 Hz) in the 50Mb, 1080i/ 59.94 format is also permissible with advanced notice. Luminance and color difference signals must not exceed the bounds of legal gamut.

If MusicVideos are delivered solely in HD, please provide down-convert information for the SD airing of the MusicVideo (Letterbox or 4:3 Centre Cut).

Program content shall be preceded with a minimum of one minute of color bars (75% or 100% chroma amplitude) and audio tone of 1000 Hz, followed by 10 seconds of slate and 10 seconds of black before start of program. Program material must be representative of bars and tone.

HD tapes must be recorded with drop frame time code. Program start time code must read either 01:00:00:00 or 10:00:00:00. Time code should be continuous, without error, and contain the appropriate flagging information in adherence with SMPTE specification 12 M.

All time code references, i.e. vertical interval time code, (VITC), longitudinal time code. (LTC) or audio sector time code on Digital formats (ATSC) must match exactly.

Program content shall commence at either 01:00:00:00 or 10:00:00:00 TC. There must be a minimum of 30 seconds of black following the last program picture and audio before any added material.

Effective January 1, 2011, Music Video content must be closed captioned and as defined in EIA-708-B and EIA-608B.

Audio program material shall be produced using current industry standards and accepted norms. The audio portion of the master and source audio and videotapes must be produced so that no noise, static, dropouts or extraneous distortion is recorded in the audio.

Program audio must reflect reference tone level. Audio levels must be consistent throughout the program.

Stereo audio must be fully mono compatible, i.e. the audio channels must be in the proper phase. NOTE: Full Mono compatibility means that when the left and right stereo channels are actively combined to mono there is no discernible change in audio level or fidelity.

The relative timing of sound to video should not exhibit any perceptible error. Sound should not lead or lag the vision by more than 10ms. This synchronization must be achieved at the last point at which the program supplier, or their facility provider, has control of the signal.

Transmission limiters clip at +8 dB. For broadcast stereo tracks, transient audio peaks must not exceed +8 dB above reference tone when measured on an audio meter using the "True-peak" ballistic set (0 ms rise, 200 ms fall). For 5.1 surround mixes, audio peaks may rise as high as +21 dBm (-3 dBfs). When mastering to a digital format and/or using an Absolute Scale or Peak meter, where "0" is at the top of the scale and reference tone is at -20 dBfs, broadcast stereo tracks should peak at no more than -12 dBfs.

Program audio should have good dynamic range, within the parameters listed above, but not be overly dynamic. While some compression may be needed to control the dynamic range of the program audio, excessive audio compression of the final mix should be avoided as this reduces the perception of audio quality by the listener.

5.1, 5.0 or LCRS mixes are permitted. Surround English Fullmix (regardless of configuration (5.1, 5.0, etc) shall be expressed as Dolby 'E' on ch3/4 of HDCAM master or discreet channels on HDCamSR (see 2.3 Channel Allocations)

Valid metadata in the Dolby 'E' stream for all contribution/transmission parameters is mandatory (including all Extended Bitstream Information parameters (e.g. Preferred Downmix)

Timecode shall be present in the bit stream, reflecting picture master.

The Dolby E stream shall be formatted such that the program is in sync following Dolby 'E' decoding using a DP572 or equivalent. One frame of audio delay is incurred for both Dolby E encoding and decoding. Program audio that is advanced two frames relative to picture prior to Dolby E encoding will therefore be advanced one frame as it is recorded to the HDCAM master. Following normal playback, the Dolby E decode cycle will delay one additional frame, bringing the program back into sync.

Maximum permissible audio peaks in a 5.1 or 5.0 soundtrack shall be -3dBFS (+21dBm)

Although the Max dynamic range (max. peaks) for 5.1 channel mixes is considerably higher than for Stereo-only LPCM mixes, it is understood that many 5.1 mixes will have a dynamics structure which more closely resembles a -12dBFS stereo mix in order to facilitate the simple creation of an Lt/Rt fold-down mix.

Regardless of the gain structure of a 5.x channel surround mix, it is crucial that the supplied DIALNORM value accurately reflects the Leq (A) of program dialogue.

This shall be recorded on channels 1 and 2 of the HDCAM master tape. This mix shall be derived from the 5.x channel surround mix. i.e. "Fold-down" of the 5.1 or 5.0 mix to LCRS or Stereo (L/R).

This stereo mix should be expressed as Dolby Surround (Lt/Rt) whenever possible, or Lo/Ro if Dolby Surround encoding is not available. Tape labeling and slate information shall reflect the nature of channels 1 and 2 (either Lt/Rt or Lo/Ro). In either case (Dolby Stereo or not), the LPCM stereo Full-mix shall obey the conventional specifications for audio delivery (e.g. Max peaks to 8dB over ref.).

All HDCAM masters should have the following audio channel allocations:

Channel 1 - Program left (Lt or Lo) Channel 1 - Program left (Lt or Lo)

Channel 2 - Program right (Rt or Ro) Channel 2 - Program right (Rt or Ro)

Channel 3 - Dolby E (if available) Channel 3 - Descriptive Video

Channel 4 - Dolby E (if available) Channel 4 – Silence

Address Track - SMPTE drop frame time code Address Track - SMPTE drop frame time code

Channel 1 – Left Front Channel 1 - Program left (Lt or Lo)

Channel 2 – Right Front Channel 2 - Program right (Rt or Ro)

Channel 3 - Centre Channel 3 - Dolby E (if available)

Channel 4 - LFE Channel 4 – Dolby E (if available)

Channel 5 – Left Surround Channel 5 - Silence

Channel 6 – Right Surround Channel 6 - Silence

Channel 7 – Descriptive Video Channel 7 - Descriptive Video

Channel 8 - Silence Channel 8 – Silence

Channel 9 – Program Left (Lt or Lo)

Channel 10 – Program Right (Rt or Ro)

Channel 11 – Dolby E (if available)

All XD-HD masters should have the following audio channel allocations:

Channel 1 - Program left (Lt or Lo) Channel 1 - Program left (Lt or Lo)

Channel 2 - Program right (Rt or Ro) Channel 2 - Program right (Rt or Ro)

Channel 3 - Dolby E (if available) Channel 3 - Silence

Channel 4 - Dolby E (if available) Channel 4 - Silence

Channel 5 - Silence Channel 5 - Silence

Channel 6 - Silence Channel 6 - Silence

Channel 7 - Descriptive Video Channel 7 - Descriptive Video

Channel 8 - Silence Channel 8 - Silence

Channel 1 – Left Front Channel 1 - Program left (Lt or Lo)

Channel 2 – Right Front Channel 2 - Program right (Rt or Ro)

Channel 3 - Centre Channel 3 - Dolby E (if available)

Channel 4 - LFE Channel 4 - Dolby E (if available)

Channel 5 – Left Surround Channel 5 - Silence

Channel 6 – Right Surround Channel 6 - Silence

Channel 7 - Descriptive Video Channel 7 - Descriptive Video