Discovery Global Tech Spec vers 4.0.

[wheresmyfroggy]

Hey DUCers!

Anyone had a chance to peruse/mix to Disco's 2013 tech spec yet? Any thoughts on it?

I have a copy, but am not scheduled to mix to it for a few months yet (hopefully). Was wondering what means people are going to use to follow it, I am thinking a mix of VisLM/LM100, but am interested to hear other peoples thoughts...

[MIKEROPHONICS]

do you have a link?

cheers

[colinato]

I would be interested in taking a look as well. A link would be great.

[rhumphries]

I haven't seen the one for shows yet, but the spec for promos seems pretty reasonable; -24 LKFS ±1dB, -2dB True Peak.

The only oddity I noticed is that they want the two pop at 00:59:57;06 . I'm not quite sure how they came up with that number.

-Richard

[MIKEROPHONICS]

probably from the DPP
I suspect it has asked for it to be 2 frames long as well so that survives Pal/Ntsc transfers

cheers

[rhumphries]

Yes, they do ask for 2 frames. Whats DPP?

-R

[MIKEROPHONICS]

Hi Richard

Its the Digital Production Partnership. Not content with having easy post production and 25fps, the Uk broadcasters have (for once in their infinite wisdom) all got together and formed this partnership to have a common set of tech spec for delivery either via tape or via digital delivery and MXF/OP1a workflow.

see here

cheers

[wheresmyfroggy]

Sorry, no link, but here are the main audio points..

The full mix tracks of the program must have an average loudness level of -24 LKFS/LUFS (plus or minus one dB), as measured using a meter compliant with ITU-R BS.1770-1. If the program has multiple segments, each segment must have an average loudness level of -24 LKFS/LUFS (plus or minus one dB.)
The program must also have consistent loudness levels. Short term loudness levels must not rise more than four dB above or four dB below the average loudness level of the program or program segment.
Short term loudness levels are derived using a continuous sliding window three seconds in duration, as specified in EBU Tech 3341. The short term loudness level for each second is derived by calculating the average loudness level of the past three seconds, as measured using a meter compliant with ITU-R BS.1770-1.
Discovery will not use “dialogue intelligent” meters when evaluating the loudness levels of programs. While speech remains the “anchor element” of Discovery programming (see 2.5.1), Discovery will measure the loudness level of the entire program, not only the sections containing speech.

The peak audio levels on any track in a program must never rise above -2 dBFS, when measured using a True Peak meter compliant with ITU-R BS.1770-1. Production partners should only use audio peak levels above -6 dBFS in small areas of the program and only when needed for impact or emphasis in the audio mix. While digital delivery of television signals allows for high peak levels, older analog systems cannot allow peak levels above -10 dBFS. These older analog systems may use audio limiting to lower peak levels. To avoid the impact of excessive peak limiting production partners should use audio with high peak levels sparingly.

[wheresmyfroggy]

I ran a show I was mixing for NatGeo today through VisLM just to see how it worked out, and there was the odd rise over the +4dB short term limit, but nothing that I could not make work if need be....but there was also the occasional dip below the -4dB limit in quieter moments (yes, I know they are few and far between in Disco shows) would these constitute a fail? I don't see how I could make them work if the show genuinely required it, or am I missing something?

[rhumphries]

Thanks for that link, Mike. It kind of takes the fun and meaning out of "2 pop" if it's now a "2 & roughly 3/4 pop". I didn't read through the whole doc yet, so forgive me if it explains, but do you have any idea how that timecode was settled upon?

As for your question , Wheresmyfroggy, I think the intent is not to have the dialogue drop too quiet. If there are quiet moments because there is nothing happening, then I think you could make the argument that they should let it slide-- and they probably would, but if its dialogue that is getting quiet, then that argument would be harder to make. Ultimately, they don't want people reaching for the remote.

-R