A small number of agencies are experiencing issues when uploading Videos to CopyCentral. When upload has completed, the user receives an email stating that transcode has failed. Additionally, the video within CopyCentral submission is clearly marked.
CopyCentral checks that all upload video files (rough-cuts and TVCs) adhere to the published specification for CopyCentral. This is to eliminate delays in the clearance process where the file may fail due to its format. We want to make sure that if a file isn't valid, it's refused at the earliest possible point.
To help ensure your settings are correct when exporting files, please refer to our CopyCentral Technical Specifications for your rough cuts.
For specific transcode failures, please see the corresponding article: Failed Transcode Email: What to Do?
We recommend that if you have issues, especially with uploading a clocked file, always upload the broadcast delivery master to your submission. Whilst these are larger in size, they will be accepted since they will be of the correct resolution, codec, and will be interlaced top field first. Additionally, you wont have to produce a separate version of the file just for copy clearance.
If you are unable to produce a file that CopyCentral will accept, please first try the following steps:
Note: if you are trying to upload a file and it's stuck at a certain percentage (whether 0% or 53% or 89%), this will most likely be an internet issue on the uploader's side. If there's a drop in connection at any point during the upload, you'll need to reupload the whole file. If you're uploading a long or large file, we recommend making sure you are doing so from somewhere with a strong connection, like at the office or through a wired connection.
There are a number of companies who have applications which can analyse digital files and report on various aspects of the video, audio, and container formats. Some software only reports the metadata rather than actually analysing the video and audio itself. A good example is MediaInfo. When choosing an analyser, you need to ensure that it can analyse the base-band video.
Clearcast use VidChecker-Post (www.vidcheck.com) which can be used to analyse a file and provide a report.
The template we use to check files is available for download here. This can be imported via the Admin Page on VidChecker.
There is a large number of software that can export or transcode videos that meet one of the CopyCentral Specification formats. Clearcast has tested some of these to see if they can convert progressive video into interlaced top field first Here are the results:
Compressor can correctly convert a progressive source to interlaced. Please see the digital file specification guide for information on how to configure this.
Using this with the correct settings will produce a file that CopyCentral will accept.
We tested version 1.2 but weren't able to produce an interlaced file from a progressive source.
Clearcast do not recommend using free or open-source software to encode videos for any professional purpose, including for copy clearance.
