SMPTE, Avid Introduce Standard for VC-3 Codec in IMF
The standard allows any broadcast facility to deliver final assets for broadcast/archiving with as much of the original creative intent in place as possible.
The Society of Motion-Picture and Television Engineers has joined with Avid to publish a new standard for the VC-3 codec in Interoperable Master Format.
The VC-3 standard, a codec implementation that Avid provides under the DNx brand, is a primary production codec used by media organizations around the world for critical broadcast functions such as capture, editing, rendering, base transcoding and long-term archiving. SMPTE ST 2067-70 is a new standard that specifies an application of the IMF framework covering usage of VC-3 as specified in SMPTE ST 2019-1.
“Many Avid customers use the DNx family of codecs, VC-3, in their productions as a mezzanine format to maximize quality while obtaining superior editing performance on common off-the-shelf desktop and server platforms," says Avid Vice President of Technology Shailendra Mathur. "This newly published standard will ensure that the same mezzanine-quality codec used in production can be passed through to the IMF mastering stage for distribution.”
IMF is an international media standard for providing a single interchangeable master-file format and structure for the distribution of content. IMF is a family of SMPTE Standards (SMPTE ST 2067) that simplifies the storage of all the audiovisual content needed to create different versions for distribution to multiple territories and platforms in one package. The IMF package itself can be used for B2B content exchange among content owners, post facilities and distribution platforms.
As VC-3 is a primary production codec used when delivering to a variety of broadcasters, the new ST 2067-70 standard covers its usage with IMF, which enables delivery in VC-3 codecs that closely match the ideals of IMF in keeping the maximum quality possible for future distribution/reversion and archive. The standard allows any broadcast facility to deliver final assets for broadcast/archive with as much of the original creative intent in place as possible. It also offers a choice to use a constant-bit-rate codec profile, which enables predictability for storage and network transport. The standardization obviates quality degradation due to the ability to pass through previously encoded content without having to transcode into a different format.
The Digital Production Partnership, whose membership spans the media-supply chain, initially approached SMPTE and Avid as a co-proponent in the development of this standard, which offers significant workflow advantages over the alternatives currently in the specification, including the easy insertion of changes (before creating a final IMF deliverable) and potentially faster turnaround times.
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