EditShare a technology leader that specializes in collaboration, security, and intelligent storage solutions for media creation and management, announced today that it will showcase the newest version of its software-based automated quality control solution (AQC), QScan, at IBC2019 (stand 7.A35), with Comparative Analysis, an industry-first content testing capability. Enabling video professionals to run quality checks on everything from picture structure to IMF packages and audio loudness right through to Dolby Vision™ HDR compliance and verification, the new QScan update now connects natively to EditShare EFS shared storage solutions as well as expands on its core quality control technology, making it dramatically easier for users to automate comprehensive testing of media files during any point of the creative process.
“With the number and diversity of media distribution targets constantly growing, file compliance is more important than ever. Historically, the AQC process that ensures your files meet compliance guidelines runs during the final stage of a project by an engineer who can configure the test patterns and read the results. While this will flag errors and prevent a bad file hand off, it is not efficient, especially if that error is at the beginning of your production. You will need to unravel and redo a portion of your project. A very time consuming and costly mistake,” states Sunil Mudholkar, vice president of product, EditShare. “With Qscan, an editor, colorist, supervisor or even an assistant can check the file integrity throughout the lifecycle of the file, catching the issues at the point they appear, saving time and money.”
New QScan features and capabilities shown at IBC2019 include:
Comparative Analysis
QScan is now making it easier and faster than ever to analyze all of your digital files. By providing context around the changes made to a file after testing, creatives are able to minimize the amount of time spent confirming that the file is ready for delivery. At a glance, users can see what changes were made to the file compared to the original; the timeline view also gives additional context on when changes were made to the file. With ever-tightening deadlines and fast turn projects, QScan Comparative Analysis helps creatives hand off final projects with confidence, increasing output and efficiency.
Native integration with EditShare EFS Media Spaces:
Workflow just got a whole lot easier! QScan can natively connect with EditShare EFS Media Spaces. It can pull and AQC content directly from a desired project space located on the EFS media engineered node. QScan reports can be delivered back to the same project space, confirming if content passed the desired AAQC settings. Content can be checked at every stage from ingest, audio, editorial, vfx, grading and finishing all without the content leaving the project located on the EFS media-aware node.
Quick Analysis Project
The new Quick Analysis option enables the user to start an analysis just by selecting a pre-designed template and selecting a file (or multiple files). By eliminating steps, there is no need to first create a new project, although that option still exists. Once the user selects a template and file(s), a new "Quick Analysis project" will be created. The project will take its name from the selected template. It’s fast, efficient and provides instant feedback on the integrity of your files.
Loudness Offset:
Audiences have long been frustrated by the sudden loudness of commercials. In the U.S., the CALM Act requires network and cable providers to broadcast commercials at the same volume level as the programming before and after it. Similarly in Europe, EBU R 128 is a guideline for loudness normalization and permitted maximum level of audio signals. Though QScan has always provided loudness checking, in the newest version, users will now be able to select an offset for loudness measurements, helping broadcasters easily adhere to legal regulations.
Mean Audio Phase:
The new Mean Audio Phase feature finds the average of the audio phase across the entire file, providing just one value per audio channel. The user can select what channels to compare when adding the threshold, ensuring the stereo audio file is correctly built for delivery.
Support for OpenEXR and TIFF sequences:
Support for OpenEXR, an open-source high-dynamic-range image file format created by Industrial Light & Magic, expands compliance testing capabilities for VFX facilities. OpenEXR files store high-quality, multi-depth images, can be comprised of lossless or lossy compression, support multiple layers, and hold a high luminance range and color. With QScan, VFX facilities can easily verify that the OpenEXR files are compliant.
DCP package identification and correct display:
Today, many studios distribute content to local theaters via Digital Cinema Packages as opposed to traditional film. Digital Cinema Packages are complex in nature, and are displayed in a visual tree chart similar to IMF packages. QScan’s new visual interface enables users to easily identify key digital files that comprise the Digital Cinema Packages and quickly verify that the correct digital cinema audio, image, and data streams files are stored in a given DCP when it is time for handoff.
Dolby Vision HDR analysis from Sidecars XML files:
For Dolby Vision HDR workflows, QScan now reads sidecar XML files directly. No longer do users have to embed HDR information in the video file. During the workflow, the video file and the sidecar XML both go through all production stages; HDR data is only embedded upon final delivery of the Dolby Vision file in J2K.
Integration with GrayMeta Iris reference player:
It is now possible to take the test results from QScan and visualise them in real-time, with reference player platform Graymeta Iris. Errors detected by QScan are shown in the Iris timeline and can be ranked by their severity.
Attendees to IBC2019 can book a demo to see the latest version of EditShare QScan running as part of the EFS 2020 shared storage and the tightly linked Flow 2020 media asset management workflow.
