The EBU.IO QC software is undergoing its final preparations for a full launch later this year. Since the soft launch at IBC 2014, the interface went though a major redesign and now offers a more intuitive user experience, works better on mobile devices and is prepared for the next batch of Test Item updates that the EBU Strategic Programme on Quality Control (QC) is preparing.
Originally a series of Word and Excel templates, the QC interface is now a multifunctional collection of over 200 QC Items (individual QC tests) from which users can select and group to create QC Templates (called 'QC Profiles' at the moment), which can be the basis for exports into commercial products that perform the actual content checks. The EBU QC Group is currently working on the final details of each QC Item's input and output parameters that are needed to make machine-readable Templates. Thanks to high quality work by Roberto Borgotallo (RAI) and Matthias Elser (IRT) the EBU QC data model aligns with the FIMS QA activity, enabling compliant devices to interpret the EBU QC tests.
Intercontinental interest
The EBU's QC work has attracted the attention of various bodies across the Atlantic. To help meet their needs, the EBU QC Group is currently adding a new set of QC Items to the collection. The Purple QC Items are a new category used for drafting text-related tests (e.g. captions, subtitling). Another recent activity started in the group is to perform a quick analysis of the potential of the Interoperable Master Format (IMF) for European television broadcasters.
EBU.IO/QC in brief
Users of the EBU.IO/QC tool can:
- Browse the large collection of EBU QC Item definitions: These not only include a description, but also references to standards, examples and a classification that helps users understand how 'automatable' the Tests are.
- Search: An extensive search allows QC Items to be found by Name or Alias (common terms used to describe a fault or artefact), or content type, tags, categories and more!
- Create user-specific QC Templates: See this as a 'shopping list' of QC Tests to perform on material in the context of a specific use case, such as QC on ingest, archive QC or QCing content that is about to be aired.
- Edit new/existing Tests: Members of the QC Group have access to all of the history of the QC Items and can use the tool to update existing or create new ones. Change tracking and a discussion form help them do so.