The EBU Group working on requirements, best practices and test material for Quality Control (QC) in file-based production is organising a free QC Workshop on 21-22 June at the EBU headquarters in Geneva (Switzerland). The event will be especially interesting as it brings together both broadcasters, the users of QC equipment, and manufacturers, the producers of the tools to test media files with, in a packed two-day programme.
Strategic importance
According to Frans de Jong (EBU), the coordinator of the EBU QC Group, the Quality Control topic is of strategic importance for many broadcasters. "They know what it feels like when a file 'goes bananas' just before being played out to air or when the audio suddenly turned out to have changed tracks. Many of our Members are reporting issues with file-based production and the need for easy-to-use tools to check what is in a file."
Optimal human intervention
One of the main requirements for QC in file-based production is that it must be useable with optimal manual intervention. Frans explains: "We see several points there. The first one is about creating efficient processes, not doing manually what can be done automatically. As our Group's chairman [Andy Quested, BBC] likes to say: 'You don't want eye-balls looking at something that a QC device could have failed.' The second point is about making it clear to the person responsible what he/she can do next. It is all very nice to have a detailed error report, but if it contains 237 points on which a file has failed, it may not be directly obvious to the human what that means - other than probably not transmitting the file".
Quality exchange
The Workshop will be looking at above issues, and more. It will be a quality exchange of QC information between professionals. The list of presenters includes a broad variety of users and vendors of QC tools. If you would like to atttend the event, you can register here . EBU Membership is not required, but you do need to be a user or provider of broadcast QC solutions. If you intend to attend, you are recommended to book your hotel room immediately, as rooms in Geneva are starting to become scares. More information via: Frans de Jong (EBU) or Elisabeth Ecoffey (EBU).