Feasibility Study of a Digital Platform for the delivery of UK ... - BFI

UK FILM COUNCIL
There is a common understanding that digital files retain their characteristics (e.g. the picture quality of a film) regardless of how many
times they are copied. This is true, but only so long as the format of the file does not change. To explain, the act of turning a film
encoded to play in Apple Quicktime into one able to play on the same PC but using Windows Media formats requires that a new kind of
file is created, in other words the file is transcoded. This is a technical process in which the images and sound are encoded again using
the Quicktime file as the master. The effects, if done badly, can often be similar to those seen when VHS video tapes are copied again
and again from generation to generation.
The rule of thumb is always to transcode from the best possible master – see digital master section above – to protect against loss of
quality through transcoding generations. There are ways of limiting the possible damage from bad transcoding, however. Whilst it is
almost impossible to add quality through transcoding from one file format to another, there is, however, a process known as “upconverting”
– currently being used, for instance, in some consumer DVD players to upgrade the quality of pictures to allow them to take
advantage of High Definition displays. Many commercial operators combine high quality masters with some element of signal cleaning
and transcoding to get the best possible quality pictures and sound.
In general, most commercial outfits bundle encoding and transcoding into one transaction related to the the management and storage of
a digital master. When managing large numbers of films, it is substantially more efficient to determine a list of file formats in which the
film may be required and to produce them in “one pass” at the time at which the film is ingested. It is, of course, possible to produce
new film formats or quality standards at a later date, but there may be larger costs associated with this, as well as time delays. Most
larger players have an automated (or at least semi-automated) process of ingest which includes transcoding.
Once again, exact costs vary depending on the overall scope of the contract with the supplier, but, commonly, ingest and transcoding
costs vary according to:-
• The duration of the film – charged per minute, usually pence per minute
• The number of formats – there is often a set-up charge per format - £50 is not uncommon
• The storage costs of the files created as part of the encoding/transcoding process – charged per GByte on a monthly or annual
basis. Costs between 50p and £3 per GByte per month are not uncommon, although some commercial operations provide storage for
“free” as part of revenue sharing arrangements.
Metadata
Metadata literally means "data about data". Metadata is information that describes another set of data. A common example is a library
catalogue card, which contains data about the contents and location of a book. There are a number of approaches to the management of
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