IMF Mastering
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Application note IMF Mastering Case summary Need: Easy exchange of multiple versions of content as one package in a digital format Solution: The Interoperable Master Format (IMF) and R&S®CLIPSTER successor for the tape-based solution. The key feature of IMF is its highly flexible versioning capabilities. The versioning allows minimizing the storage amount by saving the disparities instead of creating additional flattened versions. In addition, mezzanine level compression allows further size reduction. IMF is the contribution format aimed at business-to-business usage, such as content owners, distributors, post production facilities and broadcasters. Background The current situation in the film industry with its tremendous amount of file formats, codecs and containers which exists to handle digital video data, is a real challenge when it comes to exchanging content. This scenario is caused due to the lack of a general standard for the exchange of digital video data, corresponding to the HDCAM-SR standard. Furthermore, there is no proper solution available for an easy distribution and transfer of a multitude of master versions, including different languages, subtitles and video inserts between business partners. To fill this gap the Interoperable Master Format (IMF) was created by the SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineer) members including Rohde & Schwarz DVS and 186 well-known leading U.S. studios, manufacturers and vendors. Content owners can distribute or deliver produced content by using the versioning capabilities to create multiple versions as one IMF package (IMP) with ease. Distributors, on the other hand, are able to create multiple end-formats from such an IMP, like Netflix, Rohde & Schwarz DVS GmbH 09.2014-<1.0 The IMF is a SMPTE standard (SMPTE ST2067 group) based on the Digital Cinema standards. It is the upcoming solution to clarify the confusion caused by the multitude of versions and it will become the file-bas

Application note LHstnoution servicing Digital Cinema Other Device Other Device Blu-ray, DVD or mobile, just to name a few. Broadcasters receiving IMPs with program content, commercials or episodes can easily convert the content to their in-house format. The structure of an IMP is similar to the setup of a Digital Cinema Package (DCP). The IMP contains an Output Profile List (OPL), one (or multiple) Composition Play List (CPL), an Asset Map and a Packing List. The track files are wrapped into an AS-02 subset. The OPL provides a table of contents and transcoding instructions like data rate,...

Application note IMF Mastering For high frame rates and 4K applications, CLIPSTER offers faster than realtime encoding of JPEGE2000 RGB/YUV file sequences up to 500 Mbit/s and beyond, depending on the JPEG2000 profile. Several integrated optimizing tools allow for unique actions: the master and the varying IMP versions can be merged, resulting in one single IMP with multiple CPLs. With that, the integrated Merge Tool offers users the advantage to merge, send and archive the individual IMPs that are created through versioning as one complex deliverable. CLIPSTER offers you diverse options...

About Rohde & Schwarz DVS For more than 25 years, Rohde & Schwarz DVS GmbH has been very successful in the professional film, video post production and broadcast markets. The specially developed and manufactured hardware and software are applied to the production of popular TV series, Hollywood blockbusters and in Digital Cinema. R&S®CLIPSTER was the first system in the world to make realtime 4K processing possible. The future-proof ingest and production server R&S®VENICE offers a flexible solution for modern, file-based workflows in broadcast environments. www.dvs.de Regional...