verify-a-final-media-conform

name	verify-a-final-media-conform
category	media
description	Verify a final media conform against approved edit decisions, sources, effects, audio, captions, graphics, color, timing, rights, and delivery specifications. Use when a finished master must prove it matches the authorized program.

verify-a-final-media-conform

When to use

• Use after picture lock, online edit, finishing, localization, restoration, versioning, or master replacement.
• Do not approve a master from casual playback alone or silently substitute missing source.

Procedure

1. Define the approved cut, version, duration, frame rate, raster, aspect, color, audio, language, accessibility, rights, and delivery specification.
2. Freeze source identities, checksums, edit decision data, change notes, graphics, VFX, grade, mix, captions, and approval references.
3. Relink every event to the intended source, range, track, speed, transform, crop, composite, transition, effect, and handles.
4. Reconcile program start, timecode, frame count, act boundaries, black, freeze, duplicate, missing, flash, cadence, and sync.
5. Verify VFX status, title text, logos, legal lines, credits, dates, safe areas, fonts, spelling, and version-specific graphics.
6. Compare color pipeline, source gamut, transforms, levels, HDR metadata, render settings, and representative image output.
7. Verify channel mapping, layout, sync, phase, loudness, peaks, silence, stems, music, narration, and language.
8. Check captions, subtitles, forced narrative, transcript, audio description, timing, reading order, identifiers, and accessibility.
9. Confirm rights, consent, embargo, territory, music, archive, talent, brand, privacy, and required edits for this version.
10. Run automated and human review at native frame rate, inspect flagged intervals frame by frame, and record disposition.
11. Encode the candidate master from the verified timeline, checksum it, validate the container and streams, and compare representative outputs.
12. Issue a versioned QC report with defects, severity, exact timecode, evidence, owner, repair, retest, exceptions, and approval.

Failure plan

• Quarantine a candidate with an unresolved source, edit, rights, accessibility, timing, or technical mismatch and preserve the prior approved master.
• Repair through a new version, never by changing the approved master without a new checksum and review record.

Worked example

A documentary online conform catches a two-frame source slip, an outdated lower third, a missing forced subtitle, and a stereo channel swap before the HDR master is approved.

Done

• A final conform report records approved inputs, source and event reconciliation, picture, audio, graphics, color, accessibility, rights, defects, and decisions
• Frame, timecode, checksum, stream, loudness, caption, text, rights, render, and representative-playback evidence verifies the approved master