| name | workflow-broadcast-delivery |
| description | Produce broadcast-grade MXF OP1a or Netflix IMF masters with HDR dynamic metadata (Dolby Vision / HDR10+), SDI capture/playout, ACES color management, CEA-608/708 captions, and timecode-accurate delivery. Use when the user says "deliver to broadcast", "make an IMF for Netflix", "MXF OP1a", "SDI ingest", "Dolby Vision profile 8.1", "convert DV profile 7 to 8.1", "broadcast master", or anything about professional broadcast/OTT mastering. |
| argument-hint | ["source"] |
Workflow — Broadcast Delivery
What: Turn a source master into a broadcast-spec or OTT-spec deliverable — MXF OP1a for traditional broadcast, IMF (J2K + XML CPL/PKL/ASSETMAP) for Netflix/Amazon, with HDR dynamic metadata preserved and captions intact.
Skills used
decklink-tools, decklink-docs, ffmpeg-probe, media-mediainfo, ffmpeg-ivtc, ffmpeg-hdr-color, hdr-dovi-tool, hdr-hdr10plus-tool, hdr-dynmeta-docs, ffmpeg-ocio-colorpro, vfx-oiio, vfx-openexr, ffmpeg-captions, ffmpeg-mxf-imf, ffmpeg-quality, media-cloud-upload.
Pipeline
Step 1 — SDI ingest (if tape source)
Use decklink-tools with -f decklink, explicit format code (Hp50, Hi59, 2k24), -pixel_format uyvy422 (or yuv422p10le on 10-bit-capable devices). Encode to ProRes 422 HQ + PCM 24-bit 48 kHz working master.
Step 2 — Probe the source
Use ffmpeg-probe and media-mediainfo. Capture: exact frame rate (numerator/denominator), interlace/progressive, pix_fmt, bit depth, chroma subsampling, color primaries/transfer/matrix/range, audio channel layout, caption track(s), starting timecode, drop-frame flag.
Step 3 — Inverse telecine if needed
If 29.97i is telecined film, use ffmpeg-ivtc — fieldmatch → decimate in that exact order — to recover 23.976p.
Step 4 — HDR dynamic metadata
- Dolby Vision —
hdr-dovi-tool. Extract RPU (extract-rpu), convert profile 7 → 8.1 for OTT (convert --mode 2), re-inject into the final encode (inject-rpu).
- HDR10+ —
hdr-hdr10plus-tool. Extract JSON (extract), optionally edit scene metadata, inject back (inject).
Never transcode while trying to preserve DoVi/HDR10+ inline — the SEI NAL units get stripped. Extract → encode fresh → re-inject.
Step 5 — Color-managed ACES pass (optional)
Use ffmpeg-ocio-colorpro for OCIO-config-driven ACES transforms. For EXR sources, conform through vfx-oiio → vfx-openexr first.
Step 6 — Preserve CEA-608/708 captions
Use ffmpeg-captions. Extract with -c:s copy or copy-cc. Re-inject through the transcode. Naive -c copy often drops captions.
Step 7 — Author MXF OP1a (broadcast)
Use ffmpeg-mxf-imf. Spec: mpeg2video or XAVC / DNxHR / ProRes depending on house spec, yuv422p, 50 M bitrate typical, PCM audio, starting timecode 01:00:00:00 (broadcast convention).
Step 8 — Author Netflix IMF (OTT master)
Use ffmpeg-mxf-imf with J2K encoding, PCM 24-bit 48 kHz 8-ch, emit CPL XML + PKL + ASSETMAP. Validate with Photon (Netflix's open-source IMF validator).
Step 9 — QC
Run ffmpeg-quality (VMAF vs source) and a deep media-mediainfo report. Compare to the delivery spec sheet.
Step 10 — Deliver
Aspera for Netflix, S3 / rclone for general broadcast, both via media-cloud-upload.
Variants
- Dolby Vision single-layer (profile 8.1) — OTT streaming. Convert profile 7 → 8.1 via
hdr-dovi-tool.
- HDR10+ parallel DoVi — some delivery specs want both tracks. Extract + inject independently.
- Archival MXF OP-Atom — some Avid workflows; each essence track is a separate file (
-f mxf_opatom).
- EXR → IMF conform — VFX-origin sources go through
vfx-openexr → OIIO → J2K encode.
Gotchas
- MXF OP1a vs OP-Atom are different. OP1a = interleaved single file (broadcast). OP-Atom = one file per essence track (some Avid). Wrong target rejected on ingest.
- IMF requires JPEG 2000, not H.264. Netflix spec: lossless or near-lossless J2K.
- IMF audio must be PCM 24-bit 48 kHz, 8-track interleaved (or 5.1+2.0+2.0 config). No AAC.
- IMF CPL is signed XML. UUIDs must be deterministic. Validate with Photon.
- Dolby Vision profile matters. 5 = mobile, 7 = BD dual-layer, 8.1 = OTT single-layer. OTT rejects profile 7.
- Dolby Vision RPU lives in HEVC SEI NAL units. Any re-encode without explicit re-injection strips it. Use
-c:v copy where possible; otherwise extract → encode → inject.
- HDR10+ in SEI 0x4 (ITU-T T.35) — same preservation constraint as DoVi.
- HEVC
-x265-params master-display unit is 0.00002 for chromaticity and 0.0001 for luminance. Wrong units = invalid SEI.
- PQ (
smpte2084) and HLG (arib-std-b67) are incompatible transfer curves. Do not mix without the zscale=t=linear→format=gbrpf32le sandwich.
- BT.2020 Non-Constant Luminance (
bt2020nc) is the default. bt2020c (Constant Luminance) is rarely correct.
- Interlaced flags:
-flags +ilme+ildct plus -top 1 (TFF) or -top 0 (BFF). Wrong field order produces a zipper pattern every frame.
- Broadcast timecode convention: starting
01:00:00:00 (1 h pre-roll). Archives often use 00:00:00:00.
- MXF timecode base is independent of video frame rate. 23.976p uses 24 fps timecode DF=0; 29.97p uses DF=1.
- CEA-608 survives TS → MP4 only with
-c:s mov_text or an explicit SCC sidecar. Naive -c copy drops captions.
- SCC timing is frame-accurate at 29.97 DF. Converting 29.97 → 23.976 invalidates SCC timing — regenerate.
- ProRes profiles are 0-indexed: 0=Proxy, 1=LT, 2=422, 3=HQ, 4=4444, 5=4444 XQ.
- J2K encoding is CPU-heavy (1–2 frames/sec/core). Budget hours for 4K IMF.
- Netflix IMF DV delivery uses an XML sidecar, not inline RPU.
Example — SDI ingest → Dolby Vision profile 8.1 IMF
decklink-tools captures the tape to ProRes 422 HQ master. ffmpeg-probe confirms Rec.2020 PQ. hdr-dovi-tool extracts RPU profile 7 and converts to 8.1. ffmpeg-mxf-imf encodes J2K IMF with captions and PCM audio. hdr-dovi-tool inject-rpu adds the 8.1 track. Photon validates. media-cloud-upload Asperas to Netflix.
Related
workflow-hdr — HDR color-pipeline details (PQ↔HLG, ACES, tone mapping).workflow-vfx-pipeline — EXR / OIIO feeding the delivery master.workflow-analysis-quality — VMAF + MediaInfo QC gate.
