QC Test Reference
The tables below contain a list of all of the tests included with Qualify, and information about what each test does and how it can be configured.
File Checks
Check | Identifier | Description |
---|---|---|
File Bit Rate | FC-101 | Verifies that the calculated bit rate of the file (video audio bit rate/duration) falls within the defined Min/Max parameters. |
Duration | FC-102 | Checks that the duration of the file (video and audio) falls within the defined Min/Max parameters. |
Container Format | FC-103 | Verifies the 'wrapper' or container file used to hold the video and/or audio matches the user defined value. Examples would be 'TS' (MPEG-2 Transport Stream), 'MXF', 'MOV' etc. |
Size | FC-104 | Checks that the total file size falls within the Min/Max parameters. |
Container Start Timecode | FC-105 | Verifies that the Container Start Timecode matches the user specified value, with an adjustable tolerance. Can also optionally check for drop frame verification. |
Container End Timecode | FC-106 | Verifies that the Container End Timecode matches the user specified value, with an adjustable tolerance. Can also optionally check for drop frame verification |
Compare Stream Lengths | FC-108 | Checks whether the audio track is present throughout the duration of the video. An alert is raised if the audio track is shorter than the video track by more than 2 video frames. An alert is also raised if the audio track is found to be significantly longer (more than 2 seconds) than the video. |
Container/Header Agrees With Essence | FC-112 | This is intended to be a general test to check that parameters which are potentially duplicated between container (systems layer) and essence (elementary stream) are consistent. |
Deep MXF Tests
Check | Identifier | Description |
---|---|---|
Deep MXF Tests | MX-101 | A range of in-depth MXF checks, to ensure technical conformance with a variety of MXF constraints. |
MXF Operational Pattern | MX-102 | Tests the Operational Pattern of an MXF file. Currently only OP-1a and Op-Atom are supported. |
AVC SPS/PPS | MX-103 | This test ensures that every frame of an AVC stream contains an SPS and PPS header. This is mandated by SMPTE RP2027. This test is only available when the 'Video Codec' test is enabled and set to 'H.264' and the 'Container' test is enabled and set to 'MXF'. |
Syntax Checks
Enabling syntax checking will test the appropriate codec based on the file provided.
Check | Identifier | Description |
---|---|---|
MPEG-2 Video Codec Syntax | SC-101 | For MPEG-2 streams, section 8.5 (Table 8-13) defines upper limits for bit rate, in Mbps, for each combination of Profile and Level. For MPEG-2 streams, section 8.5 (Table 8-14) of ISO/IEC 13818-2 defines the vbv_buffer size requirements (in bits) for each combination of Profile and Level. |
AVC/H.264/MPEG-4 Video Codec Syntax | SC-102 | Tests that the sequence should always start with an IDR picture as per ITU-T H.264. Sequences that start with a non-IDR picture can cause playability problems, including tearing, stuttering and freeze frames. Tests for a valid version number for VC-3 streams as per section 7.2.1 of SMPTE ST 2019. The valid version numbers are 01(Compression ID 1235, 1237, 1238, 1241, 1242, 1243, 1244, 1250, 1251, 1252, 1253),02(Compression ID 1256, 1258, 1259, 1260),03(Compression ID 1270, 1271, 1272, 1273, 1274).Values 01 and 02 are HD profile.value 03 is RI profile. |
Dolby-E Audio Codec Syntax | SC-108 | CRC Check: Checks the CRC of each Dolby-E frame. Frames that fail the CRC check are likely corrupted either in transport or in the decoder. Guard Band Alignment: Checks Dolby-E guard band start position against the values from Table 4-2 of the Dolby-E specifications. Guard Band Not In Ideal Position: Checks for a Dolby-E frame that is not in the ideal position in reference Table 4-2 of the Dolby-E specifications. Frame Rate Coherency: Checks for a Dolby-E stream where the frame rate does not match with the container metadata frame rate. Frame Synchronization: Checks for a frame without a synchronization header in the Dolby-E stream. |
Caption / Subtitle Checks
Video Metadata
Check | Identifier | Description |
---|---|---|
Bit Depth | VM-101 | The number of bits per video sample. For cases where luma and chroma sample depths are different, this check will test the luma bit depth. |
Video Track ID/PID | VM-102 | Checks the ID of the video track within its container format. This is the 'PID' for MPEG-2 Transport Streams, the 'stream_id' for MPEG-2 Program Streams and the 'Track ID' for MOV and MXF files. |
Video Bit Rate | VM-103 | Check that the bit rate of the video track is within the given range, expressed in Mbit/s. |
Codec | VM-105 | Tests the format of the video elementary stream. |
Color Space Information | VM-106 | This tests that the video has certain color space properties (e.g. color primaries, transfer characteristics and matrix coefficients). If a property is not found in the video, a Warning will be generated |
Frame Rate | VM-107 | Frame rate in video frames per second. "NTSC" denotes a drop frame rate, e.g. "30fps (NTSC)" corresponds to 29.97fps. |
Drop Frame | VM-108 | Specify whether the file must have drop/non-drop frame timecode. |
Frame Size | VM-109 | Choose from a selection of standard frame sizes, or specify a Custom frame size (e.g. 2000x1000). |
Frame Aspect Ratio | VM-111 | Choose from a selection of standard frame aspect ratios, or specify a custom value as an integer or floating point value (e.g. 3 or 1.4). |
Pixel Aspect Ratio | VM-112 | The aspect ratio of each luminance sample in the coded stream, either as coded directly or implied by the display aspect ratio and frame size. |
Chroma Subsampling Format | VM-114 | Checks that the chroma subsampling format matches the user specified value. Only applicable for YUV-based video. |
Clean Aperture | VM-115 | Checks that the Clean Aperture of the video is equal to the Production Aperture. This implies that no cropping of the encoded picture is indicated by the container. This test also verifies that no Clean Aperture offset is indicated. Clean Aperture is a QuickTime concept, thus this test will only be performed on MOV containers. |
GOP Length | VM-116 | Check the distance between successive I-frames in the encoded video. For example, this distance will be 1 for I-frame only video and 12 for a long GOP sequence coded as 'IBBPBBPBBPBBI'. This test is suitable for GOP coded video, such as MPEG-2 and H.264. |
Advanced GOP Length | VM-117 | A more thorough GOP test for MPEG-2 and H.264 that can test for a range of GOP lengths, test for open and closed GOPs (MPEG-2 only), and allow special handling of first and last GOPs. The "First GOP" and "Last 2 GOPs" sections, when ticked, enable specific values to be given for the first and last two GOPs. The "Other GOPs" section will apply to any other GOP (possibly including the first and last GOPs if their specific sections are not ticked). The input boxes for I-frame distance and P-frame distance are comma-separated lists of distances or ranges of distances. For example, "12", "1-12", "1,12,15' and "1,12-15" are all valid inputs. The syntax ">5" and "<5" mean "greater than" and "less than" 5 frames, respectively. If the input is empty, then no check is performed (i.e., any distance is valid). It is possible to choose whether the test operates on the coded frame order or the displayed frame order. This distinction is only important when B-frames are present. The test can be configured to either show unique GOP length errors (default) or to show all of them. |
Essence Start Timecode | VM-119 | Verifies that the Essence Start Timecode matches the user specified input, with an adjustable tolerance. Can also optionally check for drop frame verification. The material package start timecode can also optionally be compared against the GOP timecode. |
Essence End Timecode | VM-120 | Verifies that the Essence End Timecode matches the user specified input, with an adjustable tolerance. Can also optionally check for drop frame verification. |
TV/MPAA Rating | VM-123 | Checks the Type 0x05 Content Advisory Packet from the caption data packet in the video stream and compares the results to the value you set in the template. |
Video Buffer Size | VM-125 | When MPEG-2 is selected, this test checks the VBV buffer size reported in the stream. When AVC/H.264 is selected, this test checks the CPB buffer size reported in the stream. Minimum and Maximum values are specified in KiB (1024 bytes) and either value may be left blank if not required. The 'Video Codec' test must be enabled and set to 'MPEG-2' or 'AVC/H.264' before this test may be used. |
MOOV Atom | VM-127 | This check is to identify that there is only one MOOV atom in an mov/mp4 file. |
Single Sample Description | VM-128 | This test looks for the presence of multiple Sample Descriptions in the MOV/MP4 track metadata, which is often an indicator that such incompatible splicing has taken place. |
Video Quality
Audio Metadata
Audio Quality
Distribution and Broadcast
Tables
MPEG-2 streams, section 8.5 (Table 8-13)
Level | Profile | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Simple | Main | SNR | Spatial | High | |
High | 80 | 100 all layers 80 mid+base layer 25 base layer | |||
High-1440 | 60 | 60 all layers 40 mid+base layer 15 base layer | 80 all layers 60 mid+base layer 20 base layer | ||
Main | 15 | 15 | 15 both layers 10 base layer | 20 all layers 15 mid+base layer 4 base layer | |
Low | 4 | 4 both layers 3 base layer |
MPEG-2 streams, section 8.5 (Table 8-14)
Level | Layer | Profile | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Simple | Main | SNR | Spatial | High | ||
High | Enh.2 Enh.1 Base | 9,781,248 | 12,222,464 9,781,248 3,047,424 | |||
High-1440 | Enh.2 Enh.1 Base | 7,340,032 | 7,340,032 4,882,432 1,835,008 | 9,781,248 7,340,032 2,441,216 |
Updated 23 days ago