Germany & Switzerland Technical Specifications for Audio Description

All files uploaded to Cape Advanced TV are immediately run through an Auto QC process. To ensure files are not rejected please adhere to the guidelines below.

File Layout

Files must contain only the commercial itself.

No pre-roll or post-roll such as countdown clock, colour bars/test tone, etc. is required.

Video Levels

Levels must be in accordance with ITU BT.709 and EBU R103-2000 recommendations:

Luma = Level 16-235 (not RGB 0-255 level), equivalent to 0% - 100% or 0mV - 700mV. Chroma = Level 16-240, equivalent to maximum 100% RGB.

All files must be interlaced (upper/first field dominant) throughout and must be free of encoding artefacts, dropout, glitches, blocking or excessive aliasing. Files must be broadcast quality throughout.

Audio Levels

Programme loudness must be normalised to -23 LUFS (±0.5 LU) in accordance with EBU R128. Short-term loudness must not exceed -18 LUFS.

Germany and Switzerland: True Peak must not exceed -2 dBTP.

Austria: True Peak must not exceed -3 dBTP.

Audio must be free of distortion and excessive noise, and must be in sync and in phase with the video throughout.

Safe Area

Text and logos must be within the following Safe Area in accordance with EBU R95-2017 recommendations:

HD Safe Area 1920x1080 Interlaced

Audio Layout

The audio channel layout is as follows:

Channel 1 - Stereo Left

Channel 2 - Stereo Right

Channel 3 - Stereo Left + Audio Description

Channel 4 - Stereo Right + Audio Description

Please note: In Germany, only ARD and ZDF currently support commercials with audio description, and in Switzerland only Admeira. Please contact us if you want to send commercials with audio description to ARD, ZDF or Admeira.