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COMMON VIDEO
REJECTION ISSUES

This is a list of the most common quality control issues found in Presentation and Video. Videos may fail for reasons not stated below, and reasons for failure are subject to change. Please share with your production teams to ensure spec requirements are met and to avoid content resubmission.

Presentation Issues
PRESENTATION ISSUES

P2P Formatting

  • All videos submitted to UMG must be formatted with a “P2P” assembly (Program Start to Program End).

  • Program Start is defined as the first frame of active video or audio, and Program End as last frame of active video or audio.

  • Credits and Copyright text (if present), are included in the definition of active video.

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Copyright Formatting

  • Must be centered in the frame, left-to-right. 

  • Must not overlap any mattes that are present. 

  • Must have a runtime of 3 to 5 seconds.

  • Must not overlap with active video or audio.

Video Issues
VIDEO ISSUES

Codec/Container

  • When delivering a file encoded as ProRes, only Apple ProRes 422 HQ, 4444, and 4444 XQ are accepted. Apple ProRes 422, 422 Proxy, or 422 LT files will be rejected. They must also be delivered in a QuickTime .mov container. 

  • H.264 files will be rejected (typically these will be in an .mp4 or .m4v container).

  • Videos must not contain any Tracks other than Video, Audio, or Timecode within the file container.

 

iTunes / Vevo Failures

  • The presence of bugs, chyrons, hashtags, brand callouts, phone numbers, and URL’s may fail iTunes/Vevo delivery requirements.

 

Video Compression

  • Videos must not contain artifacts consistent with lossy compression being introduced into the processing workflow. All submissions must be encoded from the best quality master possible. For example, submissions created from YouTube encodes or similar will not be accepted. 

 

Frame Size

  • Videos must be delivered with one of the accepted Frame Sizes listed in the Video Servicing Asset Specs.

    • ​3840x2160 or 1920x1080 are ideal frame sizes for the majority of HD/UHD new release content but more options are listed in the linked specs.

  • For videos which feature active picture that is wider or narrower than any accepted frame size dimension, it is unacceptable to submit “active picture only” deliveries.



































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    • Video Services require industry standard frame size deliveries because the vast majority of DSPs also require these standard frame sizes.

    • A small amount of DSPs (YouTube included) will accept active picture only deliveries so that videos can be displayed without mattes in the DSP’s interface. If you would like your matted video delivery to appear without mattes on YouTube, the label should make sure to set “Crop to Active Picture?” to “Yes” when submitting the VSP job. More info on Crop to Active Picture can be found on the Crop to Active Picture tab. 

  • If a video is shot or mastered in a resolution that does not match an accepted frame size, the best course of action is to upscale your final edit to the nearest supported frame size.

    • For example, source footage in a 3200x1800 resolution can be upscaled to 3840x2160.

  • 4K (4096x2160) and 2K (2048x1080) videos must not contain pillarboxing (mattes on the left and right sides). 

 

Display Aspect Ratio

  • Videos must contain the correct Display Aspect Ratio (DAR) technical metadata based on Video Servicing Asset Specs. For SD videos, whether 16:9 or 4:3 is correct will depend on the content present within the video.

  • The Display Aspect Ratio Conform video tutorial can be found in the Editor Help tab of this page.

 

Scan Type/Interlacing

  • Videos must contain the correct Scan Type technical metadata flag based on the Video Servicing Asset Specs.

  • Progressive video must always have a Scan Type of ‘Progressive’.

  • Interlaced video must have a Scan Type of ‘Interlaced’, and a Field Order of either ‘Top Field First’ or ‘Bottom Field First’ depending on the Frame Size and Frame Rate.

  • Files submitted with a Frame Rate of 23.976 or 24 fps must contain Progressive video and Scan Type. 

 

Color Primaries

 

Playback/Cadence

  • Videos that have a 23.976 frame rate with repeated frames, dropped frames and/or interlacing will be rejected. 

  • Videos with a 23.976 frame rate must be fully progressive. 

  • Videos containing 4:1 Telecine Cadence will be rejected. 

  • Videos containing 3:2 Telecine Cadence will be rejected. 

 

Upscaling

  • Content must not be up-scaled from SD to HD or from HD to 4K/UHD.

 

File Corruption

  • Videos must not contain any corrupt frames. Please be sure to QC your video to make sure that all frames play back normally, with no corruption artifacts.

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HDR (High Dynamic Range)

  • HDR videos are currently not supported. All videos must be submitted as SDR (Standard Dynamic Range).

GENERAL GUIDELINES

Frame Rate

  • Please submit video in its native source frame rate.

  • Masters which have been standards-converted (converted from NTSC to PAL or vice-versa) are NOT acceptable.

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Quality Control

  • UMG’s expectation is that content has passed a QC stage at its place of origin prior to submission, and will meet the requirements outlined in the UMG Video Services Submission Specification.

 

File Compatibility

  • Video Services uses Adobe Premiere for all QC and Editorial work. In order to avoid any potential issues or delays with your submission, please ensure that all submitted video/audio files are compatible with the latest versions of that software. The Adobe Premiere Import/Export video tutorial can be found in the Editor Help section of this page.

  • Video Services uses MacCaption for all captioning and subtitle work. In order to avoid any potential issues or delays with your submission, please ensure that all submitted video/audio files are compatible with the latest versions of that software. 

 

File Naming

  • File names must only contain allowable characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and underscores), and cannot begin with a period or underscore. Do not use special characters such as dashes, spaces, forward slashes, back slashes, accents, &, @, #, etc. Blank spaces are not allowed within the file name or folders in your file path. 

  • The maximum file name length is 120 characters. 

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