Quality control for short-form media¶
Quality control (QC) answers a deceptively simple question: will this file play correctly on the screen it was made for?
Every playout platform — a cinema server, a broadcast chain, a digital billboard, a radio automation system — has technical expectations. A file that violates them fails visibly, in front of a paying audience.
What technical QC covers¶
| Check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Container & codec | The playout system must be able to decode the file at all |
| Video resolution & aspect ratio | Wrong formats letterbox, crop or distort on screen |
| Frame rate & interlacing | Interlaced material on progressive screens shows combing; frame-rate mismatches cause judder or audio drift |
| Audio channels | Mono, stereo or 5.1 must match the playout chain — a missing channel means silent speakers in the room |
| Loudness & audio levels | Broadcast and cinema loudness norms are enforced; too-loud ads generate complaints |
| Black & freeze frames | Encoding faults that read as "the screen broke" |
| Silence detection | Missing or dropped audio tracks |
| Duration | A 31-second file doesn't fit a 30-second slot |
Why automation wins here¶
Technical QC is objective and repeatable — exactly what machines are good at. Automated QC applies the same checklist to every file, every time, at ingest speed, and produces a timecoded record of what was checked and what was found.
The human reviewer's time is then spent where judgment is actually needed: the content side — brand fit and age-appropriateness.
Tip
The DCProof QC Report covers both halves in one pass: technical checks plus a full content review, as PDF and JSON.