Workflow — Broadcast Delivery

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.
• DeckLink format codes are 4-letter (Hp50 = 1920×1080p50, Hi59 = 1080i59.94, 2k24 = 2K 24p).

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.