RE: IPCC dates and rules have been published

Hi, Silvia:

Actually, I think you're reading too much into my statement.  I didn't draw attention to SMPTE-TT to spread any fear about rendering formats or anything else.  If you take a look at this:

https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2012/03/30/2012-7247/closed-captioning-of-internet-protocol-delivered-video-programming-implementation-of-the#p-394

you'll find this:

"(1) Obligations of video programming owners. Each video programming owner must:
(i) Send program files to video programming distributors and providers with captions as required by this section, with at least the same quality as the television captions provided for the same programming. If a video programming owner provides captions to a video programming distributor or provider using the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers Timed Text format (SMPTE ST 2052-1:2010, incorporated by reference, see§ 79.100), then the VPO has fulfilled its obligation to deliver captions to the video programming distributor or provider in an acceptable format. A video programming owner and a video programming distributor or provider may agree upon an alternative technical format for the delivery of captions to the video programming distributor or provider."

It's a statement about the delivery of caption data from a program owner to a distributor, not about caption-data rendering.    The VPO *can* deliver captions as SMPTE-TT to a distributor, and the distributor can convert and deliver the captions in some other format if it so desires.  The VPO does not *have* to deliver captions as SMPTE-TT, because the VPO and VPD can agree upon some other delivery format if they want to.  But if the VPO has no means to deliver a format other than SMPTE-TT, than SMPTE-TT can be used and the VPO will have done its job.  It's essentially a fallback.  That is what is meant by safe harbor.  

Geoff/NCAM



________________________________________
From: Silvia Pfeiffer [silviapfeiffer1@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2012 6:52 PM
To: Geoff Freed
Cc: public-texttracks@w3.org
Subject: Re: IPCC dates and rules have been published

On Tue, Apr 3, 2012 at 5:44 AM, Geoff Freed <geoff_freed@wgbh.org> wrote:
>
> Note that SMPTE-TT is named as a safe-harbor format here:
> https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2012/03/30/2012-7247/closed-captioning-of-internet-protocol-delivered-video-programming-implementation-of-the#p-283


This statement has to be taken with utmost care, because it seems to
imply a lot more than the actual ruling says. We need to avoid
spreading FUD about SMPTE-TT being the only acceptable format online,
which is what this statement seems to imply.

Instead, the ruling only says that SMPTE-TT is a "safe harbor
interchange and delivery format". This makes sense because SMPTE-TT
isn't actually a single format. Instead it is a format that allows
TTML or an encapsulation of your existing format into a SMPTE-TT file.
Thus, it basically avoids having to make a decision for which format
to transcode your captions into and leaves that problem to the
receiving entity that has to present the data. This is why there is a
restriction to "interchange and delivery" and there is NO statement
that SMPTE-TT is the rendering format.

Instead, it is stated in [1] that
"Video programming distributors and providers must enable the
rendering or pass through of all required captions to the end user,
maintaining the quality of the captions provided by the video
programming owner and transmitting captions in a format reasonably
designed to reach the end user in that quality."

Thus, the requirement on rendering is about retaining the quality of
the captions as authored using whichever format is most appropriate.

Let's please be very careful with our choice of words and not drive
everyone crazy about a "safe harbor" format that is no more than a
recommendation as to how to deliver your data between commercial
entities.

[1] https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2012/03/30/2012-7247/closed-captioning-of-internet-protocol-delivered-video-programming-implementation-of-the#p-397


Best Regards,
Silvia.

Received on Tuesday, 3 April 2012 23:27:54 UTC