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TV broadcast monitoring in Canada must be Doom-like resolution (320x240) x 15f/s

cb-cda.gc.ca

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Re: TV broadcast monitoring in Canada must be Doom-like resolution (320x240) x 15f/s

#4

Post by a3camero »

aristidb wrote: post #3

Can somebody explain and give context? Reading laws is not my forté.

Sure!

There's a type of service called media monitoring. It's where companies... monitor the media. Clients often want media clips from the TV shows they were featured in. So you need a database of TV clips.

There's a government body in Canada that handles a bunch of aspects of Canada's copyright system. They set tariffs and rules for doing various things. They've set the tariffs for media monitoring and also set the rules that you have to follow in order to run a media monitoring service. One of them is that you can't have a database that has video with a resolution greater than 320x240 and it also can't have a frame rate greater than 15 frames per second.

Obviously this isn't legal advice... There appear to be a lot of rules to follow. This looks to be one of them. Consult a lawyer to find out how complicated this really is...

Re: TV broadcast monitoring in Canada must be Doom-like resolution (320x240) x 15f/s

#5

Post by SoftwareMaven »

a3camero wrote: post #2

The perils of writing your laws to current day technology: s. 8(2)(b): "excerpts shall have a resolution no greater than 320 pixels by 240 pixels and a frame rate no greater than 15 frames per second;"

I don't think they were legislating to a temporary technological point. I think the point was to ensure signal degradation in the database of clips so you have to go to the actual rights holder if you want a usable clip. It's a copyright protection.

Re: TV broadcast monitoring in Canada must be Doom-like resolution (320x240) x 15f/s

#6

Post by a3camero »

SoftwareMaven wrote: post #5
a3camero wrote: post #2

The perils of writing your laws to current day technology: s. 8(2)(b): "excerpts shall have a resolution no greater than 320 pixels by 240 pixels and a frame rate no greater than 15 frames per second;"

I don't think they were legislating to a temporary technological point. I think the point was to ensure signal degradation in the database of clips so you have to go to the actual rights holder if you want a usable clip. It's a copyright protection.

Oh I think you're right but what was maybe half quality a few years ago is now a small fraction of HD signal quality.

Perhaps x% of median quality of Canadian broadcast channel signal quality would be more appropriate? I'm not sure but fixing at 320x240 seems like probably not the best approach.

Re: TV broadcast monitoring in Canada must be Doom-like resolution (320x240) x 15f/s

#8

Post by soundslikeneon »

a3camero wrote: post #6
SoftwareMaven wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think they were legislating to a temporary technological point. I think the point was to ensure signal degradation in the database of clips so you have to go to the actual rights holder if you want a usable clip. It's a copyright protection.

Oh I think you're right but what was maybe half quality a few years ago is now a small fraction of HD signal quality. Perhaps x% of median quality of Canadian broadcast channel signal quality would be more appropriate? I'm not sure but fixing at 320x240 seems like probably not the best approach.

I don't think it matters that the median broadcast quality is getting better. 320x240 @ 15 fps was deemed high enough quality for the kind of reference/archive work that media monitors are doing. It's big enough that you can see what's going on and small enough to discourage watching these copies for entertainment. That number doesn't really need to change unless our eyes are collectively getting worse.
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