WHAT IS WAVELENGTH?
Wavelength is a digital content sharing platform built for all public media stations across the country. By becoming a Wavelength Member you may:
- Establish an online password-protected account (“Member Account”), which you may use to upload, download and license Content on behalf of your station,
- Download unlimited free Content from the Platform,
- Upload unlimited Content to the Platform, and
- Participate in online community forums on the Platform.
Content that you upload to the Platform will be transcoded to PBS broadcast technical standards. WLIW will perform basic technical review of your uploaded Content for compatibility with our Platform specifications. WLIW will provide ongoing video/audio storage/streaming for Content you upload to the Platform.
Content on the Wavelength platform is organized by Project. Each project, located on a Project Page, includes a main asset and metadata, and can include accompanying materials, such as additional video, audio, caption files, and document assets. Every Project Page has specific licensing terms, so please make sure to read the licensing terms that appear on the Project Page and review our Licensing Agreement carefully as you are responsible for abiding by and/or monitoring and enforcing all Content licensing terms.
Members interested in downloading content can either view curated “Playlists” or “Feeds,” or “Browse” all available Content using filter and sort features.
The Wavelength website is optimized for Chrome, so please use this browser when possible.
WHAT IS ARTS CONTENT SHARING ON WAVELENGTH?
Arts Content Sharing on Wavelength is a closed, members-only World on Wavelength for members of the Arts Content Sharing Initiative. If you are interested in joining and gaining access to the content offered in this section of the Wavelength website, please e-mail MMGInitiative@thirteen.org for more information.
If you are a returning member of the Arts Content Sharing Initiative, welcome to Wavelength! We are excited to start collaborating with you on this new dedicated platform for the Arts Content Sharing Initiative. There are a few changes you may notice:
- No more metadata sheets! The Arts Content Sharing Upload Form will take the place of metadata documents moving forward (in other words, there is no need to send metadata forms to the Arts Content Sharing Team after submitting content to the Initiative anymore). You’ll need to fill in all fields on the Upload Form as you submit content, and that metadata will travel with your segment across Wavelength.
- Different file formats. Arts Content Sharing Feed assets will now be offered in the PBS Recommended Video Specifications listed in the FILE FORMATS section below. If you have any questions or concerns about this, please reach out to MMGInitiative@thirteen.org.
- You do not have to upload Arts content to Wavelength that meets the PBS Recommended Video Specifications, but it helps if you do. Previous Arts Content Sharing requirements stated you should deliver content in DVCProHD. This is no longer the case. When possible, please deliver segments in the PBS Recommended Video Specifications listed in the FILE FORMATS section below, preserving audio tracks that are unmixed. If that is not possible for your station, please submit the highest quality video files you have, with the audio unmixed, and The Wavelength Team will facilitate transcoding of all media to the PBS Recommended Video Specifications. Please note that media processing time is shorter when your submitted content matches the PBS Recommended Video Specifications at the time of your upload, but it is not required.
FILE FORMATS
Wavelength will accept all reasonable file formats for video and audio projects, but recommends the following PBS Technical Operating Specifications here:
PBS Recommended Video Specifications:
- File Format: XDCAM 422
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Minimum Width: 1920, Minimum Height: 1080
- File Container: MXF OP1a
- Video Frame Size: 1920x1080i
- Video Frame Rate: 29.97 fps
- Video Color Sampling: 4:2:2 8-bit
- Video Codec: MPEG-2 Long GOP @ 50 Mbps
- AudioBit: Depth: 24 Bit
- Audio Sample Rate: 48 KHz sampling rate
- Audio Bit Rate: 1152 kbps Bitrate
PBS Recommended Audio Specifications:
- File container: .WAV or .AIFF
- Audio Channels: 1 or 2 channels
- AudioBit: Depth: 24 Bit
- Audio Sample Rate: 48 KHz sampling rate
- Audio Codec: Linear PCM
USE WAVELENGTH WITH ASPERA CONNECT
In order to upload and download on the Wavelength platform, you will need to install the Aspera Connect plug-in on your computer. If you have installed the Aspera Connect plug-in on your computer in the past, you may need to download and install the latest version to proceed with using Wavelength. Here is a guide for how to install and activate the Aspera Connect plug-in.
DOWNLOAD CONTENT
Members of the Arts Content Sharing Initiative are free to preview and download all video and audio content within the Arts Content Sharing World on Wavelength. Assets can be downloaded individually, as a whole project, or as a whole Feed. All video content on Wavelength is made available in the format outlined in the PBS Technical Operating Specifications, as well as in high and low resolution formats. Each downloaded item of content will be made available with relevant metadata information for that content. If you download content, you must agree to the license terms as specified on the Project Page by the Member who uploaded the Content and in Wavelength’s License Agreement, and to the terms as specified in your station’s Arts Content Sharing Agreement.
UPLOAD CONTENT
Once a user is approved to become a Member of Wavelength, he or she is given permission to upload Content and related assets, which will be housed on a Project Page. The site will accept video and audio content in any file format. Users are required to submit particular information about the uploaded content, including metadata and rights information. As part of any given Project, Members can submit Additional Assets, such as promos, images, etc. All video content submitted on Wavelength will be transcoded to the format outlined in the PBS Technical Operating Specifications, and published to the platform in high and low resolution formats.
If you would like to submit content with embedded captions, please note: The preferred method of distributing closed caption data on Wavelength is using an .SCC file. In some cases, embedded captions will be persevered in the Hi Res video file. Members that submit files with 608 and 708 closed captions embedded in files using a SMPTE-436M compliant ancillary data track should expect to see the embedded caption data preserved in the Hi Res files distributed by Wavelength.
Once the Content is submitted, the Wavelength team will review the Project and, if approved, publish it on the website for other Members to preview and download. If the Wavelength team notices any issue with the submission, the submitting Member will be contacted. If you would like to make any changes or have any questions about the Content you have submitted, please contact the Wavelength team at ShareContent@wnet.org.
CONTACT US
The Wavelength Team
ShareContent [at] wnet [dot] org
The Arts Content Sharing Team
MMGInitiative [at] thirteen [dot] org
ACCOUNT PROFILE
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