Frequently-asked-questions

I AM HAVING TROUBLE REGISTERING OR RECEIVING THE ACTIVATION EMAIL

If you are having trouble registering, or haven't received the activation email, please follow these steps;

1. First, check your spam or junk folder for an activation email.  Unfortunately legitimate emails are sometimes classified as spam.

2. If that doesn't help, please send us the following;
- operating system, browser & version you are using (eg. Windows 7, Google Chrome, 4.0.249.89 (38071), the version can be found in the About menu of your browser
- your IP address by going to myIPaddress.com, it will show you a series of numbers separated by dots, just copy and paste those back to us

3. It is always best to make sure you have the latest browser version installed, please use one of the following;
Apple Safari for Mac or PC
Mozilla Firefox for Mac or PC
Google Chrome for Mac or PC
Internet Explorer for PC

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WHAT FILE FORMATS DO YOU SUPPORT?

We always prefer .mov or .mp4, but here are the file types supported and common extensions:

• video/quicktime: .mov, .qt
• video/mp4: .mp4
• video/mpeg: .mp2, .mpa, .mpe, .mpeg, .mpg, .mpv2
• video/x-msvideo: .avi

Please note we no longer support .wmv.

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WHAT ASPECT RATIOS DO YOU SUPPORT?

We only support 16:9 format (widescreen) or wider so please don't upload any 4:3 videos. The aim is for the winning video to be used as the official music video so it needs to be compatible with the standards of all today's media platforms, which is currently 16:9 or wider. Please note that we don't accept videos that are wider than 2.39:1.

For more help about aspect ratios this Wikipedia page is a good place to start.

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WHAT ARE THE RECOMMENDED SETTINGS FOR VIDEOS?

Export and compression settings vary depending on what software you are using, and it can get tricky! We've tried to simplify the key settings though that you should be aware of, to make it as easy as possible! Look for the following settings in the software you use, they may appear under the "Advanced", "Settings" or "Options" tabs.

Codec
• Select H.264 for the video codec and AAC for the audio codec

Frame Rate
• This should usually be set to 25

Keyframes
• Refers to how often the compressor references your uncompressed video, set it to every 30 frames

Data Rate
• 5,000 Kbits/second for widescreen high definition

Resolution
• Minimum 1280x720 for widescreen high definition, or preferably 1920x1080. We no longer accept any SD videos as these cannot be used as an official video in today's media. We also don't accept 4:3 videos, or videos that are wider than 2.39:1.

Deinterlace
• Yes, otherwise strange horizontal lines might appear in your video

Sound Sample Rate
• 44.1 KHz or 44,100 Hz

Audio quality
• Select a bit rate of at least 128 Kbps

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MY VIDEO HAS NOT BEEN APPROVED BECAUSE IT HAS BLACK BARS, OR IS THE WRONG ASPECT RATIO

If your video has not been approved, it is possibly due to one of the following reasons;

Aspect Ratio
We need your video in HD, and 16:9 or wider so that we can use it in all media types if selected as the official video. If you want to check your aspect ratio, you can divide the width by the height, eg. the minimum resolution we accept is 1280x720. Dividing the width by the height gives you 1.7778, which is 16:9 (16 divided by 9). Remember, don't include black bars in the resolution width or height though. Read more about aspect ratios here.

Black Bars
Horizontal or vertical black bars are not acceptable. Sometimes, exporting a 4:3 movie to 16:9 simply adds black vertical bars left and right of your footage, this is still a 4:3 video, and therefore won't be approved. If your video is wider than 16:9 (eg. 1.85:1 or 2.39:1) then our transcoding process will add top and bottom black bars so that it plays within our 16:9 player. Never add any black bars, regardless of what resolution you are uploading.

Titles/Credits
We don't allow any titles or credits to appear on the video. There is space on your video's page (when uploading) where you can put credits and extra information. Titles are added by the media outlet that ends up playing the winning video (eg. MTV).

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CAN I CHANGE THE THUMBNAIL IMAGE OF MY VIDEO?

It is easy to change your video thumbnail to something that you like, just follow these steps;

- Login to Genero.tv
- Choose EDIT PROFILE from the top dropdown menu
- Click the thumbnail of the video you want to update
- At the bottom of the page, you will see an EDIT THUMBNAIL section, just put the time in minutes:seconds, and click EDIT THUMBNAIL, eg. 01:35

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WHAT IS THE LIMIT ON FILE SIZE FOR UPLOAD?

Please ensure your video upload is less than 300MB.

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WHAT IS HD?

HD stands for "high definition" which gives a richer, clearer, and more life-like picture than standard TV.

Please note we no longer allow SD video entries - this is because they cannot be used as an official music video in today's media.

For competition entries please upload an HD version that has a minimum resolution of 1280x720, or even better if it has a resolution of 1920x1080.

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HOW CAN I UPLOAD AN HD VERSION OF MY VIDEO?

We no longer allow SD video entries, this is because they cannot be used as an official music video in today's media. Please upload an HD version that has a minimum resolution of 1280x720, or even better if it has a resolution of 1920x1080.

Read more about required tech specs here.

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WHAT BROADCAST SPECS WILL I NEED TO SUPPLY IF I AM A WINNER OR FINALIST?

ALL winners, and some finalists are required to upload a broadcast quality version of their file, usually via FTP. If you are unable to supply a broadcast quality file to the client's specifications (see below as a guide), you will be disqualified from winning or being a finalist. The current specs which most of our clients require are as follows;

Codecs: Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) [preferred], Avid DNxHD or DVCPro HD
Scaling: Content may NOT be upscaled from SD
Frame size & rate: 1920x1080 (Progressive) [23.98, 29.97 or 25], or 1920x1080 (Interlaced) [29.97 or 25]
Color space: ITU-R BT.709
Audio: Stereo LPCM in either Big Endian or Little Endian, 16-bit or 24-bit, at 48kHz (Audio levels should remain constant at -6db as much as possible. Please prevent audio levels going below -12db.)

Top 10 reasons (of many!) for immediate rejection of a broadcast file;

1. All text must be TITLESAFE regardless if it is for online use only or not. (See below for details)
2. “Apple ProRes 422 (HQ)” is NOT “Apple ProRes 422”, if ProRes, must supply (HQ)
3. H.264, MPEG2 and MPEG4 are NOT supported file codecs.
4. Audio must be in STEREO. If both the L and R audio are identical, it is TWO CHANNEL MONO and will fail. (See below for details)
5. Audio as 44.1k is NOT supported; it must be 48k. AAC is NOT supported, it must be LPCM,
6. When delivering 5.1 AUDIO, the channels must be clearly named and labeled (either on the tape or the filenames).
7. 4:1 CADENCE is a failure point for Long Form content. (See below for details)
8. Content cannot be PILLARBOXED.
9. Audio and video must be properly SYNCED on all video content.
10. FIELD DOMINANCE issues resulting from reversing the wrong field (upper/lower) first.

Title Safe
Title Safe is a term that refers to the zone of a video frame where all of the titles and graphics applied are completely visible without being cut off. Videos need to be Title Safe in order for all text and graphics to be displayed completely within the viewing frame of a video. All content must be in title safe to be considered archive-worthy, REGARDLESS of the current intentions for its use. It may be meant for online use presently, but that can easily change in the future.

Two Channel Mono
This occurs when both the Left and Right channels are identical to each other. The audio coming from the Left and Right channels must NOT be identical. This should be checked on a stereo-meter as Final Cut will falsely define anything with two audio channels as stereo.

Mixed Frame Rates
Mixed Frame Rate issues occur when different types of source footage recorded using different frame rates are edited together before they are converted to a single, unified frame rate.

4:1 Cadence ( Long Form Content: Immediate Failure)
4:1 Cadence means you have 4 progressive frames of video, and every 5th frame is a repeat of the 4th frame. There should be no repeated frames at all. This issue is often the result of a 23.98 frame video being converted to 29.97 incorrectly. When done correctly, you will see 3 unique progressive frames followed by 2 interlaced frames. Content should be kept native to the frame rate at which it was shot. This also can occur when interlaced content is tagged as progressive.

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