Before diving into this page, please go over the section about the expected video layouts.
If you are looking to solve all duration-related issues once and for all, we recommend the following:
1. Never include any slate, black, or bars before or after the actual content (we strongly prefer files “cut to length”);
2. Make sure the length of the actual content is very, very close to the expected duration (e.g., a 30-second spot should contain exactly 30 seconds of actual content).
If the combined length of the given Duration, SOM, and Trail Black fields are greater than the actual length of a video file uploaded to Spotloader the file will fail to upload for this reason.
Possible Solutions and Examples
Confirm the length of commercial content
If your upload is failing due to the duration being too short, it could be that the file itself is shorter than it should be. If this spot is not exactly a broadcast standard length it may need to be re-edited to increase its run time.
Example:
Duration too short: Expected a duration of 60.00 seconds, but found 59.66 second(s).
Possible Solution:
You may need to add some extra length to the commercial content to increase its runtime
Solution: Extend the end frame of the spot by a few frames to make this a full :60 spot.
Double check if a wrong length was entered in the Duration field
Another possible failure reason is that the wrong length was entered into the Duration field. You may wish to view the file and confirm its length using your preferred media program or by using our previewer if uploading via the Link Browser.
Example:
Duration too short: Expected a duration of 30.00 seconds, but found 15.00 second(s).
Possible Solutions:
Perhaps your file is the :15 second version of a spot but :30 seconds was entered into the Duration field.
Solution: Enter :15 into the Duration field when uploading your file.
Perhaps you entered the correct duration of :15 secoonds but also entered a SOM of :15 seconds as well.
Solution: Enter :15 seconds into the Duration field when uploading your file. Make sure the SOM field is set to :00 seconds and ;00 frames.
Check the duration of slate or black in the file
We recommend submitting files with no color bars, slate, or black before or after the commercial.
The SOM of a file may contain a non standard length of slate or black. If a file is failing for being too short and needs a SOM you may need to enter a smaller SOM length in the upload form.
Example:
Duration too short: Expected a duration of 37.00 seconds, but found 36.20 second(s).
Possible Solution:
You may need an SOM that is shorter than was entered.
Solution: Try entering a SOM of :07 seconds and ;10 frames to see if that fixes the issue.
To learn more about uploading spots or SOMs please see our articles on Uploading Spots and Producing Spots.