QCTools for Windows

MeadiArea developed QCTools, an open-source freeware program to help users analyse and understand digitised video files via audiovisual analytics and filtering. The QCTools project is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Knight Foundation. You can install this program on most Windows, Linux and Mac systems.

With this app, users can reveal corruptions or compromises that show up in the results of analogue video digitisation or of born-digital videos. Archivists, curators, preservationists and motion picture professionals can use this tool to detect, filter and evaluate various video errors and anomalies. Similar apps include Praat and Audacity.

Graphing filters

QCTools offers various graphing filters for video, including YUV Values, Temporal Outliers, Vertical Line Repetitions, Broadcast Range, Crop Width and Height and Peak Signal to Noise Ratio. Users can find Audio Phase Meter, DC Offset, Audio Diffs and RMS among audio filters.

Playback filters

The preview window works as an analytical playback environment where users can review with multiple filters simultaneously. This playback window gives users two display screens that can have different sets of filter combinations. Some of the filters presented here are Histogram, Waveform, Line Select and Vectorscope.

New features

Panel tracks are a new feature that enables the user to view time-line based images representing audio or video tracks. Users can add a graph of zero-crossing rate for audio tracks and also a diagram of active video bit-depth.

It’s worth noting that users can launch the tool from the command line by typing the following: ‘flatpak run net.mediaarea.QCTools’.

Video preservation quality control

The installation package is small, so the program doesn’t require a lot of space on the hard drive. The interface is user-friendly and intuitive, with the file name clearly visible on the vertical pane of the working screen. Filter names can also be found along the same pane.

This tool provides a comprehensive package of quality control for audio and video analytics and filtering. It enables users to create and export reports of their analyses in various formats such as XML, CSV, and GZ. Additionally, to help get started you also have access to thorough documentation online.