My long-standing pet peeve: industry standards where you have to pay to read the specifications.
Case in point: I’d like to read the SMPTE 390M spec today (the “OP-Atom” mode for MXF media files) but I’ll need to either find a colleague with a copy or get my dept to procure the $75 doc (I don’t truly need it, I just want to read it) or just pay it out of my pocket. All three are real barriers, beyond the $$ itself.
I realize that some of these standards orgs run on a modest budget and need to monetize, and most of the industry players don’t care about paying a few bucks for a document or a subscription, but it’s a hassle. It’s tempting to just go find an open source implementation and read the comments in their code instead…
http://www.techstreet.com/standards/smpte/st_390_2011?product_id=1792206
Right?! Its expensive to be standards-compliant!
hey…. you, ummm… want some standards? I got all kinds of standards.. I got SMPTE – very nice! ISO if you’re into that… EBU, how about some EBU???
W00t! SMPTE recently upgraded their website and I just learned that registered orgs can get free access to any doc, if you’re on the IP whitelist. This is very helpful!
As an aside: each individual piece of the KLV/MXF spec makes a lot of technical sense but the entirety is bizarrely complex. No wonder interop is so hard…