Video QC v1.0.0

name: "video-qc" description: "Verify video/audio deliverables before claiming they're done: container, codec, duration, resolution, audio presence, and spot checks."

Video QC

Never claim a video is done without checking the actual file. "The render finished" is not verification.

The checklist (use ffprobe)

bash
ffprobe -v error -show_entries \
  format=duration,size:stream=codec_name,width,height,avg_frame_rate \
  -of default=noprint_wrappers=1 file.mp4

Verify each of these against the spec:

1. Duration -- nonzero and matches what was asked for (±0.1s tolerance).
2. Resolution -- width x height matches the spec.
3. Video codec -- usually H.264 (h264) for compatibility; note if HDR.
4. Audio -- if the deliverable should have audio, confirm an audio stream exists AND is non-silent. Check with a loudness scan, not just presence: ffmpeg -i file.mp4 -af astats -f null - and look at RMS levels.
5. File size -- nonzero and plausible (a 10s 1080p H.264 is typically several MB, not 40 KB).

Frame spot checks

Extract 3 frames (start, middle, end) and look at them:

bash
ffmpeg -y -ss 0 -i file.mp4 -frames:v 1 start.png
ffmpeg -y -ss <mid> -i file.mp4 -frames:v 1 mid.png

Confirm: not black, not frozen (frames differ), no render artifacts, text (if any) is legible.

Audio-specific checks

• After any retime/splice, scan for runs of digital zero (absolute silence mid-word reads as a stutter). Natural room tone sits around -70 dB, not -infinity.
• When piping float audio into ffmpeg, cast to float32 first -- piping float64 as f32le doubles the duration into garbage.

Report honestly

State what you checked and the measured values (duration, resolution, codec). If you didn't check something, say so. "Looks done" is not a QC result.