> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.doviconvert.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# inspect

> Perform full frame-by-frame analysis of FEL brightness metadata

## Synopsis

```shellscript theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-latte","dark":"catppuccin-macchiato"}}
dovi_convert inspect <file> [options]
```

## Description

Performs a definitive frame-by-frame analysis of the entire file to verify whether the Enhancement Layer contains active brightness expansion. Use this to verify Simple FEL verdicts from `scan`, or when you need absolute certainty before conversion.

## Arguments

| Argument | Required | Description                     |
| -------- | -------- | ------------------------------- |
| `<file>` | Yes      | Path to the MKV file to inspect |

## Options

| Option    | Short | Description                                                                       |
| --------- | ----- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `--safe`  | `-s`  | Force Safe Mode (disk extraction). Extracts video stream to disk before analyzing |
| `--debug` | —     | Generate `dovi_convert_debug.log` with detailed output                            |

<Callout icon="circle-exclamation" iconType="solid" color="#ef9f76">
  `inspect` reads the entire file frame-by-frame. For a typical 50-80 GB movie, this takes several minutes. It's not suitable for batch operations.
</Callout>

## Examples

**Inspect a file:**

```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-latte","dark":"catppuccin-macchiato"}}
dovi_convert inspect movie.mkv
```

**Inspect with Safe Mode:**

```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-latte","dark":"catppuccin-macchiato"}}
dovi_convert inspect movie.mkv --safe
dovi_convert inspect movie.mkv -s
```

## Output

After analysis, `inspect` reports:

* Whether **brightness expansion** was detected
* The **peak brightness** values found in the metadata
* **FEL verdict** — Simple FEL (safe) or Complex FEL (skip)

## See Also

* [scan](scan) — Fast sampling analysis
* [convert](convert) — Convert files or directories