diff --git a/vidformer-igni/init/setup.sql b/vidformer-igni/init/setup.sql
index 07b4170..4c51a0c 100644
--- a/vidformer-igni/init/setup.sql
+++ b/vidformer-igni/init/setup.sql
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ CREATE TABLE spec_t (
     pos INT NOT NULL,
     t_numer BIGINT NOT NULL,
     t_denom BIGINT NOT NULL,
-    frame JSONB,
+    frame TEXT,
     PRIMARY KEY (spec_id, pos)
 );
 
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ CREATE TABLE spec_part_staged_t (
     in_part_pos INT NOT NULL,
     t_numer BIGINT,
     t_denom BIGINT,
-    frame JSONB,
+    frame TEXT,
     PRIMARY KEY (spec_id, pos, in_part_pos),
     FOREIGN KEY (spec_id, pos) REFERENCES spec_part_staged(spec_id, pos)
 );
diff --git a/vidformer-igni/src/server/api.rs b/vidformer-igni/src/server/api.rs
index c9f0b6f..c608844 100644
--- a/vidformer-igni/src/server/api.rs
+++ b/vidformer-igni/src/server/api.rs
@@ -342,13 +342,13 @@ pub(crate) async fn push_part(
     let mut in_part_poss = Vec::with_capacity(req.frames.len());
     let mut t_numers = Vec::with_capacity(req.frames.len());
     let mut t_denoms = Vec::with_capacity(req.frames.len());
-    let mut frames: Vec<Option<serde_json::Value>> = Vec::with_capacity(req.frames.len());
+    let mut frames: Vec<Option<String>> = Vec::with_capacity(req.frames.len());
     for (idx, ((numer, denom), frame)) in req.frames.iter().enumerate() {
         in_part_poss.push(idx as i32);
         t_numers.push(numer);
         t_denoms.push(denom);
         if let Some(expr) = frame {
-            frames.push(Some(serde_json::to_value(expr).unwrap()));
+            frames.push(Some(serde_json::to_string(expr).unwrap()));
         } else {
             frames.push(None);
         }
@@ -446,7 +446,7 @@ pub(crate) async fn push_part(
         .execute(&mut *transaction)
         .await?;
 
-    sqlx::query("INSERT INTO spec_part_staged_t (spec_id, pos, in_part_pos, t_numer, t_denom, frame) VALUES (unnest($1::uuid[]), unnest($2::int[]), unnest($3::int[]), unnest($4::bigint[]), unnest($5::bigint[]), unnest($6::jsonb[]))")
+        sqlx::query("INSERT INTO spec_part_staged_t (spec_id, pos, in_part_pos, t_numer, t_denom, frame) VALUES (unnest($1::uuid[]), unnest($2::int[]), unnest($3::int[]), unnest($4::bigint[]), unnest($5::bigint[]), unnest($6::text[]))")
         .bind(&spec_ids)
         .bind(&pos)
         .bind(&in_part_poss)
diff --git a/vidformer-igni/src/server/vod.rs b/vidformer-igni/src/server/vod.rs
index e2640b7..7efe94e 100644
--- a/vidformer-igni/src/server/vod.rs
+++ b/vidformer-igni/src/server/vod.rs
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ pub(crate) async fn get_segment(
     };
 
     // Get the frames from spec_t that are in the segment (pos between first_t and last_t)
-    let rows: Vec<(i64, i64, serde_json::Value)> = sqlx::query_as(
+    let rows: Vec<(i64, i64, String)> = sqlx::query_as(
         "SELECT t_numer, t_denom, frame FROM spec_t WHERE spec_id = $1 AND pos BETWEEN $2 AND $3",
     )
     .bind(spec_id)
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ pub(crate) async fn get_segment(
     // Map json values to FrameExpr
     let frames: Vec<vidformer::sir::FrameExpr> = rows
         .iter()
-        .map(|(_, _, frame)| serde_json::from_value(frame.clone()).unwrap())
+        .map(|(_, _, frame)| serde_json::from_str(frame).unwrap())
         .collect();
 
     struct IgniSpec {