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Best project dimensions for still photos?
Hello guys,
I’m using Vegas v. 9.0e. I am building a project that consists mostly of photos with an original resolution of 3264 x 2448 (4:3 ratio). I also have a handful of lower res photos, and a few low-res video clips at 320 x 240. Questions:
1. If I want to be able to distribute this project on DVD primarily for use on PCs and HDTVs, what project dimensions would you choose? (I don’t care about letterboxing, and want to keep 4:3 dimensions.)
2. If, for example, I choose 1440×1080 as the output dimensions, is there any benefit to resizing the 3264×2448 photos down to 1440×1080 before using them in Vegas, or should I just let Vegas do that?
3. Would it possibly make sense to create two output versions: one optimized for HDTV, and one optimized for PCs?
4. What rendering type and template would you advise?
Thanks for your suggestions.
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4 Replies
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[Rick Bombaci] “1. If I want to be able to distribute this project on DVD primarily for use on PCs and HDTVs, what project dimensions would you choose? (I don’t care about letterboxing, and want to keep 4:3 dimensions.)”
You want to use NTSC DV (720×480, 29.970 fps) or PAL DV (720×576, 25.000 fps) depending on which country you are making the DVD for.
[Rick Bombaci] “2. If, for example, I choose 1440×1080 as the output dimensions, is there any benefit to resizing the 3264×2448 photos down to 1440×1080 before using them in Vegas, or should I just let Vegas do that?”
DVD’s are limited to 720×480 so that’s the dimension you should use. You ABSOLUTELY want to resize the images. Vegas is a video editor, not photoshop. While it can resize an image, a “real” image editor will probably do a much better job. Also, Vegas will reize the image 30 times every second! You only need to resize the image once which is another reason to do it outside of Vegas.
BTW, video does not use square pixels so you need to compensate for that when resizing. An NTSC image is 655×480 in square pixels. If you plan to zoom into it, you can make it 2x that (1310×960) but then Vegas would be doing a lot of resizing so the render will be slow.
[Rick Bombaci] “3. Would it possibly make sense to create two output versions: one optimized for HDTV, and one optimized for PCs?”
Yes depending on how you plan to deliver the footage. For HDTV you would need to make a Blu-ray disc unless you have a media server you plan use. You could probably use the HDTV version for PC as well. Most PC monitors are less than HDTV resolution anyway. If you want to deliver in HD (not DVD) then your project should be set for HD as well.
[Rick Bombaci] “4. What rendering type and template would you advise?”
DVD’s only support MPEG2 so you would use the MainConcept MPEG2 codec with the DVD NTSC or DVD PAL template depending on your country. If you expect Vegas to resize the images, use the BEST setting otherwise GOOD should be fine.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
John,
Thank you for your detailed reply, and sorry that I took so long to thank you. I’ve been completely absorbed in the project itself, and only now have come up for air.
I’m enough of a video novice that it will take me a while to digest everything you have said.
I guess my main question right now is: If most of my material is high-res stills, and I want to maximize their resolution, why should I not produce in 1080p rather than the NTSC DV you suggested? Am I correct in understanding that this approach would yield better results than NTSC DV on an HDTV capable of 1080p, and would still work on a 720p HDTV (although it would display at 720, not 1080)?
Thanks for your patience.
R
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[Rick Bombaci] “I guess my main question right now is: If most of my material is high-res stills, and I want to maximize their resolution, why should I not produce in 1080p rather than the NTSC DV you suggested?”
Becasue you stated that you wanted to deliver your video on DVD and DVD only supports 720×480. If you want to distribute Blu-ray discs that’s a whole other story, but for DVD distribution the answer I gave you is your only choice.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
Thank you, John.
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