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Need advice rendering 2.35:1 1280 x 545 for DVD
First of all, I am horrible with understanding things about video resolutions, pull downs, frame rates and all of that. I have a basic understanding of some of that stuff, but not enough to explain it to someone else, so please be as layman as possible in your reply.
I have a short film I just completed recently, and it was shot in 1280 x 720 at (I guess) 29.97 fps. (Although, as far as I know it’s not interlaced so I’m not sure what’s up with that)
For a nicer look, the film was cropped to 1280 x 545 (2.35:1) during post production. I now have it all ready to render in ae, I just need help getting it set up and properly rendered for burning to DVD with maximal quality.
(I also have some regular 1280 x 720 footage I would like to render properly and burn, if any of the same techniques apply.)
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5 Replies
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One question, when you say the film was cropped, did someone really give you a 1280×545 file? For DVD you want to maintain the 16×9 aspect ratio, so you should still be working in a 1280×720 comp. If you want it cropped, create a 1280×545 solid and make it the top layer and set it’s tranfer mode to stencil alpha, this will letter box the video. When you encode the video it will be at it’s proper size.
I would suggest saving your project, opening Media Encoder and dragging your projects into Encoder and use the Wide Screen DVD presets to create your final files.
Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb. -
DVD’s are all very standard in what is allowed/able to be played. Any DVD that you can buy at the store and burn onto is gonna want a 16:9 aspect ratio, but whatever encoder your using will probably letterbox it for you anyways. It’s also mandatory that the video is a mpeg2 codec in standard definition, meaning 480p Widescreen. Also when using DVD presets in adobe encoders your video and audio will come out as two separate files.
Because dvd’s demand this mpeg codec, which isn’t the best, you want to make sure that you haven’t already compressed your footage before rendering to dvd. That’s really as much as you can do.
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I already have rendered out all the frames to raw png’s in 1280 x 545, but I think I see what you mean. I should create a 1280 x 720 comp with black bg and drop my existing film (At 1280 x 545) in there, right? Also, doesn’t the 16:9 DVD preset give a bit higher resolution than 4:3 dvd?
One other thing, should I downscale my comp to the dvd preset size before I render?
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I already have rendered out all the frames to raw png’s in 1280 x 545, but I think I see what you mean. I should create a 1280 x 720 comp with black bg and drop my existing film (At 1280 x 545) in there, right?
Yes.
One other thing, should I downscale my comp to the dvd preset size before I render?
You can downscale, but when you select the DVD preset, Encoder will do the down-convert for you. There is a source/output tab, so just double check before you press encode. At this point as there is a slight difference between 1280×720 square pixels and 720×480 DVD Widescreen, I usually change the source scaling to “Scale to Fill”.
Also, doesn’t the 16:9 DVD preset give a bit higher resolution than 4:3 dvd?
If you were to letter box-then put it in a 4×3, you would have a letterboxed version, inside a letterbox. So in a way you will have less resolution, cause you will be using less screen real-estate. You can actually see this by dragging your project into encoder, under format choose the MPEG-2-DVD preset, then under preset click on “Match Source Attributes”. If Encoder has read your AE file correctly, you don’t have to do anything at this point, but just to see the 4×3 choice switch to the Output tab, and change the pixel aspect ratio to “Standard 4:3(0.909).
Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb. -
Hi David,
NTSC DVD is always 720×480. The difference between a 4:3 and a 16:9 DVD is the Pixel Aspect Ratio, or PAR. While 4:3 uses the 0.9 PAR, widescreen uses a 1.2 PAR, so the pixels are more rectangular (wider) and that results in the anamorphic widescreen display. But always the same resolution either way (PAL is 720×576 with a different pixel aspect for wide).
Thanks
Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers
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