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Editing mixed aspect ratios?
Hi,
I’m editing together footage thats mixed – 4:3 square pixel and 16:9 anamorphic.
Whats the best way to approach this?
If you have 16:9 on a 16:9 tv, it fits, on a 4:3 tv you get letterboxed.
If you have 4:3 on a 4:3 tv it fits, on a 16:9 does it get stretched to fit?
Do I make a 16:9 sequence and then manually stretch the 4:3 footage to fit?
Thanks for your help…
TBK
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3 Replies
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First thing… Let us all pray that you get through this nightmare. 🙂 A moment of silence…
Okay than, the best way depends on your output needs.
DVDs, or Digital Versatile Discs, are named in part because you can create a DVD with files in multiple formats. You can have menus and programs in both 16:9 and 4:3, on one disc.
But this may not help you?You really answered your own question. As a matter of taste, I would also upscale the 4:3 source to match the 16:9 project.
You could select all of the 4:3 clips in the Project window, right click/Interpret Footage/Conform to 16:9 – which will horizontally stretch the video. If the source is analog, you’ll likely have black bars on the sides which won’t be visible on a CRT.
A higher quality option would be some type of remastering process. First, deinterlace the 4:3 footage (Premiere by r-clicking on the clip in the timeline and selecting Field Option/Always Deinterlace, After Effects (better), DVFilm Maker (better), Magic Bullet (better), FieldsKit Deinterlacer (better), etc.)
Than, upscale the PAR 0.9 conformed 4:3 source (within the 16:9 project) to about 140% – this will keep your display aspect ratio correct. (In Premiere, use Video Effects/Distort/Transform to resize source material, not Effect Controls/Motion.)One positive result in upscaling 4:3 to fit in a 16:9 frame is you can now “tilt” & scan the video, allowing for more interesting framing.
Always deinterlace before scaling interlaced video.
Just some thoughts that may help you make your decision.
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Hi Vincent,
Thanks for the reply. I took the chance and went ahead scaled up the 4:3 stuff. Havent output it yet but it looks ok so far…
The next problem is dealing with the menus in Encore – 4:3 menus support 32 buttons, whilst 16:9 only 16! I cant think of any limitation that would force this decision. Anyway, I have about 20 buttons, so have gone 4:3, will this be stretched on a 16:9 monitor?
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I want to edit mixed aspect ratios by converting 4:3 footage to 16:9 by adding black vertical letterbox lines to both sides of the frame. The result will be the 4:3 footage in its correct aspect ratio in the middle of a 16:9 frame with black lines on each side.
This will allow me to edit in the wide format and convert to DVD, also in the wide format.
I have noticed Australian television ads using 4:3 footage simply stretch it to 16:9 and create a stretched image which looks bad.
Can someone propose an appropriate program or procedure ?
I was good at tape to tape editing but …
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