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widescreen
I have exported footage from my Avid as “pixel aspect ratio: non square 16:9.” Should I tell AE to interpret the footage as “D1/DV NTSC Widescreen (1.2)”? 1.2=16:9? (I get the numbers 1.77778 and 1.33333 when I try to do the math, but as you can probably tell, I don’t know what I’m doing.) Also, since I’m going right back to the Avid, do I want the comp to be “Widescreen (1.2)”?
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9 Replies
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Thanks for your reply. I’m working in D1 widescreen from DVCAM.
Do you know where the number 1.2 comes from? -
The widescreen pixels are not square, they are wide. The width is 1.2 times the height.
For regular DV, the pixel aspect ratio (PAR) is .9 because those pixels are actually narrow. FCP thinks the ratio is 9/10, whereas it’s actually 10/11. You will rarely run into issues related to this discrepancy, so don’t worry about it. Just use the AE preset comp sizes.
A 720×480 widescreen image can look narrow when interpreted as square pixels, but normal when the pixel aspect ratio is properly interpreted as 1.2. Check this article for other info on pixel aspect ratios.
And this article too.99% of the time, you don’t have to do any math on this issue. Just use the comp preset sizes.
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By the way, if this is Larry from the Workshops … Steve says hi!
(oh wait .. that’s me) -
Steve,
Indeed, it is one of your protege’s out here. I don’t think I’ve gotten in enough trouble to soil your name though. Thanks for the info! -
Cheers, Larry — hope you and the family are well.
Yep — DV pixels are narrow (10wide/11high), so a regular 720×480 movie looks too wide on a computer because the computer uses square pixels. However, it looks fine on a 4:3 TV because the TV uses narrow pixels, squeezing the image back to something that looks like 640×480, or 4:3.
DV Widescreen pixels go the other way, as I said. In order to make 720 pixels by 480 pixels end up as 16:9 (864×480), the pixels have to be wider than square.
Anyway, the presets are good, as are the articles I posted.
And it’s always good to test on your target medium, whether computer, 4:3 TV, or 16:9 TV.S
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The family’s great, thanks.
One other question, then. To provide widescreen material from square pix sources, can I just drag artwork into a widescreen comp (and render as widescreen)? -
Your square pixel material needs to be 16:9 in proportion. If you’re dealing with 486-high video (or 480, even) your square pix material should be 864 pixels wide.
16×54=864
9×54=486.I’d make it 864×486, then drag the art into a DV widescreen comp and render as Best Settings. There will be three lines left over above and below the frame, but that’s okay as long as the material wasn’t interlaced, and 864×486 material never is. 🙂 You’ll end up with a 720×480 rendered clip which will look odd until you play it in the right context such as a DVD that has had the 16:9 playback enabled.
Does that make sense?
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Okay, I think I’ve got it. I put my Illustrator title in a 864×486 (square)precomp which will then be composited with other stuff in a DV widescreen comp.
But since I’m not working in DV but in D1, it seems more natural to use a 720×486 widescreen comp to finish in. -
Yep. 🙂
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