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Letterbox video becomes REAL WIDESCREEN on standard TV
You’re editing DVX100 letterbox video (and perhaps other letterbox video as well) in Vegas.
Problem:
1) Using an standard external CRT monitor, you lose the sides of the picture and you’re not seeing the entire frame
2) You’re letterbox shape output is not really very widescreen- it’s half way between letterbox and 4:3
3) The preview window on your computer monitor is squashed
Solution: Change to Square pixel aspect ratio in project properties. This solves several problems at once.
1) It restores the full frame width in your external monitor, and you see EVERYTHING from edge to edge.
2) You get a true widescreen proportioned picture on a standard TV, rather than a safe area missing/cropped picture.
3) You don’t have to switch on “simulate device aspect ratio” in Vegas preview window.
There is absolute no loss of picture sharpness or perceptual resolution.
The image remains proportioned exactly correct without any squishing or distortion of the image.
I built a web page with details here: https://www.neilslade.com/widescreen.html
You can still do things with the standard default and recommended .9091 pixel aspect, but I far prefer this treatment of letterbox video.
99% of viewers will see letterbox video on a standard TV, and this is a really nice way to handle it with a better looking final product- and you haven’t missed the edges in editing. In the case of viewing on a digital LCD, or computer, black bars on the side will be seen, but I don’t see this as objectionable. In the case of the project ending up in theatrical projection, you simple reset the project back to .9091 and re-render normally.
Neil Slade
http://www.NeilSlade.com
The AMAZING Brain Adventure -
3 Replies
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Interesting info. No DVX here, but still interesting and I might experiment a little.
The old standby I always use when trying to detect aspect ratio or pixel aspect ratio distortion is to show a perfect circle. The brain is very capable of telling when a circle is not perfectly round, and a picture of a circle tends to end all disagreements.
Rant is not so interesting to me.
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Yes thanks.
You’ll be amazed. This works perfectly, and theres no downside to it.
And
It works with ALL video.
Neil Slade
http://www.NeilSlade.com
The AMAZING Brain Adventure -
Yes thanks.
You’ll be amazed. This works perfectly, and theres no downside to it.
And
It works with ALL video.
Neil Slade
http://www.NeilSlade.com
The AMAZING Brain Adventure
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