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16:9 hd to 4:3 sd using crop in compressor
I have 1080p (1920 x 1080) footage that I need to convert to 720×480 SD 8-bit uncompressed. The client doesn’t want the footage letterboxed, so I have to crop it using Compressor. I’ve tried a number of different crop settings, but I haven’t seemed to be able to get the export to work perfectly so that there isn’t any squeezing or stretching of the image going on.
Does anyone know how much I should be cropping left and right to get a perfectly unstretched, unsqueezed image?
Also, since the HD footage is square pixel, when I downres to 720×480 should I be keeping the pixel aspect ratio ‘square’, or should I change it to ‘NTSC – CCIR 601’?
Thanks for all the help!
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5 Replies
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Check out this thread: https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/8/978782#978820
Though Rick could not get it to work, I tested it out before and after posting and it worked for me.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
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Thanks for the help David. I did see that post, but found that when I used the 4:3 crop setting in Compressor, I was still getting a slightly squeezed image (but enough to notice it). That’s when I started trying to plug in custom settings for how much to crop left and right and could never find the right setting.
I also found that things would look right in Quicktime Player and then I would bring them into Final Cut and they would look wrong and vice versa. I thought this might have something to do with the difference between a square pixel aspect ratio and a 601 CCIR, which is why I was wondering which pixel aspect ratio I should be using. Any idea what I might be doing wrong? Thanks again.
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Chris,
I think the problem is your 720×480 aspect ratio, 8-bit unc. should be 720×486. When usiung Advanced Format Coversion Presets everything esle is taken into account, so no need to change pixel shape etc.
When I did a test just now, as soon as I change the crop to 4:3 1.33:1 there is no change whatsoever in the image, the only thing you see is just that 4×3 red crop marks appear.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
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Ah, I see. That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for clearing that up. Unfortunately, the client insists on NEEDING 720 x 480, so I guess they’ll just have to get a slightly squeezed image (they probably won’t be able to tell anyway).
For future reference, do you have any thoughts on the square vs. CCIR 601 pixel aspect ratio? Let’s say I stayed in 8-bit uncompressed and set a frame size of 720 x 486. What would be the most correct pixel aspect ratio? What if I went to a DV/DVCPRO codec and set a frame size of 720 x 480? Or does it just not matter? It seems when I bring them into FCP, they all just show up as CCIR 601 anyway.
Thanks again for all the help.
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Chris,
I think your client is confused. They seem to be confusing DV at 720×480 with 8-bit which is 720×486. Standards are there for a reason, primarlily so things like distortion do not occur. You’d best check with them.
With reagrd to pixel dimensions, check out this great little article, it makes it all very clear. https://library.creativecow.net/articles/gerard_rick/pixel_madness.php
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
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