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2:35 aspect ratio on 16:9 monitor / 24 fps Issue
I have a 35mm film that was shot full frame, but framed for a 2:35 aspect ratio. The film was transferred to Sony HDCAM 1080p and was edited in Avid, where the 2:35 matte was applied. I’m making an SD DVD of the film and so far have encoded the material with the 2:35 matte on it, put it in an SD DVD project and set the display mode to 16:9 letterbox. As expected, there are large black bars on the top and bottom when the film is played on a 4:3 TV set. However, when the film is played on a 16:9 TV set (with the TV set to 16:9 display mode), the image is squeezed horizontally to fill the frame. The only way I can get the image to fill the frame without being distorted is by using a setting on the TV called 4:3 enhanced, which I’m assuming uses a sort of zooming technique (because the very edges of the frame did seem to be a little bit distorted). I expect that there will be letterboxing to compensate for the 2:35 aspect ratio, even on a 16:9 TV, but I don’t understand why the image is still being squeezed horizontally to fill the frame. If I look at the film in DVDSP in the 4:3 display mode, it is squeezed vertically, even with the 2.35 matte on it, so shouldn’t it stretch out appropriately on a 16:9 monitor? In addition, when I view the film in the DVDSP simulator in 16:9 display mode, it look perfect with the expect 2:35 letterboxing.
Is there something I’m missing here, or should this method work? The only thing I can think of is that maybe the DVD player’s output setting was wrong, which I didn’t get a chance to check. Does that make sense?
One other issue I’m also noticing. My footage is 23.967 and this is how I’m exporting it out of Avid. I’m encoding it in Compressor with the DVD Best Quality and it says in the inspector there that the frame rate is 23.976, however when I bring the footage into DVD SP after the encode and look at it in the inspector, it now says that it’s 29.97 fps. What’s going on with that? Is there some other setting I should be aware of to make sure it stays 24 fps or does this have something to do with my project being in SD?
Thanks for any insight into these issues.
-Sofi
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3 Replies
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16:9 vs 2.35 vs 4:3 – answer is YES, you MUST have LARGE black bars on 4:3 TVs
on 16:9 TVs you have small black bars 🙂Please check your encode settings and track settings – you must set “16:9 MPEG2” in source/target and to 16:9 Letterbox in DVDSP
what is 23.976->29.97? Ohh… DVD can’t be progressive, and YES in 23.976 footage will be added fields for 29.97 interlaced video, it’s all right
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[Roman Melekh] “DVD can’t be progressive, and YES in 23.976 footage will be added fields for 29.97 interlaced video”
That is so misleading. DVDs can be progressive, DVDs can be 24 fps, but they have to be 29.97i.
So if when you encode your 24p (read 23.98) as 24p you have true 24p. But since not every DVD play and TV can play 24p the DVD spec saying players must be able to add the pulldown to give you a 29.97 signal. This is why DVDSP lists the video as 29.97, but it is only has flags for the player to add the pulldown, that extra frames are not present in the encode.
Now if you have a progressive DVD player and it is hooked up to a digital compatible TV through component or hdmi cables it will play true 24p as encoded.
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Sorry that i misled!
Of course, DVD will be 24p, but simply with added field and no more …
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