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720p 16:9 to SD for broadcast
Hi there. Thanks for taking a look at this thread.
I have currently been putting together an advert for a small company. It was shot on a Canon 7d in 60p. I then converted all the footage to 25p in Cinema Tools. The advert is for a UK PAL SD network.
I’ve finished the sound mix and now just need to deliver the file. In final cut the footage looks great, but when I convert the file to 720×576 in Compressor (using non-square pixels and exporting in ProRes HQ) it looks “squished” and everyone is out of proportion.
Is this just to be expected until the broadcast? Does the network’s hardware “unsquish” the footage? I’ve burnt the “squished” footage onto a DVD and it still looks out of proportion on my TV.
Or is there a way to keep the 16:9 ratio? Perhaps by placing a letterbox above and below the footage and effectively making it 4:3. Is there a way to do this?
Sorry if this all sounds a bit confused. All I want is for the footage to look like it should!
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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11 Replies
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I think ProRes HQ is overkill, although, it won’t cause your issue. It sounds as if Compressor is squeezing the image anamorphically which what you’d expect for placing a 16×9 image into a 4×3 frame. If you’ve told the DVD authoring program (which one are you using?) that the footage is 16×9 then the DVD should play correctly – widescreen on LCDs or plasmas and letterboxed on 4×3 TVs. However, you should ask the broadcaster for specific delivery specs. Besides letterboxing you also have the option to do a center cut if the footage was shot to allow that.
John
MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz 8 GB RAM OS 10.5.8 QT7.6.4 Kona 3 Dual Cinema 23 ATI Radeon HD 3870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
FCS 3 (FCP 7.0.2, Motion 4.0.2, Comp 3.5.2, DVDSP 4.2.2, Color 1.5.2)Pro Tools HD w SYNC IO & 192 Digital I/O, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec Monitors, PrimaLT ISDN
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Did you try just dropping your sequence in a 720×576
sequence and scaling it down until the footage fits with
With black bars on top and bottom? Then it’ll
look like its widescreen in its native format. I
do this all the time with hd footage and looks
great!Reality? What did you make it?
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This is everything I can find about delivery from the technical specification sheet:
“The aspect ratio for the commercial must be 16:9 full height”
“All commercials should be delivered in 16:9 Full Height aspect ratio, shot and protected for 14:9”
“All commercials must be delivered in 16:9 anamorphic format shot and protected for 14:9 – AFD6”
Do you think this means I can just supply them with a 720×405 file?
I would ask them but their technical guy is off at the moment.
Any help greatly appreciated!
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Look in the geometry tab of compressor and you will find the padding option. You can set the letterbox there.
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Thanks, hadn’t noticed that.
So do you think I should submit a 720×576 with PAL CCIR 601 (16:9) pixels then add padding set as 4:3 (L:90 R:90)?
I’ve just exported a 720×405 with square pixels and it looks like it should do (i.e. everything is in proportion) but going off the specs I posted earlier, does it sound like the network will accept these dimensions?
Wow this all got very confusing all of a sudden.
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Just tried 720×576 with PAL CCIR 601 (16:9) pixels then add padding set as 4:3 (L:90 R:90) – Looks horrible. Even more squeezed.
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[David Gill] “”The aspect ratio for the commercial must be 16:9 full height””
That’s anamorphic (FHA, or full height anamorphic). So use the geometry tab, set the frame size to 720×576, Pixel Aspect to PAL CCIR 601 (16:9). No croppping, no padding.
[David Gill] “Do you think this means I can just supply them with a 720×405 file?”
No.
Jeremy
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“[David Gill] “”The aspect ratio for the commercial must be 16:9 full height””
That’s anamorphic (FHA, or full height anamorphic). So use the geometry tab, set the frame size to 720×576, Pixel Aspect to PAL CCIR 601 (16:9). No croppping, no padding.
[David Gill] “Do you think this means I can just supply them with a 720×405 file?”
No.
Jeremy”
>>>Hi Jeremy.
Thanks for this. I’ve applied the setting that you have mentioned. Will the broadcaster “unsqueeze” this as it still looks a little squished.
Many thanks
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[David Gill] “Will the broadcaster “unsqueeze” this as it still looks a little squished.”
Yes, it is squished. Keep it that way, the broadcaster will know what to do with it as they asked for it as FHA.
Jeremy
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I don’t knoW who is complicating the things.
Fallow what Jeremy says here:
[Jeremy Garchow] “That’s anamorphic (FHA, or full height anamorphic). So use the geometry tab, set the frame size to 720×576, Pixel Aspect to PAL CCIR 601 (16:9). No croppping, no padding.
“
YOUR PICTURE WILL LOOK DISTORTED IN QT BUT THAT IS OK.
On play the pixels will be read as Anamorphic and will look OK.
rafael
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