Anamorphic? or not?

[Walter Biscardi]

[tel jaba] “when do you need to work and export as Anamorphic? and when do you export with a letterbox? “

This wholly depends on the client’s request and/or the broadcast specification for the network we’re delivering to.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

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[Nick Price]

HI,
ask the network what the require, but 9 times out of 10 16:9 widescreen means full Height anamorphic. Letterbox is essentially 4:3 with the widescreen picture placed in the middle, with black bars on top and bottom, giving the appearance of widescreen. It isnt widescreen at all.

It is the broadcasters job to transmit to the different types of TVs out there, so just ask them what they want.

And most DVD players can tell (or be told) what type of tv they are connected to and change from 16:9 widescreen to letterbox depending on the TV.

So if you have shot in 16:9 then edit and deliver in 16:9.

Cheers
nick

[Jeremy Garchow]

[tel jaba] “Hey guys
I just need to understand this once and for all “

🙂 That’s a big under taking in the video world.

You have good advice here. It usually comes down to, ask the broadcaster. Some can take the FHA (full height anamorphic) some can’t. It’s up to them.

Jeremy

[Michael Sacci]

One thing to keep in mind, if you edit and add graphics to a Lettebox sequence, there is no going back to 16:9 cleanly, you have to up-rez if you need it. If you edit 16:9 it is very easy to Letterbox when mastering if that is requested.

Your DVD will want true 16:9 footage or else it will never look right on a widescreen TV.

DVD players can convert 16:9 to Letterbox for 4:3 TVs very well on the fly.
DVD player does not fit 4:3 Letterbox footage to a 16:9 TV at all, to get it to fit you have to use the TV’s zoom function and you are blowing up the image, not a pretty sight.

[Michael Gissing]

Never once in the PAL broadcast world have I been asked for letterbox. It throws a way a lot of resolution.

Don’t use a DV sequence for your SD downconvert. That is a poor SD codec. Uncompressed or ProRes are best. Search the forum for ideas on how to end up with SD from HD as it has been covered here many times. My prefered workflow is to stay HD and then hardware downconvert at the end to SD.