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Best way to handle ama sd pixel aspect ratio issues
I have a 720p project and am trying to figure out the best way to handle sd AMA’d clips when it comes to aspect ratio.
The clips are weird dimensions – 716×480, 712×478, 710×480, 702×480 and more. I think there are a few 720×480 ones in there somewhere. They have all come in as ‘stretched.” Most of the listings in the “image aspect ratio” column are 1:32:1 and 1:33:1. Pixel aspect ratios generally are running .889, .909, etc. This isn’t Avid weirdness, as far as I am aware this reflects the original files which are mostly Quicktimes – mp4, m4v, etc.
There is also HD material in this project, so the overall project has been sized 1280×720.When changing the reformat column to pillarbox/letterbox those numbers don’t change.
Output will be primarily DVD, and possibly some digital files.
What is the best way to fix these aspect ratios? Some of these are already edited so if possible I would prefer to fix them in the bin and update the sequence rather than adding an effect. thx
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4 Replies
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Frame flex should solve it but you may have to manually adjust them.
Pat Horridge
Broadcast & Post Consultant, Trainer, Avid Certified Instructor
Free online Tutorials at VET digital media academy online https://vimeo.com/channels/752951
pat@vet.co.uk -
I assume you mean in the bin columns, is that correct?
So in the Image Aspect column they are various settings, 4×3, 1.50:1, 1:33:1 etc. When changing those, you should be shooting for as close to 1 in the pixel aspect column as possible?
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I thought I knew this but am apparently still unclear.
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Thank you Dave,
Yes that’s a good point.I don’t know the original details. These files were given to me on a drive, ripped either from DVDs by another editor or transferred from the originals.
Some of them were ripped directly from the VOB files in Mpeg Streamclip and transcoded to quicktimes, that I know, and those are 720×480, but the vast majority of them just given to me as mp4s, and m4vs with these sizes. I am not sure what their journey was to arrive at that point. Given that some go back to the late 90s, they were probably just transferred at some point in time.
Given that info, if someone had given these to you and you had to correct the aspect ratio in Avid (in the bin not the timeline preferably), what would be your approach?
I have one right now that the source was h.264 631×478, it AMA’d into Avid at 710×478, sd 30i ntsc, image aspect ratio 1.32:1, which I now have on pillarbox, PAR is .889. Project is 720p at present. To my eye it looks squished.
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