Creating a 4:3 timeline with HD quality – is it possible?

[Walter Biscardi]

[Vron Harris] ” This is easily done using the DV pal format as it is inherently 4:3 but the quality is not as good as HD and also it is interlaced rather than progressive. “

DV is one of the worst compressed codecs out there so of course this is not going to work very well at all.

You can use the ProRes settings to get higher quality in 4:3 or even Uncompressed which is the highest quality.

You can create a custom frame size to whatever you want. Just started with Uncompressed PAL 4:3 and change the height or width and leave “Maintain Aspect Ratio” checked.

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

Read my Blog!

STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!

[John Pale]

If you want this to actually be HD and be able to be output to tape, the answer is no… Not possible. All HD formats are 16:9. If you want higher quality SD images, do as Walter suggested and work uncompressed. Note that if you output to DV tape from uncompressed you will lose all the benefits… Output to digibeta. If you are not outputting to tape, then you are not restricted to standard formats and frame sizes.

[David Roth weiss]

[John Pale] “All HD formats are 16:9.”

John,

There actually are legacy 4×3 HD frame sizes — no modern formats are 4×3, but 16mm film was transferred to HD originally in the 4×3 aspect ratio.

So, as Walter mentioned, there is nothing to prevent someone from creating a custom frame size that is 4×3 HD.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[John Pale]

I was aware of that David, and maybe for accuracy I should have mentioned it… but the old legacy stuff isn’t really relevant to what he is doing and not really a practical option in 2009.

[David Roth weiss]

[John Pale] “the old legacy stuff isn’t really relevant to what he is doing and not really a practical option in 2009.
“

He did seem dead set on 4×3, because he he seems to want to keep his photos full-frame, which he could do with a custom 4×3 HD setting.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[Vron Harris]

Thank you very much for all the posts and wise thoughts which have been very helpful.

I made a version using Uncompressed Film Academy (4:3), 2048 x 1536 pixels. A 3 min 42 sec film is 32.56 GB.

I made another version using Uncompressed Film Academy (4:3), 1440 x 1080, 3 min 42 sec film is 16.41 GB.

Madness! They’re so big… like how would I show them?? Well not DVD or tape I don’t think… I was thinking of playing them from a computer with a digital projector, but I imagine that 1440 x 1080 is really the biggest size worth doing as I’m guessing that any bigger and the digital projector would already be at the highest end of its quality….??

Thanks and best wishes

Vron