DBeta

[Shane Ross]

No. Digibeta is 720×486…4:3. Standard Definition TV is 4:3. It can play anamorphic footage, but then you still need the TV or NTSC Monitor with the 16:9 switch to unsqueeze it.

Shane Ross
Alokut Productions
http://www.lfhd.net

[Mike Smith]

Digibeta records a 720 x 486 / 720×576 (PAL) grid, and uses this to record and replay true 4:3 or true 16:9.

It does this by using different “pixel aspect ratios” – wider pixels for wider screen giving a different screen shape, but no extra resolution.

If fed with an optically squeezed image via camera or via a super-16 image correctly telecined then it will record and replay “true” 16:9 – though I think super 16 is strictly 1.66:1 screen aspect ratio (to 16:9’s 1.78:1), so will have its top and bottom clipped slightly or have small black bars left and right.

In the HD arena, HDCAM (and HDV) do a similar thing to Digibeta – using a 1440 x1080 pixel grid and wide pixels to generate a 1920×1080 image.

[Natasha]

Hmm… ok I understand the different pixel aspect ratio to display the widescreen. But I need to tell an illustrator what resolution to create my opening titles at. This would be 720×486 at (blank) aspect ratio?

Thanks for your help 🙂

[Shane Ross]

If your project is 16:9, then you need it to match that. The graphics should match your sequence settings.

Shane Ross
Alokut Productions
http://www.lfhd.net

[Jeremy Garchow]

Well, too ad yet another variable, they could already be letterboxed. If your footage is letterboxed, than the normal 720×486 rezz will work. If you are going to be working with anamorphic footage, then your illustrator should create at 864×486 and then squeeze the footage down to 720×486, this making it anamorphic.

Make sense?

Jeremy

[Mike Smith]

I guess it depends a lot on what you want to finish with.

Your super-16mm original will allow for finishing as HDTV /Hi Def video, via a digi transfer to 2K or another film resolution format, or as a standard definition master on NTSC (or PAL).

Widescreen never really made much of an impact in NTSC land, and there are few NTSC widescreen-capable monitors or TVs available. Most folks finish up with a letterboxed video stream for their widescreen – maybe one of the reasons HDTV has been particularly attractive in NTSC lands ?

So while DigiBeta isn’t of itself limiting you, your NTSC choice is a tricky one. You’d need to know whether your telecine was squeezed anamorphically (to allow you some kind of low-res path back to film in the end) or letterboxed.

And you’d want to know whether the NTSC tape is your final online medium, or whether you are going to go back with a cut negative for a 2K or HDTV scan, for a final master …

These things will influence your choice. Otherwise, as Jeremy points out, NTSC Digibeta uses 720×486 pixels, and if you want to widescreen this then 864×468 gives you the unsqueezed dimensions. But as Shane indicated, theres’ not a lot of widescreen NTSC support out there in the market, if the final delivery is to be an NTSC master …

Hope this helped more than it feels like it does!

BTW, what film stock(s) were you on, and how does the telecine look?

[Mike Smith]

If this is too patronising then my apologies.

This https://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_6_4/feature-article-enhanced-widescreen-november-99.html might help.

Or this ( a bit more recent!)
https://www.audioholics.com/techtips/specsformats/widescreenletterboxpanscan.php

Or this
https://www.adamwilt.com/TechDiffs/FieldsAndFrames.html

Or https://www.uwasa.fi/~f76998/video/conversion/#conversion_table

Some of this stuff of course is only for the full-on tecchie or hard-core sleep deprived …

[Mike Smith]

If you are thinking higher-res completion, maybe have a peek at
< a href= "https://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/new_read_post.cgi?forumid=3&postid=860658&pview=t#head" target="_top"> https://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/new_read_post.cgi?forumid=3&postid=860658&pview=t#head

Or https://www.cineform.com/ for some alternate workflow / low budget high quality ideas …