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Finished HD spot
So I went to my bosses house and he has this big HD flat screen TV. We were watching the Home Run Derby, and I noticed that while the even (on ESPN) and even some spots were all 16:9, but most of the spots were 4:3 with bars running on either side. And every now and then, there’d be a spot in the 4:3 format that was “letterboxed,’ which meant that the picture was very small because not only are there bars on the left and right but there are “widescreen” bars on the top and bottom. My boss asked me why, and I told him because the Derby and a few spots are being broadcast in HD, while most of those other spots, are SD and therefore, only in 4:3. Am I right? The shows/spots that fill an HD screen are HD, while the 4:3 shows/spots are only in SD.
Also, where do I go, as a Final Cut Pro editor, to learn about HD broadcasting? Right now, we send all our masters out as SD DVCPRO to Digibeta to the dub house, and they take it from there. I’d like us to be able to send out HD masters, but there’s a tremendous amount of new learning that goes into it, right? For example, we use titles and graphics a great deal, and if we’re editing an HD spot that also going to be seen on old, non-HD TV’s, we would have to keep in mind the title safe for 4:3 and use that instead of title safe for 16:9, right? So does that mean we send out 2 masters (one HD, one SD) or do we just send out the HD master to the dub house, and the stations (when they get their copy) send out a signal that will allow the spot to go to either format?
I don’t expect answers to all these questions, but if you could point me to the best all-around procedures/information book, that would be great. Thanks!
Cheers,
Winston A. Cely
Editor
Envision Response
Seattle, WA -
1 Reply
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Well, first of all, a 16:9 spot is not necessarily HD. As far as graphics, I’d build everything to show in 4:3 (you should have both lines in your safe title / safe action lines.
Until everyone get on the same page, this will be a confusing little bump in the road.
Jon
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