Image resolution for SD Video

[Marcello Mazzilli]

Usually whatever editing software u are using it should guide you to build a timeline that uses the correct settings for the target you have. Still… some basics…

Video can be SD (Standard Definition) or HD (high definition)
SD video can be in NTSC (US, Japan, SouthAmerica, Asia) or PAL (Europe, Australia)
NTSC video is 720×480 pixel at 29,97 (30) frames per second (fps)
PAL video is 720×576 pixel at 25 fps
Actually pixels have a rectangle (and not square) aspect ratio (they are wider than taller) so in the end the virtual resolution (the actual space the picture uses on your graphic card) is 768 pixel wide
Also video can be progressive (every frame is a solid foto) or interlaced (every frames is 2 half solid fotos interleaved line by line).
So in NTSC 30p means a 30fps format with progressive frames, while 60i means still 30fps but interlaced
In Pal 25p means a 25fps format with progressive frames, while 50i means still 25fps but interlaced
So actually viewing interlaced gives you really double frames with half resolution.
Interlaced footage results more fluid and “real” (like a news program) while progressive footage looks more “cinema”.

HD is almost the same thing.
Resolutions change but the are the same in PAL and NTSC (actually calling them PAL and NTSC is wrong.. just to get understood)
HD resolution is 1920×1080 or 1280×720
Due to technology development at present you find these standards (named by the number of lines and frames) : 1080/50i 1080/60i 720/25p 720/30p
1080/25p and 1080/30p or 720/50p and 720/60p are now quite cheaply possible but not yet considered standards
Some cameras can shoot also in 1080/24p or 720/24p (so to pass to film easier being film 24).
Other cameras (usually more expensive) let you shoot faster at 1080/50p or 1080/60p

Hope it helps

siRoma di Marcello Mazzilli
Corporate video productions in Italy
http://www.siroma.com

[Theo Van laar]

‘What is the best image resolution for pictures when editing SD Video?’

Assuming that your pictures contain square pixels (like they come from a photo camera):

PAL SD: 787 x 576 pixels
NTSC SD: 655 x 480 pixels

If you plan to zoom in a little bit, you can double both values.

Theo

[Doug Main]

PAL SD: 787 x 576 & NTSC 655 x 480 pixels ???

Sorry, I’m not sure where you’ve got that from Theo, but to my knowledge it is as Marcello said, PAL 720 x 576 & NTSC 720 x 480.

“Actually pixels have a rectangle (and not square) aspect ratio (they are wider than taller) so in the end the virtual resolution (the actual space the picture uses on your graphic card) is 768 pixel wide ”

Just to clarify on that for you, (PAL) is 720×576 wether it is Anamorphic 16×9 or 4×3 – the anamorphic value ‘stretches’ it horozontially. So, if you are exporting DV-PAL always export 720×576, and NTSC 720×480.

[Marcello Mazzilli]

No jim.. PAL has a smaller rectangle than anamorphic but still it has.. and it is 1,067 (some times rounded to 1,07) that brings the actual square pixel version of pal to be 768. Thsi is how you view it. Information is still 720 but on screen it occupies 768 pixels. 16/9 Pal, as you said has larger rectangle pixels with a ratio of 1,422 and so 16/9 PAL footage occupies on screen 1024 (that is 720 x 1,422) pixels

NTSC has the same thing but the other way round . I don’t work in NTSC so I don’t remember the figures.

siRoma di Marcello Mazzilli
Corporate video productions in Italy
http://www.siroma.com

[Theo Van laar]

‘PAL SD: 787 x 576 & NTSC 655 x 480 pixels ???

Sorry, I’m not sure where you’ve got that from Theo’

Very simple. Look in the Vegas manual….

Theo

[Bob Peterson]

I always take the calculated size and double it. That gives me a little room if I want to zoom or pan the image.

I am, however, careful to do my resizing and cropping of photos in Photoshop. I do believe that Photoshop is considerably better at performing that task than Vegas.

BTW, I also save photos as PNGs if they are destined for Vegas. PNGs can preserve transparent areas, and they do not have the overhead that tiffs, for example, impose if you leave Vegas for another window and then reenter Vegas.

[Theo Van laar]

‘I am, however, careful to do my resizing and cropping of photos in Photoshop. I do believe that Photoshop is considerably better at performing that task than Vegas.’

I completely agree with this. I use the zooming on stills in Vegas only to create motion, but I alway first prepare the photo’s in Photoshop, including any effect that is required.

Theo

[Chris Franklin]

Thanks everybody for your comments and I didn’t mean to start an argument :). I believe my short and simple answer is 655 x 480 for NTSC and if I want to zoom in on it, I need to double the values.

Thanks again!

[Jim Davis]

When resizing your stills you just need to need to key on the vertical size and let the horizontal be whatever it happens to be to keep the same aspect ratio. For example, a “landscape” photo may be sized to 720×480 or 640×480 depending on the aspect ratio, and a “portrait” photo might only be 320×480 (width x height).

As mentioned before, if you’re not zooming in, aim for a height of 480. To zoom in, ideally you would want the height of the visible portion to be 480 at the maximum zoom point. In most cases doubling it to 960 is a good size to use, but if you need to zoom in really tight you’ll want a higher resolution.

-Jim