Trouble with Getting the Right Pixel Aspect Ratio from a Sony PMW EX-1

[Tom Daigon]

1.Is your sequence setup and displaying correctly in Premiere?

If so then you need to learn how to set up the export parameters for AME when making a DVD.

2. You realize that HD is what you are recording with your camera and SD is what you are burning to your DVD (unless you are making a Blu-ray) disk.

When you take an HD video and make it SD video you either get a letterbox or a center cut image.

If you dont know what these are then Google is your friend. Good luck!

Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digital / Areca 8tb. raid
Kona 3

[Jeff Pulera]

What Sequence preset are you editing with – HD or widescreen SD? What are the export settings? Please share complete workflow currently used.

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor

[Jay Barbre]

Thanks for responding so quickly. I am setting up premiere pro for the xdcam ex30p profile. I have shot and edited in HD (I assumed that HD was widescreen and not SD, but I guess I had it backwards). I am using Adobe Encore to burn the DVD (not burning a blu-ray). The sequence in premiere pro is displaying correctly. I have not exported the footage in any way. I’m just saving the project file and then opening it through Adobe Encore. From that point creating a menu and burning it to a disc.

Is there a particular Adobe program that I should be changing the PAR in?

Thanks much for all your help.

[Eric Jurgenson]

Check timeline properties in Encore. Make sure it is set to 16×9.

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Jay,

My preference is to export the MPEG-2 for DVD files using Adobe Media Encoder right out of Premiere, rather than involving Encore just yet. From your Premiere project, use File > Export > Media.

Choose MPEG-2 DVD for the format, and for preset, “NTSC Progressive Widescreen High Quality” (or PAL, according to your needs). The pixel aspect will be set automatically, and the only things you need to look at then is whether to encode VBR or CBR, and set data rate.

A good rule of thumb is 560/minutes=data rate. I round down just a bit for safety, allowing for menus and such. For instance, 560/120=4.66, so I encode at 4.5 then. Just note that for shorter programs, 8 is the max, but many suggest using 7 for a max for compatibility with all players. I normally use CBR encoding except on very long projects.

Also, since source is HD, you can check the “Use Max Render” box at bottom of encode window – this will provide a better quality downscaling to SD.

This export will create .m2v (video) and .wav (audio) files. Any chapter marks in Premiere are also exported. Open a New Encore project, NTSC 16:9, then use File > Import as Timeline and select both the .m2v and the .wav file at once. This will create a timeline that includes any chapter marks from Premiere. From that point, do your menus or whatever you need to do.

I like this workflow because after completing an edit, I’m usually ready for a break while the MPEG-2 export completes. When I come back and put the Encore project together, it then puts out a DVD very quickly because the video is already rendered! This way, my DVD authoring workflow is not interrupted waiting for a long transcode. I can complete the menus and then have a proof disc (or folder) in just a few minutes!

Note that when you create a 16:9 DVD, most DVD players take care of display settings automatically depending on what display is connected. With a 4:3 display, the DVD player will letterbox the output, while an LCD display will show widescreen, fullscreen. Some players may require you to set the display type in the player menu.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Tom Daigon]

The only thing I would add is to create a Master file of your show (exporting to Prores or DNxHD thru AME)before using AME to convert your project to MPEG2. That way you have a completed master. Then, if you need copies in different formats (i.e., the web, client screening) you can easily make them from this existing master. Its always good to have a completed master on file, just in case.

Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digital / Areca 8tb. raid
Kona 3

[Jay Barbre]

Thanks, Jeff. I had not looked at the wide screen option. I went to set the parameters to 16:9 in Encore, but that box was grayed out, so I thought it must be something else. I’ll give this a shot. Thanks for your input!