Knut Högvall
Forum Replies Created
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Maybe, but then I never said anything about 720×526 or any specific size at all. I’m talking about any video, in any size. (And in my second post I explained that I am talking about the WMV file format, which is meant to be viewed in Windows Media Player.)
And I am also talking about the simple fact that different monitors do have different pixel proportions. Which fact AE addresses by offering a way to produce video for different pixel aspect ratios.
What I am wondering is why the Adobe Media Encoder doesn’t offer it. And why the setting they call “Pixel Aspect Ratio” is actually a frame aspect ratio. Is all output from Media Encoder supposed to be viewed on square pixel monitors only?
Anyway, I have mailed Adobe support about the problem. Let’s see if they can give an answer.
Knut Högvall
Documentation Manager
Polystar OSIX -
No takers?
It simply can’t be done in Media Encoder?
Bugger…
Knut Högvall
Documentation Manager
Polystar OSIX -
Dave:
No, it didn’t work. If I try nesting a 4:3 comp back into a square pixel comp the pixels get square again. (Which, after all, would be expected since that is how I got the pixels to be 4:3 in the first place. If if works that way one way, it’s natural it would work the same the other way round.)
Knut Högvall
Documentation Manager
Polystar OSIX -
Dave:
I think I understand what you’re getting at. 🙂 I’ll give it a shot.
Knut Högvall
Documentation Manager
Polystar OSIX -
Ronaldo:
No, that is still not what I mean. It is not a matter of filling an entire 4:3 or 16:9 screen that is the problem. The frame (screen) proportions is not the problem. It is the differing physical size of the pixels between a computer monitor and a TV monitor that is the problem.
If I render a movie that is 10×10 pixels in size, it will look like a square on a computer monitor, but as a rectangle on a TV, because the pixels are not square on a TV.
A movie that is 1″ x 1″ on a computer monitor will be 1″ x 1.3″ on a TV. Therefore, I need to reduce the movie from (for example) 100×100 pixels to 100×75 to make it look square on a TV.
Media Encoder doesn’t do this. If I ask it to change the pixel aspect ratio, it only changes the frame size, not the content proportions. (Media Encoder reduces the size of the content proportionally to fit in the new frame, so that a circle still looks like a circle on the computer monitor. I need it to look like a standing oval on the computer monitor to have it look like a circle when I show the same movie on a TV. I need Media Encoder to change the size of the content unproportionally.)
Knut Högvall
Documentation Manager
Polystar OSIX -
Those buttons are only present in the dialog box for the MPEG-2 DVD format. I use Windows Media format.
Yes, a TV does have rectangular pixels. That’s why a circle on a computer monitor looks like an oval on a TV, and vice versa.
And that’s why I need Media Encoder to use rectangular pixels.
Knut Högvall
Documentation Manager
Polystar OSIX -
No, letterboxing or not is not what I mean. Let me try to expound:
What I do is I create demo movies of our company software. These can then be shown to prospective customers by sales staff on either computer monitors or TV monitors. Since computer monitors have square pixels and TVs have 4:3 ratio pixels, I have to render two different versions of each movie – one for computers and one for TVs (to make a circle look like a circle on both types of monitor).
This works just fine if I do it in AE – changing the pixel aspect ratio changes the aspect ratio of the content, just as it is meant to. So in AE I have created two compositions with the same content – one for square pixels (which the source material also is in), and one for 4:3 pixels (which looks squeezed together on the computer, but then gets displayed correctly on a TV).
BUT, if I render the AE compositions in Adobe Media Encoder (which I must to make the WMVs viewable on a Mac), the square pixel comp renders without a problem, but when I import the 4:3 pixel comp into Adobe Media Encoder, the content does not get squeezed together as it should. Instead, Media Encoder only changes the proportions of the picture frame itself, and then proportionally fits the content into that picture frame.
I.e. instead of a squeezed 4:3 pixel ratio movie, I get a proportionally shrunk square pixel movie running in a frame with black borders.
Media Encoder seems not to pick up the pixel aspect ratio setting from AE, but instead uses the original source directly. And then playing around with the pixel aspect ratio setting in Media Encoder has no effect on the content, only the picture frame.
So my question is – How do I get Adobe Media Encoder to produce a squeezed 4:3 pixel aspect ratio movie which will look good on a TV monitor?
(BTW, I can’t find the “small button” you are talking of.)
Knut Högvall
Documentation Manager
Polystar OSIX -
After trawling the forums for similar reported problems, I gathered it might be the built-in AE transcoder that was the cause. So instead of rendering in AE, I instead tried rendering the comp in Adobe Media Encoder, and it solved the problem. The resolution quality is now great on Mac, too.
The file size is still double of what I get if I render in Flip4Mac, though…
Knut Högvall
Documentation Manager
Polystar OSIX -
Answering, and correcting, myself, it turned out the background wasn’t white after all. However, the AE composition setting was for a white background. It is this background setting in AE that is not picked up by Adobe Media Encoder. Adding a white solid layer solved the problem.
This may or may not be a known issue. Should it not be, it and its solution are now documented.
Knut Högvall
Documentation Manager
Polystar OSIX -
Thanks for your input.
I’ll look into things further, and see if I can find some way other than the workaround I already mentioned. After searching the forums it seems I would get the same problem if I tried reversing the workflow, only at the other end.
Regards,
Knut Högvall
Documentation Manager
Polystar OSIX