Exporting Proper HD out of Premiere

[William Holland]

So, here's my issue. I'm normally a Final Cut User, but I'm currently editing a project in Premiere. I have a Canon XH A1, and was successfully able to capture using the HDV codec at 1440 x 1080.

I have the project completely edited, and now I am ready to export. For the particular format I am working in, i always exported a final cut quicktime file first. Then, I would open the Final Cut Quicktime in Quicktime pro and export it with letterbox to preserve the aspect ratio. This second export would not occur in final cut, and would be set up in H.264 with a size of 720 x 480 (letterbox preserving the HD aspect ratio).

Now, in premiere I wanted to develop a similar workflow, but it does not really seem doable. Basically, I want to do two things:

1. export a hi-res HDV file that I can archive.

2. create a SD clip that my client can upload to their website.

One of the main problems I am having is that when I export at 1440 x 1080 HD, I am getting a square image. When I export (using quicktime codecs) the only way I have found to maintain the proper HDV aspect ratio is using Square pixels manually sized to 1280 by 1080. When I set the size of the clip itself to 720 x 480, i get letterboxing, and the image does not looking distorted. However, it looks a lot like it is in 1.33:1 and not 16:9.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me? I would appreciate insight into a different way to work in premiere. Perhaps codec and format suggestions? It's so different from Final Cut, and Final Cut does this all with great ease and does it so well. Any help would be appreciated.

[Graham Hickling]

Having trouble following your workflow.

1) You say you want to export an HDV file: that would be a 16:9 image, squished into a 4:3 1440x1080 container. But you say you get a 'square' image .... could you clarify? And ...is the file you are outputting indeed 1440x1080?

2) You say that square pixels in a 1280x1080 container gives you a "proper HDV aspect ratio". Do you mean it has the proper ratio as filmed (16:9) or as stored in HDV format (4:3)? In either case, I'm unsure how it can look "proper" at 1280x1080 - have black bars been added as letterboxing?

Just as a general comment, check that your PARs (pixel aspect ratios) are set correctly both for the imported footage (right click on the clips in the project bin and look at 'interpret footage') and also in your export settings.

[William Holland]

1) You say you want to export an HDV file: that would be a 16:9 image, squished into a 4:3 1440x1080 container. But you say you get a 'square' image .... could you clarify? And ...is the file you are outputting indeed 1440x1080?

Right. I tried exporting 16:9, but I'm getting an almost square image. I did capture 1440 x 1080, and it looks that way in the timeline.

2) You say that square pixels in a 1280x1080 container gives you a "proper HDV aspect ratio". Do you mean it has the proper ratio as filmed (16:9) or as stored in HDV format (4:3)? In either case, I'm unsure how it can look "proper" at 1280x1080 - have black bars been added as letterboxing?

Ok. I want to export a master that is in 16:9. I'm not sure if I need it to be 1280 x 1080 or 1440 x 1080 to achieve this. I'm referring to proper aspect ratio as filmed (aka, I want to capture what I shot and have it come out looking that way in a hi-res file on output)

Just as a general comment, check that your PARs (pixel aspect ratios) are set correctly both for the imported footage (right click on the clips in the project bin and look at 'interpret footage') and also in your export settings.

Thanks! I will check that out.

[Tripp Woelfel]

Sounds like you definitely have a problem with your PAR. HDV is 1440x1080 with a PAR of 1.33. There are several ways that can go wrong. Check your project settings, video file settings (although these are hard to get wrong with HDV), and your export settings through file>export or through the media encoder. The media encoder has templates that should make it easier to get right than using file>export.

As for your Web clip, the media encoder will give you a video in almost any size you want.

[Andrew Beckmann]

What I would say to do is use one of the presets that comes with Premiere such as the 720 24p setting. From there, change the different things you want. The trick to changing the resolution is to keep it in the same ratio as in the setting. One easy way to check what you will be getting from the Render is clicking on the Output tab (I know this in CS3 but have no clue about any others) and it will show exactly what will be exported with the letterboxing and everything. Also for the XH A1 this tab is where you click the Deinterlace checkbox to get rid of the interlaced lines. Hopefully this all makes sense and helps.

[Dany Badaoui]

if you are exporting as "movie" just click on the setting tab when it asks for a location to save file (took me ages to figure that one out) and pick the correct video aspect, if using media encoder just choose one of the many widescreen options. if you still cant correct it then im all bummed out.

[Matt McLain]

I think Tripp's got it. A 1440 X 1080 image that looks square probably has a square PAR (pixel aspect ratio). The 1440 X 1080 image should be set to a PAR of 1.33 like Tripp said, or 1920 X 1080 with a square PAR. Both settings will look identical. 1280 X 1080 isn't really a standard HD setting. 1280 X 720 is a normal HD setting, but I'd think 1280 X 1080 would look weird.

In short:
1920X1080 w/ a square (1.0) PAR = 16:9
1440X1080 w/ a 1.33 PAR = 16:9

[William Holland]

That's exactly what it was. I had to develop a different work flow from Final Cut, but I managed to get it working. To be honest, once I got the hang out it, I felt like I liked Premiere's Exporting tools better. I think the "1280 * 1080" was a typo, from being exhausted.

I got it working, and the client is happy!