16:9 confusion at DVinfo.net

John Wheeler · November 12th, 2004, 10:35 PM

I know this has been talked about in some form or another many times. But I just cant get a clear view in my head of whats going on.

I have the xl2. I've shot footage in 16:9 mode ....I captured footage using Vegas 5. I didn't select any settings for capture. I just hooked up the camera and hit capture. It appeared to "auto-detect" the 16:9 footage.

Where I start to get confused is when I've exported some still images from the project. I open the image in photoshop and the size is 654 X 480. ...Is this right? .......My ultimate goal is to render mpg2 and to burn to dvd. What should the dimensions of the frame be?

thanks,

j.

A. J. deLange · November 13th, 2004, 07:58 AM

The DV standard includes an anamorphic bit which the XL2 apparently sets and which your editing software apaprently recognizes. PS doesn't know anything about DV i.e. once you've exported a jpeg the anamorphic bit is out of the picture (literally) and PS will interpret the JPEG as a 720 x 480 with square pixels (720 x 480 is the size of the NTSC DV frame regardless of whether it is anamorphic or 4:3). To get 16:9 in Photoshop you must either change the shape of the pixels to rectangular or change the size of the picture to something with a 16:9 aspect ratio. Doing the latter with interpolation will insure that the picture comes up in the correct aspect ratio in any subsequent use.

Chris Mills · November 13th, 2004, 05:06 PM

I've been scaling my DV grabs by 120% in width only in PS to get them to be stretched correctly.

Boyd Ostroff · November 13th, 2004, 05:16 PM

Assuming that you're viewing on a square pixel device, like a computer monitor, then 120% is close but not quite right:

16 / 9 = 1.778

and

480 x 1.778 = 853.44

Therefore you should resize the image to 854 x 480. Or you could pick any size that you want as long as the width divided by the height equals 1.778.

Rob Lohman · November 15th, 2004, 09:15 AM

John: if you have the Vegas 5 project settings set to 16:9 and
then save (instead of copy to clipboard) a snapshot with the
button near the preview screen it should save the picture in the
correct resolution and you should not need to resample it. Keep
in mind to keep the settings of the preview to full, best before
doing such an export.

November 12th, 2004, 10:35 PM	#1
John Wheeler Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: San Antonio Texas Posts: 85	16:9 confusion I know this has been talked about in some form or another many times. But I just cant get a clear view in my head of whats going on. I have the xl2. I've shot footage in 16:9 mode ....I captured footage using Vegas 5. I didn't select any settings for capture. I just hooked up the camera and hit capture. It appeared to "auto-detect" the 16:9 footage. Where I start to get confused is when I've exported some still images from the project. I open the image in photoshop and the size is 654 X 480. ...Is this right? .......My ultimate goal is to render mpg2 and to burn to dvd. What should the dimensions of the frame be? thanks, j.

November 13th, 2004, 05:06 PM	#3
Chris Mills Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Wellington, New Zealand Posts: 77	I've been scaling my DV grabs by 120% in width only in PS to get them to be stretched correctly. __________________ Regards, Chris http://www.lizardlounge.com

November 15th, 2004, 09:15 AM	#5
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	John: if you have the Vegas 5 project settings set to 16:9 and then save (instead of copy to clipboard) a snapshot with the button near the preview screen it should save the picture in the correct resolution and you should not need to resample it. Keep in mind to keep the settings of the preview to full, best before doing such an export. __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

November 13th, 2004, 07:58 AM	#2
A. J. deLange Major Player Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: McLean, VA United States Posts: 749	The DV standard includes an anamorphic bit which the XL2 apparently sets and which your editing software apaprently recognizes. PS doesn't know anything about DV i.e. once you've exported a jpeg the anamorphic bit is out of the picture (literally) and PS will interpret the JPEG as a 720 x 480 with square pixels (720 x 480 is the size of the NTSC DV frame regardless of whether it is anamorphic or 4:3). To get 16:9 in Photoshop you must either change the shape of the pixels to rectangular or change the size of the picture to something with a 16:9 aspect ratio. Doing the latter with interpolation will insure that the picture comes up in the correct aspect ratio in any subsequent use.

November 13th, 2004, 05:16 PM	#4
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	Assuming that you're viewing on a square pixel device, like a computer monitor, then 120% is close but not quite right: 16 / 9 = 1.778 and 480 x 1.778 = 853.44 Therefore you should resize the image to 854 x 480. Or you could pick any size that you want as long as the width divided by the height equals 1.778.