HD frame size

[CCS]

I know this has been discussed numerous times, but I am dense.

My client likes the 16:9 format. I sent them one movie as a preview already that my video guy did as 720x480, which he called "standard 16:9". (It was basically a pan and zoom of 1280x720 stills that I rendered.

At this point, I don't want to lock myself (or my client) into HDDVD, Bluray, Xbox, or hard disk players. Maybe good options, but not the best fit presently.

So... what is the best output I can do with these constraints?

I guess I'm asking a few questions really.
#1 - What size do I render?
(I've read about: 1280x720 @ 1.0 aspect, 720x486 @ 1.2, 720x576 @ 1.422, 1024x576 @ 1.0, .... my head is spinning)

#2 - What do I need to deal with on the production side?
(Anamorphic/square, progressive/interlaced, etc....???)

[instinct]

Well the best would be to render FullHD. You can still letterbox/pan&scan/resize etc later. Dont go interlaced, just creates a lot of hassle with no real advantage.

Full HD would 1920x1080 progressive at pixelaspect 1.
If you want to render small HD you can also do 1280x720

Regards,
Thorsten

[CCS]

What would be the advantage of full HD given my stated hardware constraints?

[Da_elf]

this is alot of usefull data here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_resolutions

[CCS]

That is helpful. I've seen similar things that compare sizes and aspects.

My main confusion however, is the following:

#1 - What I should use in vray? (pixel aspect combined with resolution for instance)

#2 - What I need to do that will work on a standard DVD and LCD ?

#3 - Any special tips so that it will also be "backwards compatible" to standard 4:3 tubes, etc....?

[Da_elf]

standard dvd's can only use 720x480 (4:3 and 16:9). i usually render at 16:9 PAR of 1.0 in max then my last stage in the process before going to dvd is to then squeeze it down

[CCS]

Makes sense.
What size do you render to then?

[Da_elf]

hehe sorry. basically i like the aspect ratio of 2.35:1 but DVD needs it to be 16:9 so i take the usual HD ratio (16:9) plug in the 480 height to find out the width which is 853 then plug that into width of the 2.35:1 getting a height of 363. thats what i render at. 853x363 square pixels. in AE i work on a 853x480 frame size which will give me a little letterboxing then when i compress to mpeg2 in tmpgenc is when i convert to the 720x480 16:9 aspect ratio. i also animate now at 24p and let tmpgenc do all the conversions (since i work in ntsc region)

[bhchllc]

We render for DVD at 854x480 with a 1:1 pixel aspect ratio out of Vray, it can then be squeezed to 720x480 with a 1.2:1 pixel aspect ratio for anamorphic DVD encoding. This gives you a little more vertical resolution and the DVD player will automatically "unsqueeze" the image by adding the black bars back when it is played as long as the encoder flags it properly as anamorphic content. This is basically the same way film is encoded to DVD.

It is basically the same technique as da_Elf but we do the 1:1 -> 1.2:1 conversion in AE and feed TMGEnc 720x480 anamorphic footage.

If you render at 1280x720, it could be resized to 854x480 and the above technique could be used.

[Da_elf]

i like to keep full square pixel frame size right up till the final compression to mpeg2

[tricky]

...as usual, any conversation about resolution/pixel size/compression turns into a nightmare. Its like talking about LWF!

[SteveC]

...as usual, any conversation about resolution/pixel size/compression turns into a nightmare. Its like talking about LWF!

yep, I know that feeling

[grasshopper]

I agree with Da_elf. Keep it square pixel until the end it could save many head aches with post production.

I have ony done 1 widescreen project (not HD), I rendered at 1024x576 then out-putted this from Premier in mpeg2 at 720x576 which gives you the pixel aspect ration of 1.422. I'm in a PAL region of course. I think after many weeks confusion this is a good workflow.

Check out :

http://www.animationpost.co.uk/bitma...ect-ratios.htm

[panthon]

I suggest going anamorphic (that means changing the pixel aspect ratio). I've done several 3D commercial projects and an entire short film in anamorphic (shooting with anamorphic lenses and ending with an anamorphic DVD) and it looks great. The advantage of this method is you get a 16:9 image WITHOUT rendering anything else that u would render in a regular NTSC project, which reduces rendertimes.

You shouldnt mess with HD at all, its just a waste of resources.

As some others said, as long as u flag the video as Widescreen in your DVD authoring, the dvd player should take care of it properly.

To create NTSC 16:9 Anamorphic in 3Dsmax/Vray:

- Set your image size to 720x486

- Lock your image aspect ratio so it cannot be changed

- Change the pixel aspect ratio to 1.200

- At the end, your image aspect should read : 1.7778. Thats the sign u are looking for...it means everything is ok.


Your render will look squashed, but thats ok. You just need to work that way without altering the image (although u can display the right pixel aspect ratio in many applications like photshop just introducing it on the "correct aspect ratio" options),

Finally, in the DVD authoring app, tell it your video is Widescreen. Then your image will be displayed correctly either in LCD flat planels or regular CRT monitors.

[CCS]

Thanks guys. This is a lot more understandable than the other posts I tried reading. I'll be trying it out soon!