Animation rendered to 720p but convert for DVD PAL

[tricky]

We typically create animations at 720p. We have a client who is likely to ask for a version that will play off a DVD (PAL).

What's the best course of action to convert 720p to DVD PAL, and what resolution/pixel aspect considerations are there for DVD?

[joconnell]

Pal is always 720 x 576 pixels full stop. There's a normal 4:3 version for more square, older tellys, and then the snazzy widescreen 16:9 version. Both use the same 720 x 576 pixels, all that happens is for widescreen, the pixels get stretched out horizontally to fill the screen (by 1.42 times) so that the image looks correct. The normal 4:3 version gets stretched to 1.067 times horizontally so not that much of a visual difference. I think the old 4:3 system has long been turned off in the uk though so you're 99% going for widescreen. Are you literally just burning a file to play from a dvd or are you actually authoring a proper dvd? It's normally just an mpeg 2 file at 720 x 576 resolution with whatever video conversion software you use told to use a widescreen / 16:9 / 1.42 pixel aspect ratio for the video.

[Morne]

I did a couple of these a few years ago. If memory serves me right I converted it to 1024 X 576 then edited it with Premiere and authored the DVD with Adobe Encore and it sorted itself out internally to make it widescreen dvd. It was a few years ago so you may have to do a test and see...