Resolution for Widescreen DVD

[czoog]

Does anyone know the correct resolution for rendering an animation for delivery to a HD 16/9 format television so that it is widescreen and not a stretched version of 4/3? I was considering just rendering it out in High def (720p) but I know there really aren't any affordable HD DVD players out there. (Plus I'd hate to waste the render time)

I guess what I am looking for is the correct resolution, aspect ratio, pixel ratio, etc to render a animation to be put on a DVD and played on a progressive scan DVD player connected to a HighDef LCDTV?

Thanks for any help!

-Z

[czoog]

Never Mind, I just figured it out. 720x486 D1 animorphic (1.2 pixel aspect ratio) should work for me.

-Z

[leotchest]

How did that work for you ? Im trying the same thing - need to output to a 16:9 screen which runs at 1366x768. However, when I use the 16:9 ratio I calculate the frame should be 720x405 pixels instead of 720x486 ? I did a test and it seemed ok excet the picture did not fill the screen the way it should do.

[Dynedain]

I generally render 800x450 square pixels, and then use my DVD authoring app to reformat into 16x9 anamorphic. That way I don't have to deal with the anamorphic issue untill the end of the pipeline. When you start mixing in other stuff in the pipeline, like compositing, things can get a bit hairy when trying to work in the finalized format during the whole process.

[leotchest]

what is the 'anamorphic' issue ? Is this something to do with the fact that my video is not filling the screen ?

[Dynedain]

what is the 'anamorphic' issue ? Is this something to do with the fact that my video is not filling the screen ?

"Anamorphic" lets you do 16x9 footage, using all the pixels of regular 4x3 format. It automatically letterboxes the footage on a 4x3 screen, and will fill a 16x9 screen. But it does it by utilizing nonsquare pixels that usually don't display properly in editing programs.

See here: http://www.dvdfile.com/news/special_...anamorphic.htm

[timmatron]

and then use my DVD authoring app

Which program do you like to use? So then, you would do all of your editing in Combustion, or AE, then export that file as a movie, and then import into your DVD authoring program? I'm obviously new to all this.

[Spikeadeliv]

1024 x 576

1024 x 576, did one a while ago. Once you run into DVD protocols and MPEG resolutions some software 'expects' a certain size file.

[Dynedain]

and then use my DVD authoring app

Which program do you like to use? So then, you would do all of your editing in Combustion, or AE, then export that file as a movie, and then import into your DVD authoring program? I'm obviously new to all this.

Previously, we had been running our final composited/edited footage through Discreet Cleaner to get it into the MPEG compressed 16x9 anamorphic format that ReelDVD required for authoring. Unfortuneately, neither Cleaner or ReelDVD work on XP64, so we don't do that anymore. Also, ReelDVD, while allowing more functionality than your do-it-yourself-home-dvd app, was fairly buggy. We now do our DVD authoring on DVD Studio Pro, which unfortuneately is OSX. But at least DVD Studio Pro isn't very picky about the file formats it can import, so we can just throw it a 800x450 square pixel clip and tell it to display in 16x9 anamorphic without having to reformat anything. Its a very powerful app. I haven't yet tried Adobe Encore to see how well it works as a DVD authoring app.

[ksmeltzer]

I've rendered out to 854 x 480 before and used this to convert directly into dvd mpeg footage using dvd studio pro or quicktime. The mpeg file will end up being 720x480 with anamorphic set so it stretches the video horizontally back out to 16x9. Apple's dvd player will take proper 16x9 anamorphic video and stretch it out to the same resolution once created. This is also the exact same pixel aspect ratio as 1280x720 and allows you to work completely unstretched until you convert to dvd.

and then use my DVD authoring app

Which program do you like to use? So then, you would do all of your editing in Combustion, or AE, then export that file as a movie, and then import into your DVD authoring program? I'm obviously new to all this.

Previously, we had been running our final composited/edited footage through Discreet Cleaner to get it into the MPEG compressed 16x9 anamorphic format that ReelDVD required for authoring. Unfortuneately, neither Cleaner or ReelDVD work on XP64, so we don't do that anymore. Also, ReelDVD, while allowing more functionality than your do-it-yourself-home-dvd app, was fairly buggy. We now do our DVD authoring on DVD Studio Pro, which unfortuneately is OSX. But at least DVD Studio Pro isn't very picky about the file formats it can import, so we can just throw it a 800x450 square pixel clip and tell it to display in 16x9 anamorphic without having to reformat anything. Its a very powerful app. I haven't yet tried Adobe Encore to see how well it works as a DVD authoring app.

[DaForce]

Just a little added note... AVI files dont properly support anamorphic video. So you need to encode out at the proper resolution with 1:1 pixel aspect ration. Because its mostly depends on the play if the AVI will play at the proper resolution or not when using anamorphic.
I know you guys are using DVD video (mpeg2) but thought this might be a bit of handy information if you are doing tests.

[cpnichols]

It has been a while since I rendered for video... but I am just curious. Do you guys still render at 29.97i, or do you render at 30p? With the way that DVD players work now, you could probably render at 24p and let the DVD player to the 3:2 pulldown.

[muzzy]

With the way that DVD players work now, you could probably render at 24p and let the DVD player to the 3:2 pulldown.

Anyone confirmed this ? Is it all DVD players or after 2006 something like that ?

[panthon]

I wouldn´t trust a dvd player to do such complex transformations on your precious footage Maybe your client will have the worst of players, unable to play fluently his wedding boring video

[cpnichols]

With the way that DVD players work now, you could probably render at 24p and let the DVD player to the 3:2 pulldown.

Anyone confirmed this ? Is it all DVD players or after 2006 something like that ?

I thought it was all DVD players since the dawn of time that did that. Based on the little I know, any player that is progressive scan (99.9% of them) has 3:2 pulldown on the fly. Besides, many DVDs are encoded at 24p, so what are people without 3:2 pulldown supposed to do?