SD Output From HD Footage

[BobDiaz]

I'm been digging through the older messages to find an answer.
Maybe the truth is out there, but I can't find it...:laugh:

As I recall when you record in HD and play back in SD, the video is squeezed to fill the whole 4:3 frame. Is there any option in the camera to change that to letterbox or crop edges?


Bob Diaz

[Barry_Green]

That's not what it does. It does no aspect ratio conversion at all. If you record HD, you're recording 16:9, so it outputs a 16:9 signal.

If your TV knows how to display that signal, you're set. If your TV is 4:3 then it will fill the whole frame with a squeezed image, but it's not the signal's fault, it's the TV's. Most any halfway decent production monitor will have a 16:9/4:3 switch.

[Emanuel]

OK! But if so, to DVD delivery, how does it work?

[mikkowilson]

It would remain in it's native ascpect ratio on the DVD too.
It would be up to each indevidual DVD player to letter box it or not, depending on it's settings. And then of course the accopanying monitor, depending on it's set up.

...Right Barry?

A signal is a signal, the only place where aspect ratio counts with video is at the display device, or anything that processes spatially (like an 3D effect or a wipe)

- Mikko

[Barry_Green]

Mikko is exactly right. The DVD player does include aspect-ratio-changing capability, so you'd leave it in 16:9 on the DVD player, and then tell the DVD player what type of TV you have, and it takes care of any necessary conversions.

[dosborn]

sorry if this is a bit of a newb question, but you CAN switch the ration on the camera from 16:9 to 4:3 in SD and HD, right? at this point, most of my stuff is going to be DVCPro 50 for lame, local television stations... 4:3 would be nice. :)

[Barry_Green]

In SD it's switchable, 4:3 or 16:9.

In HD it's always 16:9.

[dosborn]

thanks for clearing that up, barry!

[BobDiaz]

That's not what it does. It does no aspect ratio conversion at all. If you record HD, you're recording 16:9, so it outputs a 16:9 signal.

If your TV knows how to display that signal, you're set. If your TV is 4:3 then it will fill the whole frame with a squeezed image, but it's not the signal's fault, it's the TV's. Most any halfway decent production monitor will have a 16:9/4:3 switch.


Thanks Barry, I was thinking ahead to the future. Right now all I shoot is SD and my editing system is SD (ScreenPlay by Applied Magic, it's neither a PC nor a MAC). For now I'd shoot just SD, but I was thinking if a did shoot in HD and edit in SD, the source video is HD and later on I might reuse the HD video clips...

On the other hand, seeing as the work for the near future will be SD, shooting in DVCPRO50 (4:3) makes sense too.

Bob Diaz

[TwistedLincoln]

Don't forget that you have to set the aspect ratio flag to 16:9 when you author the DVD. Otherwise, your DVD player will think the content is 4:3, and regardless of what type of TV you tell it you have, it will output wrong. On a widescreen TV, it will letterbox it with vertical black bars, and the displayed center content will be compressed, and on a 4:3 TV, it will just look squished, but fill the whole screen.