NTSC DV 3:2? I thought it was 4:3?

M

mrbrycel

Well-known member
I was editing some old projects I shot on my Sony vx1000. I went to the sequence settings in final cut pro to remove the interlacing, and I noticed it said 720x480 NTSC DV (3:2). I thought there must be a mistake, so I changed it to NTSC 4:3, and all the sudden the dimensions changed to 640x480.

I'm confused, I always thought that 720x480 was a 4:3 aspect ratio. Is 4:3 an aspect ratio that is cropped out of a 3:2 underscan image?
 
Yep, welcome to the wonderful world of non-square pixels. Google "pixel aspect ratio" and you'll find some info on it. Yes, the visual aspect ratio of DV is 4:3 on a VX1000. And yes, the pixel aspect ratio is mathematically 3:2. The disconnect is that the pixels aren't square, they're actually tall and skinny, about .9 as wide as they are tall.
 
Life was simple in a 720X486 world. It's you dadgum DVers that messed everything up.
lol
 
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