Recording in true "16x9" FAQ!!

naeem

naeem

Well-known member
Hi folks;

Don't know what the deal is with the Search function on the forum - doesn't work anymore?

I need to get all the low-down on recording in "true" 16x9 anamorphic mode with the dvx100A, I've heard the camera can do it, I'm hoping there's a good FAQ and tutorial on best practices for this.

If anyone can point to any links in the forum or elsewhere, I would really appreciate it!

(p.s. - I'm not talking about uprezzing from 4x3 to 16x9!)

Thanks!
_naeem:)
 
So,

What do you think about this guy's method...?

Seems to be implying that you nedither need a lens or the squeeze mode?
 
I am going to try the method below. You set the aspect in the camera to letterbox and you uprez the image by outputting frames to tiff files and using the mentioned software. Not sure how it is going to work, but the results disjecta produced are tremendous. He really does some great work. I aspire to get that level of shot composition.

http://www.pinelakefilms.com/tutorials.html

By the way, check out his films. They are quite good.
 
adepew07 said:
You set the aspect in the camera to letterbox and you uprez the image by outputting frames to tiff files and using the mentioned software.
Click to expand...

Hey, look at me, I'm quoting myself!

I just wanted to know how this method would end up being displayed on a widescreen televison or if it was ever to be transferred to film. Would the black bars show up on a widescreen display? I'm pretty sure this could be remedied in post. I just want to make sure.

Also, what are people's opinions of this method?
 
Oh I see. S-Spline, yes, that should work reasonably well (although time consuming). And this method could also be used to go from SD to HD.
The S-Spline image enlargement is good, better than Lanczos even.
Oh, by the way, you realize that you originally wrote: "I'm not talking about uprezzing from 4x3 to 16x9".
That's exactly what this method is.
 
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myfriendimage said:
If you see the black bars they will show up on a widescreen TV.
Click to expand...

So I guess I will squeeze then uprez. If I later need to display to 4:3 I will add the black bars. Is that right? Sorry to co opt this thread but it is sort of related :D
 
I Shoot squeeze, 24p, with thin line detail. I just tested this yesterday. When I viewed the video on a television it was very difficult to see the difference between regular and squeeze. Squeezed footage looked a little softer.
 
adepew07 said:
So I guess I will squeeze then uprez. If I later need to display to 4:3 I will add the black bars. Is that right? Sorry to co opt this thread but it is sort of related :D
Click to expand...

I would rather shoot regular 4:3 (not squeeze) and then crop the picture in the NLE before uprezzing. That gives the option to make both a 4:3 master and a 16:9 master.
 
Norbert said:
I would rather shoot regular 4:3 (not squeeze) and then crop the picture in the NLE before uprezzing. That gives the option to make both a 4:3 master and a 16:9 master.
Click to expand...

Yup, that sounds a lot better! Just have to be careful when blocking the shot. Why aren't there safe lines to shoot this way in the camera display?
 
Turn on the letterbox in the camera, then put two pieces of transparent tape over the black bars, then turn the letterbox off. Now, the in-camera letterbox doesn't give a true 16:9 aspect but if you want to measure and do some math that should work just fine too. :)
 
naeem said:
Hi folks;

Don't know what the deal is with the Search function on the forum - doesn't work anymore?
Click to expand...

I've been wondering about this since the upgrade myself, I posted a question to Jarred in the V6 upgrade thread to see what was up (I assumed it was just not migrated over yet), but apparently he didn't see my post so I PM'd him tonight to see if it's just a matter of time, or is all the historical data really gone forever.. that would be a major loss as this is one of the most amazing resources for filmmaking knowledge, DVX or otherwise, but without the historical data it's significantly handicapped.
 
Personally, I think that guy is full of it. he talks about getting out of the dino-era, and he is putting himself in it. He claims to have invented something new, when infact, if you talk to any editor, it really is a commonly used practice that if there is important information shot outside the safe area, resizing to the safe area will allow you to view it fine on most standard TV's. However by doing this, the guy is crippling his footage for future uses. Standard def TV's are getting fewer and fewer, and many hi-def televisions will allow you to now see outside the safe area, giving you the full resolution of the medium. He has now cut down his resolution and in effect, letterboxed and pillarboxed his footage at the same time.
I have now qualms about what he is doing. He can do whatever he wants. It's his attitude that gets me. He claims to be this bigtime professional, but knows absolutly nothing about the video/film world. Why is it that feature film DVD's are cropped differently? Well, Feature films are not shot 16:9, now are they? 1.85:1 is the commonly used aspect ratio. I remember this guy hootin and hollerin a while back about all this BS, and no matter what anyone said to him, it fell upon def ears. Personally, I don't give a rat's ass what he does, but to make the claims that he has, basically, everyone is wrong but him, and not have any real evidence to back it up, is just plain stupid.
Well, there's my rant for the day.
 
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