16:9, 720x480, and A Good Squeeze

flimflamfilms

flimflamfilms

Well-known member
Good morning,

OK, so I recently shot some footage in squeeze mode hoping to capitalize on the whole 16:9 thing when I output to DVD. Caputured the footage in FCP 5 and the Browser shows the footage 'anamorphic' and has a frame size of 720x480.

What I'm trying to understand is how 720x480 relates to 16:9. The ratios are not equal (1.5 and 1.8) so I'm guessing they are not directly related in the 'aspect ratio' sense. I understand that 720x480 is the pixel size of the frame and I do understand that 16:9 is an aspect ratio. Beyond this I'm lost and would like to understand if and how they practically relate.

Cheers,

John
 
The pixels aren't square. All DVD video is 720x480. That pixel size doesn't change. It's the shape of the pixels that changes to determine whether it's 16:9 (in which case the pixels are wide rectangles) or 4:3 (in which case the pixels are taller, skinny rectangles).
 
Barry,

Even the murkiest of waters left to settle become crystal clear. Thanks.

I just read a tutorial from Apple.com for iDVD 16:9 workflow that suggested scaling the frame to 853X480. What's going on here?

Cheers,

John
 
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