720X480 Widescreen problems

[azimov]

Hi all, I have a strange problem with an animated short film I just shot with the DVX-100P. I shot the footage in 720X480. I altered this to 720X480 widescreen in After Effects. This is a standard AE output setting. The problem arises when I try to edit the composited footage into a film in Premiere Pro. PP doesn't seem to have a 720X480 Widescreen output setting. The rendered shots are blown up considerably with no black bars. If I play the rendered clips from AE on my computer they look fine. Black bars and all. But, when loaded into premiere, they get all screwy. I'd like to retain this 720X480 widescreen ratio (TV Letterbox) if at all possible. I understand that I'm working in sguare pixels on the ole computer, but I don't think I understand how 720X480 is horizontally smaller than 720X480 widescreen when they both have the same number of pixels. Though I can see that the widescreen image is indeed wider.
I can't seem to find a setting in the composition setup window in PP that will fix this problem. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

 

[overnighttolondon]

Create a Premiere Project based on an NTSC Widescreen template. You may also have to right-click on footage you import and tell premiere to "Interpret" the footage as NTSC DV Widescreen (1.2)

You're right that After Effects displays square pixels, but Premiere doesn't - it shows you properly compensated images (0.9 pixel aspect ratio for normal, 1.2 for widescreen).

How did you convert your footage to 720x480 in After Effects? Was it shot widescreen originally? If so, using squeeze or letterbox? One thing to note, don't confuse true widescreen files (720x480 with a pixel aspect ratio of 1.2, which yes AE can export) with letterboxed files that are really just 4:3 files with black bars.

 

[azimov]

Thanks for the reply and suggestion. I'll try a test composition in PP.

How did you convert your footage to 720x480 in After Effects?
I imported the scene files as avi's and stretched them horizontally to fit into a composition set to 720X480 widescreen. I also stretched slightly vertically to make up for scenes that looked to squished.

Was it shot widescreen originally?
No, I shot it in 720X480 24P. I use a capture station and shoot frames directly to the hard drive via firewire and animation software. The files were set to 720X480 standard. So, the camera settings are really irrelevant I think.


One thing to note, don't confuse true widescreen files (720x480 with a pixel aspect ratio of 1.2, which yes AE can export) with letterboxed files that are really just 4:3 files with black bars.
I think what I have is the former. Which is why I'm having the problem in PP. I was setting up my compositions in DV1 which is standard 720X480 since the scenes weren't shot in a 16X9 ratio. But, the scenes are defintely wider than that setting will allow and I couldn't find a tweak in the preferences. The AE rendered scenes are 720X480 widescreen for sure. I didn't know about the 1:2 ratio, so I'll check that out. I was almost ready to go back and convert every scene file back to TV standard. Thanks a bunch!