Aspect Ratio Questions

whoaaanelly

whoaaanelly

Member
OK, forgive me my ignorance, but I'm a newbie being thrown into a project and I'm having to learn a lot of things really fast. So far, so good, but there is something confusing me. Here goes...

I'm being given a tape that I'm told is 1440x1080 "16.9", but when I do the math on this it comes out as being a 1.333 aspect ration, same as 4.3. I call the video guy (who gives me the tape), who's using FCP, and he says, "I have three options. The first is 1920x1080 - 16.9; the second is 1440x1080 - 16.9; and the third is 1280x720 - 16.9." Mind you, these are the settings shown in FCP that he is reading off to me. I then argue that the 1920 and 1280 are true 1.777 aspect ratios (16/9), but that 1440x1080 is 1.33, which is the same as 4.3. He then says I'm wrong. that these don't really "relate" to each other.

FWIW, I have captured the video using a Linux DVgrab application and when I play it back (as an m2t file) in VLC, the people are NOT tall and skinny, when I rendered the first take at half the 1440x1080 (720x540) the people ARE tall and skinny.

So can anybody tell me what the heckaba is the scoop here?

Does anybody know of an application (including maybe Vegas) (I've got Vegas MSP 8.0b) that can tell me what the native aspect ratio is for an m2t file?

I can't can't seem to set anything in a Vegas custom render template with the 1.77. I started with the NTSC DV Widescreen template and am rendering it with Xvid, so if that makes a difference, it would be nice to know what setting I can use to give me a final render of 16.9 so the people look normal.

Thanks in advance.

Roger
 
HDV is a format where it's 1440x1080, but with a PIXEL ASPECT RATIO of 1.333. Multiply 1440 by 1.333.

1920x1080 is 16:9 if the pixels are square (1.000).
 
Ya ... you have to realize that the pixel aspect ratio and screen resolution are two independant factors that both effect the overall screen aspect ratio.

The pixel aspect ratios are an offset to 1 -- for intance a 1.33 to 1 ratio or an 0.9 to 1 ratio

The screen resolution is pixel width by pixel height -- but only in the amount of pixels such as 1280x720, not in the shape of the pixels.

and the screen aspect ratio is width by height ratio of the entire screen which is effected by both the amount AND the shape of the pixels.


If you have any way to bring the footage into your computer as it is, without recompressing or resizing it, then you should set your project to 1440x1080 with a PIXEL ASPECT RATIO of 1.33 and then your screen aspect ratio will be 16x9.

Good luck
 
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1440 x 1080 is HDV Anamorphic Widescreen. You need to select the right pixel aspect ratio for it to give you the correct picture
 
Here a question for you all..If I should shoot HDV 1440x1080 and use the cineform codec and change it to 1920x1080 with square pixels. Would it be really 1920x1080? or is it just a estimate?
 
By Estimate..I mean is it really 1920x1080 or is it really the 1440x1080 dots are just blown up in size to simulate what a 1920x1080 picture would look like on a HD television? I'm still trying to wrap my head around this. Cineform says it's 1920x1080 but I can't see how they can add more resolution to a already compressed HDV format. I'm using Cineform NEOHD and not NEOHDV. Your thoughts?
 
Yes, when you shoot HDV, it is 1440x1080 and then it's "blown up" as you say, to 1920x1080. It is stretched. When Cineform saves in 1920x1080 it simply saves down that stretched image, it does not add more detail to the picture.
 
Thanks...that's what I thought. So I guess there is no advantage to save the format in 1920x1080 but to stay in 1440x1080 and convert my m2t footage to cineform avi at the same aspect ratio as HDV to put into Vegas.
 
If it's for your own archival and editing reasons, yes, 1440x1080 with aspect ration 1.3333 it's what you want to be saving your big files as.

But if you are exporting for users, then you must not save with anamorphism. You should be saving as 1920x1080 or 1280x720 in that case, using a "delivery" format.
 
That makes so much more sense to me Eugenia after reading your explaination on your website. Thanks for posting that.
 
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