CS4.0.1 Project Settings for ACVHD footage with 1920x816 aspect ratio

L

LightupChoiceFry

Active member
Hi, I have a question regarding getting the best quality possible when using ACVHD .mts footage from a Panasonic AG-AF100. The footage was shot in 23.976 fps, in 1920x1080, but was shot with a 2:35 aspect ratio in mind. The end aspect ratio ended up being 1920x816. Since CS4 doesn't have a default setting for this kind of footage, I wanted to make sure that my choices were right and I'd be getting the best quality out of the original footage. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you.



New Sequence:
Editing Mode: Desktop
Timebase: 24.00 frames/second (or should I put 23.976?)
Frame size 1920x816 vertical 40:17

Pixel Aspect Ratio: Square Pixels 1.0
Fields: Lower Field First

Display Format: 24fps Timecode

Thanks
 
If its interlaced its upper or when its non-interlaced set it to progressive/non fields.
BTW update CS4 to 4.2.1.
 
What do you intend to do with this footage? Not sure I would edit at that frame size. It's not a standard frame size, and for many things, you'll have to be in 16:9 with black bars anyway . . .

If it's AVCHD, then you want 23.976, not 24.000.
 
David Jimerson said:
What do you intend to do with this footage? Not sure I would edit at that frame size. It's not a standard frame size, and for many things, you'll have to be in 16:9 with black bars anyway . . .
Click to expand...

I think it's a good idea...when you export from Premiere, you can set the export to a standard resolution and it automatically letterboxes it correctly. But if you want to export with the native aspect ratio you still can (for example Vimeo supports non standard aspect ratios).
 
Another reason for using a custom aspect ratio for your sequence is so that you can really quickly reframe your shots vertically...also if you have to do any effects on your shots, you can minimize the work and rendering you have to do.
 
Okay so the footage is non-interlaced so I will set it as progressive/non fields

I will use 23.976 fps

Will upgrading to 4.2.1 interfer with the OMF export or no? probably a dumb question but sometimes so many upgrades interfer with the other ones so I want to make sure.

So should I edit in it's normal aspect ration 1920x1080 and export in 1920x816, or edit in the intended aspect ratio? I don't want anything to appear schmooshed when I export. I already tried the 1920x816 it in the edit and it looks great. And as Gabrobot said, I would want to use the custom aspect ratio while editing so I can fully oversee how everything will look, framing and what not, making sure the boom isn't in the frame(since in 1920x1080 it always will be) and what not. Or did I misinterrupt what you said?

I just want to make sure I do this right, thanks for all this help so far.

Somewhere else someone suggested using a cineform codec, is that necessary?
 
I would strongly suggest editing in a standard frame size (in this case, 1920x1080). You can still do anything that you can do in a non-standard frame size (such as reframing or exporting at a different frame size) and you take up fewer system resources.
 
Only drawback is that anything that doesn't look the way I want it (if a boom goes into show, a shot chosen doesn't look as good in the intended aspect ratio so I decide to switch to a different shot) - won't be able to be previewed until I export the whole thing, which is a pain, rather than having control over it whilst editing, which seems a lot more convenient, and if quality isn't lost, seems like it's more ideal right?
 
I don't use CS4 - but, why don't you edit 1920X1080 and simply have a hard mask option as an overlay? So you add you 'scope bars as a mask. This is pretty much the standard way you'd approach it on any package, if you're delivering a 1080 master.

Advantage is you can move the video underneath the mask for reframes of shots (if required) and it'll give you more freedom... plus you're in a standard editing mode (so no hassles if it moves between programs etc) and as mentioned by others, it keeps your system resources down using pre-defined formats. You can remove the matte at any time or export with & without it etc.
 
That's good advice MadMonk, thank you. But how does that work with the vertical aspect? If I put a matte over it, it is still putting it over 1080, so I wouldn't get the full view of the way it would be on export with an 816, right?

Since I'm posting new comments, I want to quickly put my old ones in here too incase they're missed.

Ann Bens: Will upgrading to 4.2.1 interfer with the OMF export or no? probably a dumb question but sometimes so many upgrades interfer with the other ones so I want to make sure.

Somewhere else someone suggested using a cineform codec, is that necessary?
 
You'd make a a full screen 1920x1080 mask (use a PSD) - have the 816 pixels on your your vertical axis & make that transparent. This way, you get a hard matte in black (at the top & bottom) and the important 816 area is clear, allowing you to move/reframe video that's underneath it.

Really simple method to generate the PSD - create a PSD that is 1920x816 (RGB/72dpi). Fill it with a colour (say red). Then, resize the PSD to 1920x1080. Now you have a PSD with a Red 1920X816 'strip'. Next process is to 'fill' the top and bottom strips (that are clear) with black. Then, to make it easy, select the red (make it zero tolerance - as we are dealing with hard lines and no anti-alias) and 'delete' it. Now, you have created a PSD with a see through section and black bars in the correct place for masking. This single layer PSD will also have transparency built it - so any editing package can use it. 100% foolproof and the MadmonkFish freebie tip of the day :thumbsup:

So, you get a 1920x1080 'workspace'/Project - with a layer on top that is generating a 1920x816 image (ie - it's matting the top & bottom of for you :) ) - then you move your video layers underneath.

Advantage is you still have a 1920x1080 project - but you're getting the exact 1920x816 preview you're after (presuming your edit system work with a video overlay/matte layer & doesn't slow down too much!).
 
Updating to 4.2.1 wont interferre with anything. You should always install a update.
A matte or mask is easily made in the titler if you do not have Photoshop. There is even one in the Templates. You can tweak it to 2.35.
Move your footage up and down with the Motion parameter in the Effect Controls for a perfect picture.
This is what i used to do with 4:3 turning it into letterbox.
 
thanks for all the help on this, and I apologize for the duplicate posts, I was not aware that the same people viewed the boards I post on. I did the update, after trying the mattes I think I'm just going to spend the time to render and edit the project with the custom aspect ratio.

How does everyone here export without losing much quality? I used to do mpeg2, but it seems like with acvhd there is a better way to export? Is there a way to export with the 1920x816 aspect ratio and not get black bars?
 
If you're in a custom 1920x816 ratio, there shouldn't be any black bars... as this is widescreen scope 'without' bars. Export size should be the same as your project settings? Problem with custom export sizes is they sometimes aren't liked by certain compressors/codecs - I had a nightmare once exporting a resized 1080 project to a flash (swf) movie and found out that it needed to be even numbers rather than odd (ie 234 not 235)... got very bored of seing green & black blobs rather than moving images.
 
What is your destination goal ? is this for personal use for pc playback only? for blu-ray ? festival submission ? etc...

Do you ever intend to re-use the video or parts of the video in other projects?

I think there are more negatives than positives to exporting a cropped 1920x816, than 1920x1080 letterboxed . For example, if you intend to go to blu-ray , it will need to be re-encoded with letterbox, and you incur more quality loss. If you exported using AVCHD or blu-ray compliant settings , it can be authored as is without quality loss. Many of the chips in blu-ray players do not support non standard frame sizes.
 
LightupChoiceFry said:
Is there a way to export with the 1920x816 aspect ratio and not get black bars?
Click to expand...


But you will likely get black bars when viewing, unless you have a 2.35:1 display. Most PC monitors and HDTV's are either 16:9 or 16:10. So the letterboxing will be put on by the player to preserve the aspect ratio . If this is for web, you need a custom player that is resized to 2.35:1, otherwise it will be letterboxed in a 16:9 display

Leaving it uncropped doesn't consume much more bitrate. Those encoded black bars take up very little, because they are the same between every frame, and pure black doesn't take much bitrate to encode
 
I'm not too familiar with all the complexities of exporting, since in the past I've usually exported via hc encoder from premiere to DVD, or exported an mpeg2 and was happy with the results, but it seems different working with acvhd footage. Given the added agreements I will edit on the original aspect ratio and export on the custom one just to play it safe.

My end goal is to be able to export the finished film onto a dual layer dvd or regular dvd for festival submission and circulation. I do not have a blu ray burner, but in the past made HD to SD-DVDS and was happy with the result, it looked identical, thanks to the hc encoder settings and hd-sd code I was given. But that was for HDV, this is a whole new type of footage.
I won't be using any parts for anything other than the finished film, except for a trailer I'll make once the film is finished, and that I would need to know how to export it for the web in high res in the same settings I would if I exported the finished film, which I would like to do for a back-up.

I'm just looking for the best and simple way (if the two can exist together) to export the film into it's originally intended aspect ratio (1920x816) -which I will do from it's original (1920x1080), to a disc to be played, and exported in high res for the PC.

Ann, If I was using a pre-existing template from premiere to customize into a 1920x816 one, do I choose one under document templates? I was trying to re-configure the 1920x1080 one and was having an issue as it was placed on the timeline...it was too small, I think I maybe misunderstood how I incorporate it into the timeline, if it's the same way you do a title.
 
You can export any dimension you want, but you have the issues mentioned earlier when you export 1920x816

The aspect ratio is the same

1920x816 is the same thing as 1920x1080 , it just has letterboxing (132 pixels on the top and bottom). Remove the black borders and you get 1920x816. (1080-816)/2 = 132

This is how professional blu-ray content is made, they don't come as 1920x816, they come as 1920x1080 letterboxed.

It really doesn't matter you can add borders back when submitting to official/professional destinations.

For SD DVD, you need to add borders as well, NTSC will use 720x480, and it just happens that if you resize letterboxed 1920x1080 down, the aspect ratio works.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top