Help - Strange Final Render Size

[jonnyh1968]

So my client needs a final movie at 654x333 for viewing on the web. I shot the footage on the DVX as regular ole DV 720x480 on MiniDV. Can someone tell me how to set up my sequence?

When I set the sequence to 654x333 - I then need to render every clip everytime i drag it to the timeline - so i don't want to do that. For now I'm keeping the DV timeline (at 720x480) as square pixels and adding slug boxes on the top and bottom to give me a rough idea of the new aspect ratio (essentially cropping the top and bottom) without the need to render. I'm thinking i'll figure out the export when i'm all done editing. But now I'm getting left and right black space - because of 'view as square pixels?' and this seems like a hack way to do it - Totally confused. Stick with 'view as square' on everything right?

Please help and enlighten me - thanks!

 

[agcohn]

The square pixels are causing the left and right black space because you are using a 720x480 time-line. 720x480 footage is really 640x480 footage with non-square pixels. I believe the correct pixel aspect ratio for an NTSC DV (3:2) time-line is NTSC - CCIR 601 / DV (720x480).

If you need to use square pixels then you need to change your time-line Aspect Ratio to NTSC (4:3) or 640x480.

You are correct to letterbox the footage, so that it has the correct aspect ratio that your client is looking for.

Then, when you are ready to export, create a new sequence that is 654x333, and drag your main sequence into the new sequence, and crop the black areas.