scaling 1080p footage down for 1024x768 projector

seejay1031

Well-known member
Good Evening,
Our feature film is going to have its big debut next month. It was shot, edited, and mastered in 1440(1920)x1080 23.976p (16x9). The projector at the theatre we choose has a resolution of 1024x768 (4x3).
We want to preserve the aspect ratio and quality best that we can and have the best possible image given our limitations. I have a couple different thoughts.

a. we could resize to 1024x576 to use the most pixels possible but (and I might be totally wrong about this) won't this be a bizzare resizing task as the new size is 53.33% the size of the master? therefore...

b. resize to 960x540 so the downrez is an even 50% 1 fixel for every two vertically. Of course, this would be windowed in the file so the pixels would still be 1:1 for the projector, but the resolution would be less. or I could be lazy and...

c. play the already finished dvd in their regular pipeline and let the projector handle the uprezzing. Test and see if its "good enough"... I doubt this is the best solution

Also I was gonna use AE to do either a or b, but I don't know if its the best tool for the job, are there alternate programs or ae plugins to consider? Really I'm open to any thoughts... The master is in a tiff sequence if that matters.
 
If there is a computer attached to this projector, the scaling will happen at the media player, (and on most PC's this is hardware accelerated). Media player classic allows you to adjust the scaling method (bilinear, or bicubic) Just make sure that the PC is good enough to play back your 1080 master file in real time.

You shouldn't have any issues if you use WMP or Media player classic on Windows. I'm not sure how Quicktime handles scaling on the mac.
 
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