TV safe area

A

airforceguy

Active member
I am editing a commerial (spec), and a television show I created. I thought I was all done, or close anyway, before I accidently ciicked a button that brought up the "Safe Area" in my preview monitor.
I assume everything of importance should be within the other borders, but if I do so it will mean shrinking some things that will cause a black border around some outter areas. Will this show on some televisions? If so, how do I remedy this?

Thanks,
Paul
 
Well, if you have areas of the frame outside the safe area, the chances are that it won't be seen on a TV screen.

You can salvage some of it by zooming in on it and reframing the shot so that more it stays in the safe area, but then you might lose other stuff you want to keep, and if you shot SD, you'll see a degradation of picture quality.

You can zoom out a bit and have, as you saw, the black box around the frame. It may or may not show on a TV; it will definitely show on a computer.

So, there's no fix which doesn't have compromises. Paying attention to the safe lines while shooting is the only good way to go.

Also, keep in mind, there's not only action safe, which is what you're looking at, but text safe, too, for when you're working in post -- and that's a smaller area.

Your NLE should allow you to put the guides up on your preview window.
 
Just wanted to add that while you should definitely keep things action and title safe, be careful with black borders at the edge as I've found plasma and LCD tv's to show waay more than older crt's. My LCD and plasma both crop around the 3% mark. Perhaps there's some sort of frame that you could build that would look attractive to those that might see the black?
 
Thanks Jeff. A frame would work and look pretty cool in both projects, as a safety measure. Any idea if there are anything like that in Vegas, or would I need to find it in another program?
 
Anything like what in Vegas? The black borders or safety guides?

What you'd actually do is go into pan/crop and zoom out -- a black border will be automatically generated. But anything on a lower video track will be revealed, too, so you'll have to watch out fro that.
 
If you're talking about any attractive frame you could overly in Vegas - I dont know... Probably not is my guess. Something that you would most likely have to create in photoshop or a similar program.
 
I meant is there some sort of frame feature in Vegas i can put around the black bordor to remedy the problem Jeff commented on with the newer plazma televisions (showing more than older CRTs).

How reliable is the "Sare Area" feature? 99% etc.?
 
Wait; you mean creating something "attractive" around the picture instead of just having it be black?

I'd stay with the black, myself. But if you wanted to do it in Vegas, just do what I said above -- zoom out on pan/crop, and have something "attractive" in the video track below.
 
I'd say its 99% reliable in showing you what may get cropped or distorted. I've never seen any TV crop more than 90% or distort at the edge past 80%. Thats pretty much the normal for most safe guides.
 
In a way the "Safe Area" itself will resolve some other problems I was having in my commercial (too much un-needed/wanted footage in the shot). I wish I had stumbled accross it a week ago. I haven't edited anything in a couple of years and forgot all about it. On my way to a meeting in Salt Lake, please keep the suggestions coming, I will be back on line in a couple of hours.

Thanks guys,
Paul
 
airforceguy said:
I meant is there some sort of frame feature in Vegas i can put around the black bordor to remedy the problem Jeff commented on with the newer plazma televisions (showing more than older CRTs).

How reliable is the "Sare Area" feature? 99% etc.?
Click to expand...

Click on the tic-tac-toe looking button above the preview screen. If you click the arrow next to it, you'll get a menu, and you can choose "safe areas" if it's not already selected.

I've never seen a TV where these guides would let you down.
 
David Jimerson said:
Wait; you mean creating something "attractive" around the picture instead of just having it be black?

I'd stay with the black, myself. But if you wanted to do it in Vegas, just do what I said above -- zoom out on pan/crop, and have something "attractive" in the video track below.
Click to expand...

Yeah I can think of quite a few situations where I'd leave it black. I've run into a few where we were able to put a graphic border around the edge and it looked better though. I'm just throwing out options here.
 
airforceguy said:
Thanks David. Does the DVX have a "Safe Area" feature on the LCD screen? If so, where/how do I activate it?
Click to expand...

The DVX100A has a line scribed around the flip-out LCD finder, a couple millimeters from the screen's edge. That line actually represents what is being captured to tape; the "A" records slightly more than you see on the LCD, although not enough to cover you for tv-safe.

I think I read that the 100B dispensed with the scribed line and actually shows you full-frame on the LCD panel.

You can purchase PDA-screen-protector-style plastic stick-on sheets, with aspect ratios and safe areas printed on them. Just stick one to the LCD and you're good to go.
 
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