Requesting advice re Hi Def Slide Show Resolution

[George Tyndall]

I shoot the stills for my PSE4.0 slide shows at 2288x1520 (3:2=35mm format) as JPEGs. I convert the JPEGs to PSD format before importing them into my shows.

I output the shows from PSE4.0 as WMV720p, then I convert them to m2t (1440x1080i) with TMPGEnc. When I import them into PE4 for the purpose of burning a DVD, no rendering is required.

I output the m2t file from PE4 to Blu-ray disk using the preset MPEG2 1080i NTSC Dolby. The resulting Hi Def DVDs look superb on both my 1920x1200 24-inch monitor and my 1920x1080 52-inch HDTV.

I’ve just installed PE7, and I see that when I choose to burn a Blu-ray disk, my choice of presets includes both MPEG2 1440x1080i NTSC Dolby and MPEG2 1920x1080i NTSC Dolby.

My first question is: which of those should I choose?

My second question is: Given that 2288/1920=1.2 and 1520/1080=1.4, am I correct that, for best quality, I should not zoom in on my slides more than 20 percent?

Thanks if advance for sharing your expertise.

[Paul LS]

If you are exporting your slideshow from PSE4 as 720p then this will limit the resolution/quality of your final video. So infact your 2288x1520 photos should be compared to 1280x720 rather than 1920x1080... ie your photos will be down-rezzed to 1280x720 on export from PSE4 and then up-rezzed to 1920x10880 on burning to Blu-ray. So the answer to your second question is that you can zoom into your photos to almost 200%. So, if you did no zoomimg or zoom to almost 200% the final quality on the Blu-ray disc will be the same.

A much better idea is to do your slideshows in a 1920x1080 project in PE7... this will give better final quality on your Blu-ray disc.

Your first question... as you are only using photos no video you night as well use the 1920x1080 Blu-ray preset as you have no 1440x1080 video.

[George Tyndall]

A much better idea is to do your slideshows in a 1920x1080 project in PE7... this will give better final quality on your Blu-ray disc.

Thanks for your reply, Paul.

Do you mean that I should use the HDV 1080i 30 Project Preset in PE7 to do the show?

Your first question... as you are only using photos no video you night as well use the 1920x1080 Blu-ray preset as you have no 1440x1080 video.

I sometimes include short m2t clips in my slide shows. If that is the case, then when I export to Blu-ray disk I should use the preset 1440x1080?

[George Tyndall]

A much better idea is to do your slideshows in a 1920x1080 project in PE7... this will give better final quality on your Blu-ray disc.

Hi Paul,

I imported my 2288x1520 PSD-format photos into PE7 using the HDV 1080i 30 Preset, then exported ("shared") as HD WMV 1080i 30 to my HDD for subsequent playback.

On playback, the skin tones had a greenish cast. In addition, the images had lots of "jaggies." Also, at the same time, the images seemed less detailed on my 1920x1200 HD monitor than the same slide show saved at WMV HD 720p directly from the PSE4 slideshow editor. Lastly, the export from PE7 took nearly an hour as compared to about 10 minutes to export as 720p directly from the PSE4 editor.

I am going to try importing to PE again, then "sharing" as 1440 x 1080i before burning a Blu-ray disk. I'll give you some follow-up once I have done so. In the meantime, do you have any insight to what I have just described?

[George Tyndall]

If you are exporting your slideshow from PSE4 as 720p then this will limit the resolution/quality of your final video. So infact your 2288x1520 photos should be compared to 1280x720 rather than 1920x1080... ie your photos will be down-rezzed to 1280x720 on export from PSE4 and then up-rezzed to 1920x1080 on burning to Blu-ray. .... A much better idea is to do your slideshows in a 1920x1080 project in PE7... this will give better final quality on your Blu-ray disc.

I've been reviewing my posts, and I just realized that I never thanked you for that brilliant suggestion.

Now that I'm as comfortable creating my slide shows in PSE7 as I was with PSE4 (i.e., not that I know how to equally conveniently back up the PSE7 catalog), here is my usual procedure: Using the original 2288x1520 JPEG photos, I create the slide show in PSE7 then "send" it to the PRE7 Timeline with "Scale to Frame Size" checked under Edit>Preferences (I do my panning and zooming, if any, in PSE7 before sending the slide show). My Project Preset is 1920x1080, so (correct me if I am wrong), I 've now got on my Timeline a slide show that has been "down-rezzed" from 2288x1520 to 1080p.

Whether my goal is an SD or a Blu-ray DVD, I do not render this Timeline; Instead, I choose Share>Disc>Burn to Folder, which is faster than rendering, then I burn the folder to a DVD-R at 16X or 20X (depending on which burner I am using). I play this SD DVD to ascertain that the project is flawless, and if it is, I proceed to burn a Blu-ray disc, using the preset NTSC 1920x1080 (PRE7 does not offer the option to burn a Blu-ray to folder).

The Blu-ray disc seems to burn much faster now than it did with the procedure I described above (using TMPGEnc to convert a 720p slide show to 1440x1080i then putting the latter on the Timeline). Is that because, instead of "up-rezzing" from 720p to 1080i to 1080p as I did in the past, I am now directly burning a 1080p Timeline to a 1080p disc, in other words, sharing 1080p as 1080p in a different format?

[Paul LS]

Sounds like you have a good workflow there George. Regarding the speed of burning... certainly if PE7 does not have to resize then it has less processing to do... but I do not burn to Blu-ray and so haave not has much experience.

[Barb O]

Now that I'm as comfortable creating my slide shows in PSE7 as I was with PSE4 (i.e., not that I know how to equally conveniently back up the PSE7 catalog), here is my usual procedure: Using the original 2288x1520 JPEG photos, I create the slide show in PSE7 then "send" it to the PRE7 Timeline with "Scale to Frame Size" checked under Edit>Preferences (I do my panning and zooming, if any, in PSE7 before sending the slide show). My Project Preset is 1920x1080, so (correct me if I am wrong), I 've now got on my Timeline a slide show that has been "down-rezzed" from 2288x1520 to 1080p.

George,
I have a degree of skepticism for the photos to which you apply pan and zoom. What I am wondering is whether in the Premiere Elements process, the photo is first down-rezzed to 1080p and then the pan and/or zoom is applied ? - potentially not good.

Do you observe any degradation in quality of image for the slides where you did apply a significant degree of zoom?

I don't have the capability to play back HD 1080p so I am asking that other people respond. I will be happy if I am wrong in my skepticism ......

JohnnyO, Bob(s), Rob, Chuck, Bill or others,
Can you comment on my skepticism expressed in my comment to George (above) and comment on what your recommedation is for Scale to Frame size in his scenario?

(Note: the names I listed are based on reviewing some of the previous discussion in the PE7 form about Scale - but I do not mean to exclude anyone else.)

George,
On a related topic for the PSE 7 slide show editor to PRE 7 widescreen project ,
I have seen complaints that the PSE 7 slide show editor will only do a 4:3 aspect ratio box for the specification of zoom or pan. Therefore when the final output is created for HD dimensions which are widescreen, it is possible for that "box" to be outside the bounds of the 16:9 images. The complaint is that then the image does not fill the screen and there are black edges. Have you experienced this type of symptom?

Perhaps you do not expereince this additional problem because you are setting scale to framesize - but since I think it might be related, I am including my question in this thread.

[George Tyndall]

I have a degree of skepticism for the photos to which you apply pan and zoom. What I am wondering is whether in the Premiere Elements process, the photo is first down-rezzed to 1080p and then the pan and/or zoom is applied ? - potentially not good.

Do you observe any degradation in quality of image for the slides where you did apply a significant degree of zoom?

Barb,
I compose in my camera viewfinder exactly the way I want my pics to look in the slide show, so I rarely do any panning and zooming, but if I do, I typically do it in PSE7 before "sending" it to PRE7. However, on occasion, I do keyframe a slide in PRE7. I see degradation in quality only if I "overzoom."

George,
On a related topic for the PSE 7 slide show editor to PRE 7 widescreen project ,
I have seen complaints that the PSE 7 slide show editor will only do a 4:3 aspect ratio box for the specification of zoom or pan. Therefore when the final output is created for HD dimensions which are widescreen, it is possible for that "box" to be outside the bounds of the 16:9 images. The complaint is that then the image does not fill the screen and there are black edges. Have you experienced this type of symptom?

Perhaps you do not expereince this additional problem because you are setting scale to framesize - but since I think it might be related, I am including my question in this thread.

Yes, it is possible for the "box" to be outside the bounds of my 3:2 (not 16:9) images so that the image does not fill the screen and there are black edges, however, I actually like this effect as this “letterboxing” gives me a place for text other than on the image itself.

[Gerlinde]

I,m aware that this is on older thread, but hopefully Paul will notice that it has been reactivated. First, thank you very much for the detailed information that this thread, and others written by you, provide. I just recently bought a Canon HV30 and started editing high def footage and I must say, it is really confusing. You write in this thread that you choose a 1920 x 1080 project preset for your slide show sent from PSE4 to PE7. I'm using PSE7/PE7 and can not see a 1920 x 1080 preset anywhere. I have only 2 options under HDV: HDV 1080i 30 and HDV 720p 30. Were would I find the preset you are using? Did you create this yourself and how did you do it?

Gerlinde

[Paul LS]

What I should have said was use a 1440x1080i project preset (HDV 1080i 30). The 1920x1080 was refering to exporting to Blu-ray for a "photo" only project, so no 1480x1080 video in the project, so he might as well export to 1920x1080 to get the best quality.

So your HV30 is HDV 1440x1080i video and you should use the HDV 1080i 30 project preset. Note HDV has a pixel aspect ratio of 1.333, so the frame size is 1920x1080 square pixels. And this is the size you should import photos at to fill the frame.

[Gerlinde]

Hi Paul, thank you for the clarification. I was kind of wondering if my install of PE7 was missing something. I wish we had a FAQ for high def editing with all the great info in one place. I have bookmarked some of it, but I still spend a lot of time finding what I need.