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Aspect ratio

A new addition to Muvipix, with support and discussion of Sony's DVD Architect Studio.

Aspect ratio

Postby AVITRY » Tue Nov 22, 2016 6:37 pm

I'm trying to learn dvd arch. studio and a few generic questions comes up. Standard Def NTSC 720x480 4:3 is one of the listed project preferences. a few down is widescreen choice, which is also shown as 720x480.

Most TVs are now widescreen, but I didn't shoot the original in any widescreen mode nor, but if they are both 720x480 how distorted will it look if I choose the widescreen choice in the final DVD burn?

Also, why would they both be 720x480... confusing to me.

Also, Robert mentioned to me that DVD Arch. won't accept a muxed mpeg that included audio and i should use two separate files. I trust his knowledge, but in reading the PFD file manual it says it would accept a mpeg with audio and wouldn't recode if it were compliant. Am I misunderstanding again, LOL, cause I do that.
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Re: Aspect ratio

Postby Peru » Tue Nov 22, 2016 7:20 pm

AVITRY wrote:
Most TVs are now widescreen, but I didn't shoot the original in any widescreen mode nor, but if they are both 720x480 how distorted will it look if I choose the widescreen choice in the final DVD burn?


You will just get black pillars on each side.

AVITRY wrote:


Also, why would they both be 720x480... confusing to me.


4:3 is square pixels. Widescreen is rectangular pixels.

AVITRY wrote:

Also, Robert mentioned to me that DVD Arch. won't accept a muxed mpeg that included audio and i should use two separate files. I trust his knowledge, but in reading the PFD file manual it says it would accept a mpeg with audio and wouldn't recode if it were compliant. Am I misunderstanding again, LOL, cause I do that.


I export to Mpeg 2 DVD which has both video and audio in a single file.
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Re: Aspect ratio

Postby AVITRY » Tue Nov 22, 2016 8:34 pm

Thanks for the reply Peru, so if I capture analog video to dv-avi format which is the only format the Canopus 300 captures to, can I set a project in PE to widescreen right off the top and then when I save my video to mpeg, can I select widescreen?

Guess what I'm asking is .... since analog video doesn't have pixels ( I'm assuming) either square or rectangular) is there a way at some beginning point to convert these analog videos to a widescreen format without distorting them?

As you can see, I'm a bit lost with the concept. The VHS tapes play on the tv in 4:3 perspective, so is that the determining factor even though it's analog and there are no pixels?
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Re: Aspect ratio

Postby Steve Grisetti » Tue Nov 22, 2016 9:53 pm

If your original video is 4:3, you can load it into a 16:9 video project in a Movie Studio or whatever video editor you're using, increase its size by 30% (sacrificing some resolution and losing some of the top of bottom of your picture) and then you can output a 16:9 MPEG from it -- which you can use in a widescreen video project.

That's really about the only way to get 16:9 video from your old VHS tapes.
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Re: Aspect ratio

Postby Bob » Wed Nov 23, 2016 6:06 am

4:3 is square pixels. Widescreen is rectangular pixels.


Actually, for digital video, for standard definition, both are rectangular pixels. 4:3 is narrower than a square pixel would be, while 16:9 would be fatter than a square pixel would be.

Guess what I'm asking is .... since analog video doesn't have pixels ( I'm assuming) either square or rectangular) is there a way at some beginning point to convert these analog videos to a widescreen format without distorting them?

Also, why would they both be 720x480... confusing to me.


The conversion from analog to digital is defined by the ITU-R BT.601 standard which specified that standard definition tv images are made of lines of exactly 720 non-square pixels. The rectangular pixel requirement comes as a result of sampling the analog scan lines. The default defined scan rate was not the same as the industry standard scan rate which would result in a distorted image if square pixels were used. Rectangular pixels were a mathematical work around to eliminate this distortion. For standard definition 4:3, the pixel aspect ratio works out to be 0.91. For 16:9, the pixel aspect ratio works out to be 1.21.

VHS, even wide screen VHS, has a frame aspect ratio of 4:3 and a pixel aspect ratio of 0.91. It was designed to be played on standard definition 4:3 tv sets. Wide screen VHS was letter boxed with black bars on top and bottom.
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Re: Aspect ratio

Postby AVITRY » Wed Nov 23, 2016 9:44 am

Hi Bob, thanks for the reply. Don't know why it's always been hard to grasp the pixel concept regarding size / print / display ... very confusing, but interesting.

On this canopus 300 analog converter, there are numerous dip switches that can either be used for various presets, (most of which I have no clue what the practical result of altering them would do) or, can be disabled and as an alternative, the converter can be run from a software program called Picture Controller.

One of the dip switch choices is aspect ratio. Oddly enough, if you choose to control the 300 via software, this option is not available to change. (which further confuses me, and has me wondering if I even need to worry about it)

Do you happen to know what effect changing this setting would have? Do I need to disable the software control and return to dip switch control should I convert a widescreen VHS? whew ... seems the more I explore into these things the more I get confused. .. here's a screen shot
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Re: Aspect ratio

Postby Peru » Wed Nov 23, 2016 9:45 am

Bob wrote:
4:3 is square pixels. Widescreen is rectangular pixels.


Actually, for digital video, for standard definition, both are rectangular pixels. 4:3 is narrower than a square pixel would be, while 16:9 would be fatter than a square pixel would be.


I stand corrected. :oops:
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Re: Aspect ratio

Postby Bob » Wed Nov 23, 2016 1:26 pm

Do you happen to know what effect changing this setting would have? Do I need to disable the software control and return to dip switch control should I convert a widescreen VHS?


My understanding is that this setting merely sets the output pixel aspect ratio. It does not resample or change the resolution. You can do the same in software by using the Interpret Footage command in Premiere Elements to conform the pixel aspect ratio to a new value.

VHS Wide Screen isn't really wide screen. It merely has 16:9 wide screen content that has been scaled down to fit within a standard 4:3 full frame, but this adds the black letter boxing to the top and bottom of the image. These stripes are baked into the video. Changing the pixel aspect ratio to 1.21 will result in the image being stretched out horizontally making everything look 30% wider. But, it won't change the height of the image and the black stripes will still be present. I'm assuming that isn't what you have in mind. If you want it to fill a 16:9 frame with no black stripes, Steve's comment about scaling up the clip by one third will do that (the black stripes will be cropped off by the scaling). But, remember, scaling past 100% like this will result in some image quality loss.
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