4:3, 16:9 and 5:4 (?) - I'm confused!

mazzo wrote on 2/25/2002, 11:54 AM

When I shoot with my DV Cam, I have two options in the menu: 4:3 and 16:9. OK. So when I capture video, I learn thar PAL DV is 720 x 576. And that IS NOT 4:3, it's 5:4. I'm very confused here. If I want to render it as a small file, say 192 height, should I set the width to 240 (5:4) OR 256 (4:3)??????

Comments

DataMeister wrote on 2/25/2002, 6:23 PM

Since I haven't really used PAL equipment much, I would say try rendering out a short clip and see which looks more natural.

I believe that the PAL televisions and the NTSC televisions have the same physical ratio in inches, and that the difference is only how close the scan lines are positioned. So, it's anybodys guess as to how the aspect ratio would look on a computer monitor. I assume you are rendering smaller for view on another computer.

JBJones

SonyEPM wrote on 2/26/2002, 9:25 AM

NTSC and PAL have different pixel counts and pixel aspect ratios, and that might be part of the confusion.

The actual pixel count for widescreen DV is identical to standard (non-wide DV). The pixel aspect ratio is different, but there are the same number of pixels in the frame.

So, If you want 192 high, and you you want to preserve the h/w ratio, render the width as 240.

math: PAL = 720 x576

576/192= 3
720/3 = 240

mazzo wrote on 2/26/2002, 9:43 AM

Thanks. I'm learning every day. I've also read today about the difference between the square and the non-square pixels, and that computer screens have 1,0:1 pixel aspect ratio while tvs have not.

Has all this something to do about my first question?