Action & Title Safe Areas

Kimberly wrote on 8/15/2013, 7:23 PM
Hello All:

Is a good rule of thumb on action and title safe areas still 10% and 20% respectively, as seen in the Vegas's Options/Preferences/Video tab?

I noticed in some NewBlue tutorials that they are not following these rules. That got me wondering if the rule have changed. Of course the purpose of the tut is to demonstrate the product, but if I wanted to replicate some of their looks, I want to follow the best practice on action safe areas.

Regards,

Kimberly

Comments

videoITguy wrote on 8/15/2013, 8:04 PM
Safe title areas got their start from broadcast requirments to CRT TV sets. That era is long gone and if you are producing strictly say for Blu-ray discs to LCD widescreen play - then you can forget the idea.

The trickiest area remains if you are intending for broadcast and you don't know the region or national markets - you will have a lot of hoops to get thru - basically 4:3 area for even 16:9 sources.
BUT if you know your broadcast market and 16:9 is the source and from one affiliate - you could likely go as tight at 3-5%.
Kimberly wrote on 8/15/2013, 9:15 PM
Thanks IT.

I am delivering on Blu-ray and DVD, likely to be viewed on HDTVs or lifted off for viewing on a device.

I'm not in the broadcast league so not a concern at this time.

Regards,

Kimberly
rs170a wrote on 8/15/2013, 9:29 PM
Kimberly, keep in mind that although flat screen TVs don't overscan to the degree that CRTs did, they can still suffer from it. It's been reported on here that some users have seen a 5% (and sometimes more) cutoff. The reasons why this still happens have never been satisfactorily explained (sloppy manufacturing?).

Mike
Chienworks wrote on 8/15/2013, 9:38 PM
One possibility is that the manufacturers can get away with a slightly lower resolution, and therefore slightly cheaper LCD panel. Put a 1680x945 panel in a TV, "overscan" about 7%, and a 1080 signal will play pixel-for-pixel on that screen. Call it 1080 with overscan, and what consumer would know the difference?

OK, so i'm being very cynical. ;)
TheHappyFriar wrote on 8/15/2013, 10:05 PM
The screens may have more surface area, but I find text at the edge of the screen annoying. I tend to follow the safe areas anyway, unless I have a reason not to.
NormanPCN wrote on 8/15/2013, 10:22 PM
It's been reported on here that some users have seen a 5% (and sometimes more) cutoff. The reasons why this still happens have never been satisfactorily explained (sloppy manufacturing?).

My Samsung has an overscan mode, 16:9, and a non overscan mode "screen fit".

Occasionally when the TV is in screen fit and watching TV I see a noisy flickering line above or below the picture. I am on Version FIOS for TV. Excluding a FIOS encoding issue, it would appear to be a very tiny overscan is still necessary in case of some source issue. The noisy edge has only ever been in commercials.

I have to use the screen fit mode with my media PC hooked up to the TV.
Kimberly wrote on 8/15/2013, 10:33 PM
Suggestions for action/title safe areas if the target in BD or DVD on a "typical" HDTV? Maybe 5% and 10% respectively? Or perhaps I should stick with the Sony defaults of 10% and 20%, respectively?

I'm being picky because I'm setting up a lot of keyframes around the action and title safe areas. I could check it out on my shiny new Samsung 46", but that may not be a good representation of all HDTV's.

What to do, what to do . . .
videoITguy wrote on 8/15/2013, 10:58 PM
Like you I am finicky about the presentation Kimberly - my go to settings which have plenty of allowance is 4% and 7%. I could get by in my experience with much tighter clearance on well designed LCD widescreen products - this is to maximize the presentation area from Blu-ray set-top playback.
rs170a wrote on 8/15/2013, 11:09 PM
The Sony defaults have always been very generous. SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) standards set several years ago were 5% and 10% and I don't believe this has changed.

Mike
larry-peter wrote on 8/16/2013, 8:24 AM
For my BD delivery I am assuming 5% as safe action, and that seems to have translated well. For text/graphic elements I generally stick with the 20% rule because to my eye, the balance usually feels better.
Arthur.S wrote on 8/16/2013, 9:57 AM
Yes, the overscan area has reduced dramatically since CRT screens. I preview out to an LCD TV and just go with WYSIWYG. I never push things TOO close to the edge though. ;-)