Best all-round project video format

markmcc wrote on 2/10/2005, 3:21 AM
I've created a couple of DVDs now using PAL 720x576 and I have been able to work around the "cropping" issue I've been experiencing.

However, there's got to be a better way than bringing everything miles inside the title safe area.

For some reason, when played on a regular dvd player the width gets cropped more than the title safe area and the height gets cropped a little larger than the title safe area. However when played on computer based dvd programs the display is full and true to the way it appears in DVDA2.

Has anyone experience a similar issue and come up with the ULTIMATE project size to use?


(I am using the PAL system as I am in australia and authoring for australian audiences only).

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 2/10/2005, 7:42 AM
Get a hacksaw and cut out the bezel surrounding the picture tube of your television screen. That will be a good start. Have your television calibrated by an experienced professional and have him set the height and width of the image to your specifications. That will help a lot too. The only problem is that you'll have to have this done to all of your telelvisions, as well as all of the televisions of everyone you send a video too.

The problem you're facing is that the size and positioning of the image vary from TV to TV and you cannot count on what any particular television will show.

The best thing to do is to fill the screen completely with the image, but keep anything important that you want people to see away from the edges. That's about the only method that works.
markmcc wrote on 2/10/2005, 1:55 PM
Remove the socially inept first paragraph and you've got a reasonable response.
bStro wrote on 2/10/2005, 6:01 PM
Has anyone experience a similar issue and come up with the ULTIMATE project size to use?

To the best of my knowledge, there's no such thing. The amount of the picture that gets "cut off" can vary from over 15% on really old TVs to almost nothing at all on plasma TVs. The liklihood of finding the "right" picture size so your video looks how you want it on every TV is about the same as finding the "right" size so that your photographs look how you want them in every picture frame.

The best you can do is make sure the important stuff is within your software's safe areas (understand, the safe area is a guide, not a rule) when you're taping / creating your video. If you're using someone else's video, chances are they've already done so.

Your other option is to resize everything so the whole video fits inside the safe areas... and that would frankly be silly. (Which is why I did that for a while when I started out.) It'd probably also PO the people who have newer TVs, 'cause they might get a black border all around your video.

Rob
Chienworks wrote on 2/11/2005, 3:35 AM
I guess what a lot of folks don't realize is that all television producers deal with this and all broadcast TV takes this into account as well. This is not a new problem that just you* are having. Ever since the dawn of TV part of edges of the image has been missing on TV screens. The only reason you are aware of it now is because you see the full frame on your computer screen while editing. If you had taken your camcorder footage directly from the camera and played it on the TV you never would have thought about the missing overscan area.

Try this experiment sometime: capture some live footage from TV during a news show while there are graphics on the screen. Try to get a section where there is a title at the bottom of the screen (usually called a "Lower Third") and maybe an inset graphic in the upper corner. You'll notice on your TV that these items tend to hug the edge of the TV screen. However, when you look at them in the preview window on the computer you will see that there is a lot more space around them. Did you ever realize all that space was there and not being shown while watching TV before? Probably not. That's because the people producing the TV show followed the same advice we've given you here: fill the screen with the picture, but keep the important informaiton away from the edges.

If my first answer seemed "socially inept", i assure you it wasn't intended that way. I was trying to introduce a bit of humor into a stale old crusty topic that has already been discussed and debated to death in these forums.

* "you" = any person complaining about the edges of the image being cut off on a TV.