Cropping hi def to 720x486 standard

Pal wrote on 12/12/2008, 2:52 PM
O.K. I know how to crop to standard 4x3 but to make a short story long I will give you the details. I'm talking with the local TV afilliate (which is not broadcasting their local programming hi def yet) about filming local ball games with my cameras, FX1 & HC1, editing it on Vegas Pro 8 to wmv format to clips to be used for their night news program, which they said ideally would be 720x486. My plan right now is to set the project properties to a NTSC DV time line,change the height to 486 pixels, square, and then use pan/crop to crop the sides down until there are no black bars, which seems to be 1200x1080, go to render as wmv, custom and then set the image size to 720x486 there (but it always reverts back to 720x488 why?) square pixels. What then would be the lowest bit rate and still be acceptable quality as I was hoping to be able to send it to them over the internet instead of driving all the way back to the studio and/or if the internet doesn't work out which setting to use? And bottom line is that going to be what they're asking for? The PAR and which original time line template to use i.e. Custom (720x486, 29.970 fps) or HDV 1080-60i (1440x1080, 29.970 fps) is the toughest for me to get a handle on. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Comments

Coursedesign wrote on 12/12/2008, 3:14 PM
720x486 is at NTSC PAR 0.9091, not square pixels.

It would have been 655x486 if square pixels had been requested (which was not the case).

Pal wrote on 12/12/2008, 3:35 PM
Thanks Coursedesign! But this is where I get confused. When I set the render parameters for wmv under custom I only have the choices of 1.000 (Square) or 1.333 (HD 1080). In the project settings I have all the choices in the render I only have those 2. What am I missing?
TheHappyFriar wrote on 12/12/2008, 4:28 PM
WMV only seems to support those. Maybe the MS encoder does more.

Ask if they can do something like Quicktime. If that can support the SD PAR that would be great. Or, perhaps mpeg-2.
Chienworks wrote on 12/12/2008, 6:06 PM
WMV is limited to dimensions that are multiples of 8. I don't believe there is any way around this. I would deliver 656x488 at a PAR of 1.0, which is just 1.5 wider and 2 pixels higher than what they requested. If they're playing back WMV then whatever they are playing it with can scale it to their desired output without trouble.

Cropping is a lot easier than you're making it. Set your project properties to match the output. Open up the Pan/Crop window, right-mouse-button click inside the cropping frame, choose Match output aspect. That's it; perfect match. if you've already cropped then you may want to choose restore first to reset any of the cropping you already did, then choose Match output aspect.
Pal wrote on 12/12/2008, 9:48 PM
Thanks guys! You're right Kelly, that is a whole lot easier and quicker! I think I might have known that at one time. My problem is I learn something every day......... but I forget 2. The PAR thing is another story, I haven't quite got that down yet so I really appreciate your help on that one! I'll find out the first of next week if this takes care of what they want, I'll let you know. Thanks again!
Coursedesign wrote on 12/12/2008, 9:55 PM
The 'multiples of 8' thing is a because the codec encodes 8x8 blocks.

You should ask if they're OK with WMV as a format, that's not a given for broadcast.