Import picture - best size?

GaryStebbins wrote on 12/7/2003, 10:11 PM
I wish to import still pictures into DVD Architect 1.0c as menu backgrounds. I'm producing an NTSC DVD. I believe the frame size is 720x480. However, I don't think the pixels are square. What is the best size picture to import, and what option do I specify within DVDA (zoom, stretch, or letterbox) to get the best image quality without distortion?

Thank you.

Gary

Comments

jetdv wrote on 12/8/2003, 7:45 AM
655x480
dvddude wrote on 12/8/2003, 9:14 AM
Is that for PAL? for NTSC, they are non-square pixels at 576x768.

Lets's say you want to make a menu background for an NTSC project for a screen grab. I'll putt a captured 720 x 480 frame into Photoshop, fix it up, and then resize it to 576 x 768. It will look a little distorted, but when pulled back into DVDA, it gets corrected.

There may be other methods, but that works for me.
jetdv wrote on 12/8/2003, 9:38 AM
655x480 is NTSC allowing for the difference between square and non-square pixels. Start an NTSC-DV project in Vegas and take a snapshot. What size is the image? 655x480. Works perfectly as a background in DVDA.

Plus, I'm not sure you really mean "576x768".
3dmetr wrote on 12/14/2003, 7:53 AM
>655x480 is NTSC allowing for the difference between square and non-square pixels. Start an NTSC-DV project in Vegas and take a snapshot. What size is the image? 655x480. Works perfectly as a background in DVDA.<

Sounds good... and there's that 0.9091 pixel aspect for NTSC DV. For those using NTSC DV Widescreen (like me), try 873x480. That's what you get when you multiply 720 by pixel aspect 1.2121, it seems to work fine.
dvddude wrote on 12/16/2003, 6:41 AM
Yes, those are the correct numbers. I read a LOT of whitepapers about a year and a half ago, and that's where I got those figures. Works perfectly.
dvddude wrote on 12/16/2003, 1:36 PM
Addendum.

Besides Vegas+DVDA, I have a few other programs on my PC.

I just went into the Ulead DVD Workshop folder and opened one of their many pre-canned menu background template graphics. They are all 576 x 768, which is what I've been creating menu graphics at all along.