insert media questions

ellet wrote on 10/24/2008, 6:20 AM
I am using DVD architect 4.5. I made changes in a 640 x 427 photo using paint shop pro and saved both photos. Both are the same size. I inserted the original as the background in DVDA 4.5. I then used insert media to put a button on the page that will display the changed photo. The idea is to allow a selected button to display the altered photo for a few seconds and then the original displays. It works fine except that the altered photo's size changes and black bars appear at the top and bottom of the photo. Are the default resolutions different for backgrounds and inserted medias? Do I need to use a different photo size for this? Are there preference settings for this that I can tweak?

Comments

bStro wrote on 10/24/2008, 10:21 AM
By default, menu backgrounds are stretched in order to conform to the proper aspect ratio for DVD video. For example, if your project is a standard NTSC DVD, all video is going to be 720x480 (with non-square pixels). So the background you set will be stretched (and distorted) to 720x480.

Any titles, however, will be re-encoded with the content at its original size but padded with black where necessary.

You could get the menu background to appear in its natural state by going to the Background Media tab of the Menu Properties window and setting Stretch Type to Letterbox -- then both images should have the black bars.

Personally, I'd take both images back into PSP, resize them a bit smaller (keep in mind that most televisions will cut off approx. 5% to 10% of the outside of your content -- turn on DVD Architect's safe zone overlays if they're not already) and put them over a common 655x480 background (if your DVD project is 720x480). This will ensure that both images 1) will not be distorted, 2) will not be letterboxed, and 3) will be fully visible all televisions (assuming you need that).

Rob
ellet wrote on 10/24/2008, 2:26 PM
Thank you for the reply, I'll give it a try.
Roughneck wrote on 10/25/2008, 3:06 AM
In PAL situation, would I use 655x576 pixel aspect ratio?

"By default, menu backgrounds are stretched in order to conform to the proper aspect ratio for DVD video"

"and put them over a common 655x480 background (if your DVD project is 720x480)."

Would also like to thank you for the valuable information in www.vegasvideohelp.com.
Not really a computer person myself.Do appreciate the Hard work.
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michael
MarkWWW wrote on 10/25/2008, 4:38 AM
> In PAL situation, would I use 655x576 pixel aspect ratio?

No, the 655 figure is just for NTSC.

Use 655x480 for NTSC. Use 787x576 for PAL. That's for "4:3" at least.

For widescreen ("16:9") the sizes should be 873x480 for NTSC and 1049x576 for PAL.

Mark
bStro wrote on 10/25/2008, 6:28 AM
The descrepency in still image size vs. video image size has to do with the fact that computers use square pixels while video uses non-square pixels. So when you create a still image that will be used in a video, you have to do some math (or know the conventions) to determine the proper dimensions that won't leave the final result distorted.

NTSC video uses pixels that are taller than they are wide PAL uses pixels that are wider than they are tall.

And thanks for the complements on the site, Michael! I really appreciate it. Your comments reflect the tone I'm going for (and I hate clutter!), so it means a lot to hear them. If there's ever anything you'd like to see a tutorial for, either for Vegas or DVDA, drop me a line and I'll see what I can do. (You can contact me through my profile here until I set up a contact system over at the site.)

Rob