Comments

farss wrote on 8/7/2007, 4:40 AM
No percentages in Pan/Crop.

Overall the question has no hard answer, really depends. Sometimes HDV even at full res can end up softer than SD if you shoot it badly so let your eyes be the judge.
vicmilt wrote on 8/7/2007, 7:52 AM
HDV is 1440x1080 pixels

SD is 720x480 pixels (although different versions also exist here, varying a few pixels in dimension)

So you can crop your HDV to an image roughly 1/4th the size of the original without losing ANY resolution quality for projection on standard widescreen TV's.

Of course, if you're projecting onto HD tv's you will see a resolution hit.

This is a wonderful freedom for video artists as it allows you to do zooms and repositioning with enormous freedom.

The only problem that I've felt is that the quality of lenses that are stock with your basic HDV cameras are not up to the "blow-up" the way we WISH it would be. That is, as you zoom in, your optical sharpness tends to fall off. A nice $50,000 Cooke lens would really help here.

But do NOT overthink the issue. Zoom and pan with reckless abandon, and LOOK AT YOUR WORK under final MPEG>DVD>TV screen conditions. By and large you will be thrilled.

v
Per1 wrote on 8/7/2007, 9:19 AM
Vicmilt,

1. Start a PAL DV Widescreen project in Vegas (720x576)
2. Mount a m2t-clip on the timeline (result: it nearly covers the preview window, some small black L/R margins)
3. Open pan/crop on the m2t-clip
4. Right-click the image and click Match output aspect.
The dashed frame only becoms sligthly smaller than the image - should it not be about 1/4 of the area?

If I do the same with PAL DV (no WS) then the dashed frame is still as high as the HD image but with broader L/R margins. But I'm not near 1/4 of the image that I though would be the case due to the different resolutions.

Per
When extending the dashed frame out to the image borders I get approx. 1440x1080.
Chienworks wrote on 8/7/2007, 11:21 AM
Note that it's "match output aspect", not "match output size". All this function does is make the shape correct so there won't be any black edges. It assumes you still want to show as much of the original picture as possible, which is generally the right assumption almost every time.

If you want to match the DV size exactly then type in 576 for the height after matching the output aspect.
Chienworks wrote on 8/7/2007, 11:27 AM
"But do NOT overthink the issue. Zoom and pan with reckless abandon, and LOOK AT YOUR WORK"

Hurray to Vic!!!! This is probably the best advice ever posted in this forum or any other, save for purely technical forums. Even there this would be excellent advice.

I see so many questions in here asking for precise numerical details. All those numbers all over the screen are only there to help you keep track of what you've done. They are NOT there to be used as the basis for editing decisions. The real editing is performed with your eyes (and ears). What looks right is what is right, regardless of what the numbers say.

Play with things. Try things. Make things look bad and don't be afraid. Then fix them and learn what works and what doesn't, and why.

OK, true, there are some technical considerations that one has to keep in mind now and then to match output hardware standards. But never let these stand in the way of being creative and experimenting.
Laurence wrote on 8/7/2007, 11:27 AM
I find that I zoom in mostly to cover up motion artifacts at the edges of footage processed with the incredibly cool Deshaker script. I never really zoom in very much because I always do HD versions of my projects.

For SD DVDs, as Vic Milt says, the theoretical maximum is zooming into a quarter screen, but then you can see errors in your focus and lens quality.