..OK, I got a DV camera...720 X 480 ...cool.....what I want to do is output 400 X 200 for the web (wmv) without squishing anything... what's the best workflow...? ..TIA...
...here's what I'm thinking of doing...pan/crop to output size...tell VV not to maintain aspect ratio or stretch to frame...output at same size...realize I'm going to lose material......is there an easier way...did I forget something..?
it'sd going to be squished no matter what with that size. For it not to be squished, it must be an output ratio of the origional size (1/2 720x480 = 360x240, etc.)
Actually, you do want to squish it a bit horizontally for it to appear at the correct aspect ratio on a computer screen.
DV is based on rectangular pixels at a 1.5:1 aspect ratio, however when displayed on a TV, it gets changed to the correct 1.333:1 ratio. For display on a computer screen, which is based on square pixels, you must manually adjust the image to 1.333:1. Therefore, if you want it to appear at the correct aspect ratio on a computer, you must output it as 320x240, not 360x240. Windows Media prefers image sizes that are multiples of 16, so other valid sizes would be 256x192, 384x288, 512x384. However, 320x240 is usually the best compromise between available web bandwidth and image quality.
It's actually almost too easy with Vegas. Set the project properties to 400x200 with a pixel aspect ratio of 1.000. Drop the footage onto the timeline, bring up the Pan/Crop window, right-mouse-button click, and choose Match Output Aspect Ratio. That will do it. Mapping to the correct shape and aspect ratio will be handled automatically.
DV on a computer screen is distorted? I've played DV AVI's (or DVD MPEG-2's) in Media player and noticed the bars on top/bottom, but didn't realize it ws distorted! Thanks for the tip! Now i'll render stuff to play full screen on my coputer 640x480 (or a ratio of my res). Thanks!