render with or without black bars for Blu or Thea?

wwjd wrote on 9/18/2013, 10:58 AM
did some reading on the web, some searching, but seeking someone who actually knows!

if making an HD Blu-Ray or a digital 2K/4K for playback at a theater, does one render the file WITH black bars top and bottom or just make the Project the Widescreen size, NO black bars? Like say 1920x800 or so?

Thanks!

Comments

Steve Grisetti wrote on 9/18/2013, 11:22 AM
Are you saying that your video is something other than traditional high-def 1920x1080?

What is the resolution of your original footage?
wwjd wrote on 9/18/2013, 11:36 AM
usually the video is 1920x1080 but I always add black bars to mask it to theater aspect 2.40:1 so, the viewable video is only 1920x800, or in 4K case: 3840x1600

what happens if I just make that the project size? does burning bluray then fail?
more importantly (and I don't know anything about this gear) would theater projection not accept it?
musicvid10 wrote on 9/18/2013, 11:37 AM
"if making an HD Blu-Ray or a digital 2K/4K for playback at a theater,"

Those are two different things. A BluRay is 1920x1080, regardless of image aspect.
larry-peter wrote on 9/18/2013, 11:42 AM
Take a look at this recent thread to see if any of these points address your question. The main thing to consider is whether the theater (as in some film festivals) are projecting from a BluRay source or if they require a DCP package. That introduces a whole new set of issues.
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=869035&Replies=12
robwood wrote on 9/18/2013, 12:24 PM
if it's BD, you have to render a 16:9 image at either 1280x720 or 1920x1080; these are fixed spec (i never use 1440x1080 non-square)

if your project isn't one of those two you'll have to add black (top/bottom or sides, depending on project frame size) to bring it to that resolution.

can't say much on 2K (2048x1080) as i haven't created DCP for theatre yet, but i know it isn't 16:9.
wwjd wrote on 9/18/2013, 12:47 PM
starting to read up on this DCP thing... can Vegas even do DCP files?
larry-peter wrote on 9/18/2013, 1:23 PM
Vegas can't. Whole different color space, for one thing. WIth the do-it-yourself DCP creators I've looked at, you would need to render a tiff sequence, then import into an app that can convert to JPEG2000 sequence, then feed that to the app that creates the DCP. Also, to comply with older digital projection systems (in US, at least) you would have to conform to a true 24fps sequence (not 23.976). I decided against a DIY approach for now, but things are changing rapidly. It might be feasible soon.