safe area dimensions

commedimus wrote on 3/14/2004, 4:32 AM
I have a few newspaper clippings I was sent in pdf format that I want to put in a project. I converted the pdf in photshop to a jpeg with dimensions of 720 X 480. The clipping takes up essentially the whole screen. I believe some of the clipping will be cut off when viewed on a tv. My question was whether anyone here knew the dimensions to set a picture at to keep it safe from being cut off. I will likely end up using pan/crop to make the jpeg smaller on screen but I don't want to make it any smaller than necessary to insure that it is still legible.
Thanks T.E.

Comments

farss wrote on 3/14/2004, 5:22 AM
This is always a difficult one, LCD and plasma TVs will show the whole screen whereas TVs will typically crop off around 10%. If you use the 10% safe area rectangle as a guide you should be failry safe.

If you're going to pan / crop it then this should be too much of an issue, you could go from 20% in on the LH side to 20% in on the RH side and that way ensure everyone can read all of it.
John_Cline wrote on 3/14/2004, 10:21 AM
LCD and Plasma TVs still overscan, but not quite to the same extent as a CRT TV.

John
JOM wrote on 3/14/2004, 11:45 AM
I am ultimately going to transfer to 35mm film. My project was shot in Mini DV using an anomorphic Optex adaptor; and the edge of the adapter cuts into the frame while the zoom is all th way in. I need to know how much safe area I have when the project is scanned for film transfer. Anybody?
farss wrote on 3/14/2004, 12:31 PM
Speak to the house doing the xfer, only they will know for sure as the AR for 35 isn't 16:9 exactly.
cheroxy wrote on 3/14/2004, 1:15 PM
I have always wondered...is CRT TV the same as a CRT monitor for my computer?
thanks,
Carson Calderwood
commedimus wrote on 3/14/2004, 1:46 PM
Thanks for the suggestions. I will use pan/crop and then do a render of the clippings to get a feel for how well it worked. Unfortunately, I don't have an outside monitor to export to so I pretty much have to render and put on dvd before I can view on a tv.
farss wrote on 3/14/2004, 2:27 PM
If you're going to print to 35 those tools would seem pretty low cost by comparison. Do you really need to go to 35mm? At around $1/ frame it's mighty expensive. Also the lab will most likely accept all of your text as a graphics file, they can print that to film direct so it looks as good as real film.

I've shown a few movies in cinemas from DV with a decent projector, OK it was a free screening paid for by donations but no one walked out. Pay particular attention to your audio and then some more!

No matter how crappy the image looks if the audio is the slightest bit off it will sound HORRIBLE on one those big cinema systems.