HDV Pixels and Exporting to AVI

L_Town wrote on 4/1/2009, 7:35 AM
1) First, I heard that 1440 X 1080 Pixel Aspect Ratio of 1.33 is equal to 1920 X 1080 Pixel Aspect Ratio of 1.0. Is this correct?

2) I recently shot some footage in HDV 1080i 1440 X 1080 with a PAR of 1.33. Your standard HDV footage. Nothing special. My final output is going to be on the web. My question is when it comes to project settings. Should I set my project to 1920 X 1080 instead of the 1440 X 1080 preset and then render out as a AVI? I also noticed with SD DV footage that I have to change the field order to progressive in the AVI settings, otherwise the video looks like garbage. Would I have to do that again with this HDV footage?

Thanks!

-Brian

Comments

kairosmatt wrote on 4/1/2009, 8:40 AM
Brian,

1. Yes

2. Your project setting are not so important here in Vegas, its your render setting that matter more. One reason your interlaced SD AVIs might look like 'garbage' is that you are viewing them on a computer monitor which is progressive. But if you are rendering for web delivery, you definitely want it to be progressive.

One thing to watch out for though with project settings and render settings: if you are creating any generated media, things like ProType or BorisFX plugins, make sure the project settings and render settings have the same aspect ratio. This bit me in the butt quite a few times...

Hope it helps,
kairosmatt
SCS PBC wrote on 4/1/2009, 8:58 AM
For best results, your project properties should correspond to the properties of your project's media (in most cases). In this case, 1440x1080-60i.

In other words, any conversion should generally be done upon rendering, not upon importing.
GregFlowers wrote on 4/1/2009, 9:55 AM
Also remember anytime you convert HD to SD use the "Best" render setting instead of the "Good" setting it defaults to. This is true anytime you will be doing any kind of resizing, panning or cropping.
L_Town wrote on 4/1/2009, 11:55 AM
If 1440 X 1080 Pixel Aspect Ratio of 1.33 is equal to 1920 X 1080 Pixel Aspect Ratio of 1.0 then why edit in 1440 X 1080? Any particular reason?

What's the best method to render to the web? I use another program as a MP4 "encoder" for reasons too long to explain. Should I export out as a progressive AVI or WMV at 5Mbps?
Robert W wrote on 4/1/2009, 12:20 PM
They are equal in screen area but not in resolution. HDV often operates in a 1440 x 1080 1.333 format because it was part of a cost reduced approach to HD recording.

It is easier to edit in the source file aspect and resolution as working in 1920x1080 would necessitate an on the fly transformation would require more CPU power, affecting frame rates. and would be better reserve for the final render.

Also as mentioned above, it seems to work better for Vegas to handle the transformation from the project settings to the target format, than to match the target format in the project settings and let it figure out to do with the media it contains.
L_Town wrote on 4/2/2009, 1:22 PM
"Also as mentioned above, it seems to work better for Vegas to handle the transformation from the project settings to the target format, than to match the target format in the project settings and let it figure out to do with the media it contains. "

Ok so I should use 1440 X 1080 when editing my footage. But should I export/render (if I so choose to) out as 1920 X 1080 or should I export out as 1440 X 1080?
ScorpioProd wrote on 4/2/2009, 2:52 PM
WMV 9 can support 1440X1080p with a 1.333 aspect ratio.

That means you would get more bits available per pixel than if you compressed at 1920X1080p with square pixels.

Therefore, since you aren't going to gain anything from more pixels where they weren't there to start with, your quality should be better with 1440X1080p with a 1.333 aspect ratio.