Rectangular pixels ? Urgent help needed for Plasma presentation
 

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the urgent post but I need to create a presentation to be shown on a SONY PFM321C1E (PLS8) 32" plasma and I am getting really confused about what resolution/pixel aspect I need to use.

The monitor has the following spec:

Panel Resolution 1024 x 852 pixels
Pixel pitch 0.84 x 0.39 mm
Active area (W/H) 715.68 x 399.36 mm
Color system NTSC, PAL, SECAM, NTSC4.43, PAL-M, PAL 60
Sampling rate 13.5 to 140 MHz

I am aiming to make a presentation to be run from a Windows PC using After Effects (Quicktime final output).

I sent a test of 1024x852 (square pixels) to the hire company and they said it had black bars to the left and right sides.

Can anybody suggest what resolution and pixel aspect I should use?

I assume that 1024x852 rectangular pixels is the way to go? Do I want to use the D1/DV PAL widescreen (1.42) or am I getting confused. Also am I better sticking to a standard PC resolution (i.e. 1024x768) seeing as this will be providing the RGB feed?????

I think I am also getting worried about the fact that the laptop providing the movie will probably be a 4:3 screen.

Panic panic panic

Alex

Moved to our Digital Compositing and Effects (since it involves After Effects).

Use any 16:9 format. I suggest just going with the preset ones - DV widescreen should be fine for most purposes.

Can you tell me what you're playing it with - quicktime player, or after effects, or something else? Also, what's the connection to the monitor: rgb, s-video, dvi...?

1. the display device is not interpetting the signal correctly from the computer, there should be a menu setting to adjust on the display

2. the PC driving the display is not talking to it correctly - happens all the time. force the PC into the correct res, try again

3. rental co is techno-illiterate on the fine points, until you get them on the phone and persue the issue, then they usually come around and say" all I had to do was change this one setting....."

its either #1, #2, or both. don't panic... ever! ideally go to the rental co and set the thing up yourself going through all setting properly. or set up for 1280X720P 16:9 square pixels, thats what the display really wants, but is less PB overhead than a full 1920X1080 whose pixels aren't displayed anyways.

Steve Oakley

Quicktime was my plan as I have Quicktime Pro

Normal RGB 25pin D-sub

Thanks Steve,

In the past I have had to use the Zoom control to solve this - it does have some squashing effects though.

If the PC is a normal 4:3 (non widescreen) can it be 'forced' into a widescreen mode or do I need to choose the closest size overall. With Quicktime you can play the video full screen, I wonder if this uses the video size to determine the resolution or if it is still constrained by the PC set-up.

Would a widescreen laptop make a difference?

Very likely... The last company phoned me up half way through an exhibition with the 'brain wave' of setting the PC to 800x600 which made b*gg*r all difference. What was particularly annoying was that I had sent them a test resolution video in advance that they said looked perfect... I woudl pop in but they are 300 miles away...

OK thanks for this. I will go for this idea and if it dosen't fit then I guess Zoom will be the only option.

Many thanks for all your ideas I appreciate the help.

One more thought.

If the spec says 0.84 x 0.39 pixel pitch is it true I need square pixels?

This seems very unsquare to me or is it not related?