Confusion with 1440 vs 1920, best setup for encore for DVD and bluray?
 

Alright, so I have an XL H1a which shoots HDV, which is 1440 vs 1080i @ 59.97.

Anyway, my timeline for premier is 1440 etc for this footage.

Here is the odd part: it says that i'm capturing @ 1920x1080 from my black magic intensity. Weird? I'm guessing that means the aspect ratio is square coming from my capture card? If that is the case, then should I keep it 1920x1080 and go against premiers HDV settings?

I had exported at 1440x1080 like I thought I should do, but now Gspot says the video is 4:3 instead of 16:9, which should distort and mess up the footage?

Oye this is quite confusing. Does anyone have some insight as to the best way to manage this footage to retain the correct aspect ratio, best quality, and auto-letterboxing etc when its played in home DVD's for widescreen?

Re: Confusion with 1440 vs 1920, best setup for encore for DVD and bluray?
 

Hi James,

1920x1080 uses square pixels with a 1.0 Pixel Aspect Ratio (PAR), while HDV uses 1.333 PAR. A little math shows that 1440x1.333 = 1920, so when your camera plays back the HDV footage out the Component or HDMI port, it does output the video signal as 1920x1080. Therefore if using a capture card, 1920x1080 is the correct capture setting. Only use a 1440x1080 preset if capturing native HDV via 1394 Firewire.

If starting with a 1440x1080 HDV project, you should be able to choose a 1440x1080 preset for the Blu-ray encode, though you could also use 1920x1080. Of course if the project is 1920x1080, then the Blu-ray export should also be 1920x1080.

If exporting a 1920 or 1440 project to DVD, just specify 16:9 in encode settings and in Encore and the resulting DVD will be widescreen on an HD display and letterboxed on a 4:3 display (sometimes need to set 16:9 in DVD player menu settings).

When exporting for the web, you'll always want to use a 1.0 PAR, as media players usually do not take PAR into account and just assume square pixels. Most people don't use full 1920x1080 clips for the web - just export 720p at 1280x720 from full HD or HDV projects, and this uses 1.0 PAR and looks good. Be sure to deinterlace exports for the web when encoding (choose "Progressive" for Fields option).

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor

Re: Confusion with 1440 vs 1920, best setup for encore for DVD and bluray?
 

Alright thanks a lot. So would there be any harm then in editing my 1920x1080 in a 1440 timeline? It would seem thats what happened, the 1440 was captured as 1920, but I unknowingly edited it all together in a 1440 timeline. It seems to show up in the output window just fine?

Re: Confusion with 1440 vs 1920, best setup for encore for DVD and bluray?
 

Hey James....

When you create a new sequence (i'll assume you have CS4 or on), don't you have any Black Magic presets in your setup folder?
If so, use them. They will correctly import, edit, and export the correct Pixel Aspect ratio.
As mentioned by Jeff, 1440x1.33=1980.
The capture card could be simply padding, or creating its' own PAR to suit for better playback/rendering...

Re: Confusion with 1440 vs 1920, best setup for encore for DVD and bluray?
 

Hm actually no, for some odd reason none are present. I have the blackmagic codecs present when I export but nothing for new sequences..

Re: Confusion with 1440 vs 1920, best setup for encore for DVD and bluray?
 

Check with Intensity, and see if there's a download available for presets in PPro...

Re: Confusion with 1440 vs 1920, best setup for encore for DVD and bluray?
 

I have a Blackmagic Intensity Pro card. If you install the software for the card (downloadable) then you will have BM presets available in PremierePro. The BM card captures Motion JPEG (MJPEG) using their capture utility.

I don't understand why you are capturing using the BM card at all. You are decoding the HDV signal in the camera and converting from 1440 to 1920 and recoding it in the BM card. Why not simply capture the HDV stream directly using 1394/Firewire? Unless you have a special reason that you have not mentioned, the direct capture using 1394 is the most common means of getting HD video and audio out of the camera and into your editing PC. You can use the standard HDV presets if you go this way.