Does the PV-DV953 have real 16:9? at DVinfo.net

Emre Safak · November 4th, 2005, 10:47 AM

I shot a short with my PV-DV953 in 16:9 mode, and intend to intercut with some footage I captured with a DVX100. The color difference I can compensate for, but I just noticed that my PV-DV953's 16:9 is off-ratio; something between 4:3 and 16:9. Did anybody else notice this?

Guy Bruner · November 4th, 2005, 11:55 AM

Emre,
There are two answers to your question. I'm not sure which you are asking, so I'll try to tackle them both.

The DV953 has a widescreen mode that uses anamorphic widescreen DV pixels (1.2121:1 pixel aspect ratio). It doesn't widen its field of view in widescreen mode. That means that it has to crop the video vertically then zoom it digitally to full frame. This is similar to cropping a 4:3 frame for 16:9 in software, then zooming it to make the frame parameters correct.

DV widescreen is not exactly 16:9 (1.78:1) which is usually given as 854x480. DV widescreen is 1.2121 X 720 = 873 x 480 or 1.82:1. The problem you may be having if you are cropping your DVX video to 16:9 (854x480) and then trying to intercut the DV953's widescreen is the frames will not be the same size. If you shoot widescreen on the DVX, then the two cams should match up. Or, you can slightly crop the sides off the DV953's frames

Emre Safak · November 5th, 2005, 08:41 AM

The footage from both cameras is 720x480; is that right? The DVX's is letterboxed. The 953's is not; when I force it to 16x9 it looks compressed.

Guy Bruner · November 5th, 2005, 11:42 AM

Yes, both 4:3 and widescreen is 720x480 pixels. This sounds like an editing software issue. If the DVX's video is letterboxed, then you either shot in 4:3 and are putting that video on a 16:9 timeline, or you shot in Cinema mode which is letterboxed 4:3 in the cam. Widescreen video from the DV953 will look squeezed vertically if you drop it on a 4:3 timeline but should look like 16:9 if you change the editing software's project settings to widescreen.

November 4th, 2005, 10:47 AM	#1
Emre Safak Trustee Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brookline, MA Posts: 1,447	Does the PV-DV953 have real 16:9? I shot a short with my PV-DV953 in 16:9 mode, and intend to intercut with some footage I captured with a DVX100. The color difference I can compensate for, but I just noticed that my PV-DV953's 16:9 is off-ratio; something between 4:3 and 16:9. Did anybody else notice this?

November 4th, 2005, 11:55 AM	#2
Guy Bruner Major Player Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Ashford, AL Posts: 937	Emre, There are two answers to your question. I'm not sure which you are asking, so I'll try to tackle them both. The DV953 has a widescreen mode that uses anamorphic widescreen DV pixels (1.2121:1 pixel aspect ratio). It doesn't widen its field of view in widescreen mode. That means that it has to crop the video vertically then zoom it digitally to full frame. This is similar to cropping a 4:3 frame for 16:9 in software, then zooming it to make the frame parameters correct. DV widescreen is not exactly 16:9 (1.78:1) which is usually given as 854x480. DV widescreen is 1.2121 X 720 = 873 x 480 or 1.82:1. The problem you may be having if you are cropping your DVX video to 16:9 (854x480) and then trying to intercut the DV953's widescreen is the frames will not be the same size. If you shoot widescreen on the DVX, then the two cams should match up. Or, you can slightly crop the sides off the DV953's frames

November 5th, 2005, 08:41 AM	#3
Emre Safak Trustee Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brookline, MA Posts: 1,447	The footage from both cameras is 720x480; is that right? The DVX's is letterboxed. The 953's is not; when I force it to 16x9 it looks compressed.

November 5th, 2005, 11:42 AM	#4
Guy Bruner Major Player Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Ashford, AL Posts: 937	Yes, both 4:3 and widescreen is 720x480 pixels. This sounds like an editing software issue. If the DVX's video is letterboxed, then you either shot in 4:3 and are putting that video on a 16:9 timeline, or you shot in Cinema mode which is letterboxed 4:3 in the cam. Widescreen video from the DV953 will look squeezed vertically if you drop it on a 4:3 timeline but should look like 16:9 if you change the editing software's project settings to widescreen.