Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Video Editing & DVD Technical Info Question

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 07-17-2004, 08:30 PM:

This is a question for all the video editing gurus, and the DVD techie gurus. I recently edited my first video using Pinnacle's Studio 9.1 program. I'd like to upgrade to the Adobe suite as soon as finances allow, but for now, this one will have to do.

When I edited the video (which is from a VHS source), and burned the DVD, and played it back on my TV (which is always set to "anamorphic" mode, where it takes the video signal and stretches it out to fill the wide screen) I fully expected the TV to stretch a 1.33 image out and distort it like it does with every TV Series DVD I own - ala The Simpsons, X-Files, Star Trek, whatever. But it didn't. It showed the video in a 1.33 box with black bars on the sides. I thought that maybe the Pinnacle software made the DVD anamorphic, and added the black bars into the picture for me.

I then took the DVD to my dad's TV, which is a 4:3 TV, and it played full screen. Now I'm totally confused. Somehow, this DVD seems to be encoded in such a way that my dad's TV & DVD player know what to do to play it full screen, AND my TV & DVD player, while both set to 16:9 mode ALSO know to play it undistorted in a 1.33 box with black bars on the sides.

1) Does anyone have any insight into what's going on? And 2) Assuming that this is a possible format to use on a DVD and not some stupid mistake on my part, why aren't the TV Series DVDs encoded this way? It would make it a LOT easier for me so I don't have to keep switching my TV back and forth.

Thanks.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-17-2004, 09:15 PM:

It depends on if an anamorphic flag is on the DVD. Maybe your stretched mode got turned off. However I refuse to help people watch something in an incorrect aspect ratio. [av=c]

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 07-17-2004, 11:07 PM:

Good, because since I'm sure you read my post, you know that the whole point is that somehow BOTH a widescreen TV and a standard TV managed to play back a DVD recording of a VHS tape in 4:3 (the correct aspect ratio) without me having to adjust anything - which isn't usually what happens with 4:3 formatted DVDs.

So are you saying that if the Simpsons DVDs had the anamorphic flag set (even tho they're not anamorphic), they would automatically show in the correct aspect ratio without me having to adjust my TV to standard 4:3 mode? If that's the case, why the hell don't they do that?!?!?

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-17-2004, 11:30 PM:

It may just set to display 4:3 through the composite input.[av=n]

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 07-18-2004, 12:10 AM:

I'm curious about the setup of the widescreen TV and the DVD player used along with it. Lots of DVD players will adjust between showing 4:3 ratio content and 16:9 content and may pass that along via the component video output.

In other words, I don't think it is anything the Pinnacle software did to the disc.

And to go a little bit off topic, the Pinnacle Studio suite is not all that bad when you compare reasonably affordable PC-based video editing applications. If you're going to go with the Adobe suite, the main reason to get it is for After Effects. That's really the only Adobe video app that qualifies as really good. Premiere Pro 1.5 is an improvement over 1.0, but it still pales in comparison to an app like Final Cut Pro. I've heard complaints about the Adobe Encore DVD authoring application, and I don't quite understand the packaging of Adobe Audition (which used to be Cool Edit Pro). You can do some multi-track audio editing in that app. But to encode Dolby Digital 5.1 you have to buy a $299 plug in from SurCode and it installs into Premiere Pro. Wierd.

Video editing is the one area where Apple has a solid lead over the PC market. Much more simple. Final Cut Pro HD and DVD Studio Pro 3. Two apps and that's it. Oh, you could still buy the Mac version of Adobe After Effects, or spend a ton of money on Apple Shake. On the PC side things are just still way too complicated.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 07-18-2004, 11:22 AM:

The video I'm playing around with is a home movie of a family trip to Disney World from 17 years ago. I am using an old version of Cool Edit Pro to mix the audio since it's almost impossible to do the kind of audio editing I need to do in the Pinnacle Studio software. I'm finding myself laying out the video, mixing the audio to match separately, and then recombining them to make the final movie (ie - one video file with the audio muted, and one big wav file with all the audio mixed the way I want it including background noises, music - which I'm also editing so the flourishes match the transitions and such, and the dialog). It's quite a chore, but the finished product is awesome.

The TV is a Toshiba 50HDX82 projection TV. The DVD player is a Toshiba SD-3800-U. They are connected with the component video cables. When I load up Star Wars Episode I widescreen DVD, it plays in wide screen mode. If I hit stop, and load The Simpsons and hit play, it stretches the 4:3 image to fill the 16:9 screen thus distorting the picture. If I hit stop again and load my Pinnacle Disney Trip DVD and hit play, it plays in 4:3 with black bars on the sides.

I think I might have figured it out. In my DVD player, there is a setting for "TV Shape" which is set to 16:9. There is also a setting for "4:3 Progressive" which is set to 4:3. If I change that setting to "Full" it stretches the 4:3 out to the full width of the screen like it does for The Simpsons DVD.

SO... Does that mean that my Pinnacle DVD must have a progressive scan video signal and the Simpsons DVD is interlaced? If so... Why?

Thanks for all the help and insight on the Adobe suite. Maybe I'll just stick with Pinnacle and instead upgrade Cool Edit Pro.

Mark

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 07-18-2004, 12:56 PM:

I thought all DVD video content was encoded as progressive scan, hence the term "480p". My guess is the Simpsons DVD may lack some kind of flag to tell the player it is 4:3 content only.

As for the Adobe stuff, I would download the demos for those programs and give them a "test drive". See how they stack up to the Pinnacle software.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-18-2004, 04:10 PM:

All DVD content is considered 4:3 unless it has a 16:9 flag. It is up to the way you have your TV set up whether it is displayed progressively or not. If you watched interlaced footage on a progressive scan monitor, you will see both fields at the same time and it will look like crap.[av=c]

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 07-18-2004, 04:11 PM:

Video Basics and how Interlacing and Progressive Scan works

Posted by John Lasher (Member # 968) on 07-20-2004, 05:09 PM:

I believe some widescreen TVs are designed to automatically detect when something is in 4:3 mode (and display it with black bars on the sides) this might be the answer (If you still have it, the instruction manual from the TV might say something about this.)