Station says aspect ratio is off -- what to do????

Hello to all,

I received the following message regarding a show I edited:

"We caught the re-feed of the show today ? however, it?s not airable as fed. It appears that the program was acquired in HD and then pulled into an edit system in SD so the picture is squeezed horizontally? everyone looks tall and skinny. If we can get a copy of the program in the proper aspect ratio (either letterbox?d or with the edges cut off) this will confuse everyone whose just starting to implement their digital boxes if we air the program as fed? with the aspect ratio is wrong."

The show looks fine on my broadcast monitor and the DVDs I've made play fine on the television.

What to do????????

As always, thanks in advance!
Peace,
Lisha

I'm guessing you supplied them with a 16:9 Full Height Anamorphic version and they are incompetent and should not be running a TV station. Seriously they need a slap... (I might have to rant later on another thread)

I'm also guessing they only broadcast 4:3 which for a digital feed is nonsense... but hey ho you've been asked to provide them with a different deliverable so...

Make a 4:3 version as they suggested that is letter-boxed.

Simply drop your 16:9 master onto a 4:3 timeline - this should automatically make a widescreen version that looks letter-boxed ie: black bars top and bottom - render and play out.

Alternatively you might want to make a pan& scan version for them.

Bring the 16:9 master into a 4:3 timeline and scale the height up to fill the screen. Then using the motion tab move the picture so that the focus is where you want it.

It might take a long time if you do it on each edit though...

For broadcast at the BBC we do titles and overlays as 14:9 safe or more usually 4:3 safe so they can crop either side of a programme for those backwards and antiquated US TV channels that didn't realise the rest of the world was using widescreen for nearly 10 years and now HD (which is all widescreen).

Don't berate them but do mention they should be able to cope with something as simple as aspect ratio conversion.



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>I'm guessing you supplied them with a 16:9 Full Height Anamorphic version and they are
>incompetent and should not be running a TV station. Seriously they need a slap... (I might
>have to rant later on another thread)

Stations like that exist. My local station messes up FHA programmes- I've seen a FHA feature aired in 4:3 WITHOUT letterbox or a Pan and Scan. They simply aired them skinny. I make it a point to deliver all FHA masters to them in SD 4:3 letterboxed on a digital beta (they always request a digital beta anyway, even for DV rushes).

Pardon my rant. If they want a 4:3 letterbox or a 4:3 Pan and Scan, that should come in the specs and you should confirm it before delivery.

Anyway, that isn't your fault, as we're moving between an SD and a HD world and HD is almost always FHA, and SD 4:3. What's your master anyway?

> The show looks fine on my broadcast monitor and the DVDs I've made play fine on the
> television.

Alright. What actually happens here, is that the capture card does the resizing and letterboxing on playback. On DVDs, the track is flagged for anamorphic, and the player recognises it and letterboxes it on playback.



www.strypesinpost.com

Yowza! I'm guessing they don't even know what Anamorphic is!

Did they specify what specs they wanted? Did you label the tape as "anamorphic 16:9"? They can't blame you if you did label the tape properly and never said they didn't want anamorphic.

Ben is right -- while these guys don't appear to be the brightest bulbs in the box, you'll need to get the exact specs they want and deliver. Find out from them.


www.derekmok.com

UH...for stations not to air ANAMORPHIC video is very common. If they want an SD version, they will want it letterboxed, not anamorphic. My HDCAM deliveries are anamorphic, but my Digibeta dubs are letterboxed.

Now...what did they want? HD or SD? If HD, then what are they smoking if they don't know what anamorphic is? If SD, then yeah, you should not have delivered a 16:9 anamorphic master. No one that I know of broadcasts SD in that fashion.


www.shanerosseditor.com

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Did they complain that the tape started with over a minute of brightly colored bars and an annoying high-pitched noise, too? Those are like, the worst opening titles in history!

You should be asking THEM what they NEED EXACTLY. Never assume anything in regards to a piece that is airing.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

All SD 16:9 in Australia can be delivered anamorphic.

Also, check if there's is a publication of tech specs for delivery. That is usually included for broadcast projects.



www.strypesinpost.com

Did you get this sorted Lisha?



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Hi Ben,

Thanks so much. I sent them another tape -- 4:3.

THANKS EVERYONE!!!!!!!!