MPeg 2 and Apple Compressor

Hello,

I have posted this question on apple's site but had no luck so far.
With Apple Compressor I am trying to compress a video that is 720X480 3:2 ratio as an MPEG2. I can't figure out how to keep the ratio 3:2. The only options I seem to have is 3:4 or 16:9. Whenever I export it using either 3:4 or 16:9, the image looks squished. Any suggestions?

Compressor 3.0.3

>Whenever I export it using either 3:4 or 16:9, the image looks squished

Where are you viewing the video? How is it going to be viewed in the end? Off a DVD player?



www.strypesinpost.com

Honestly, I don't know. My boss just requested MPEG 2 version. He won't be in till tomorrow in order for me to answer that question.

I'm in PAL, but I'm pretty sure NTSC DVDs are 720x480. If you are exporting to a DVD from an SD frame size, crop 2 off the top and 4 off the bottom in Compressor. It will look alright in DVDSP, and ultimately DVD players.



www.strypesinpost.com

Hi,
We will be making a NTSC DVD. I tried croping it the way you say but that didn't work. The image still looks squashed. What would you recommend for croping it left and right?

>The image still looks squashed

Where are you looking at the footage? Can you post a screenshot?

> With Apple Compressor I am trying to compress a video that is 720X480

Sorry, didn't see this part... Your source footage is 720x480. You don't crop. Just send it into Compressor, encode it, send it to DVDSP, burn the DVD, then watch it off a TV. You may need to adjust settings on the player or the TV. DVD formats allow only have 2 options: 4:3 or 16:9 FHA. They both use the same number of pixels just that 16:9 footage is flagged for anamorphic and displayed anamorphic, and letterboxed when played out on 4:3 analog tvs.

On computer monitors, you may need to adjust the playback software to compensate for video pixels.

It's a common discussion on the DVDSP section. I'll shift this one there.



www.strypesinpost.com

I dont' have access to post still till monday. As soon as I can I will post them up.
I really appreciate you helping me out with this.

We are viewing the footage on my Apple Cin HD. We don't have a good reference monitor yet.

A few things to note. I really don't think it's an issue at all.

How is the Apple Cinema HD display set up? is it going through a HD converter (HD link/MXO)? Or are you just watching it off the computer screen in quicktime or DVD player? You may need to set the software to compensate for square pixels.

Next when you say 3:4, do you mean 4:3? TVs play out video pixels to fit 4:3.

3:2 is the ratio of NTSC DV in terms of video pixels (720x480), PAL is 5:4 (720x576), but they will be played out as 4:3 (square pixels).

Like I mentioned. You have 2 choices- 4:3 or 16:9. Is your footage anamorphic? Then you need to flag the track in DVDSP as 16:9 letterbox. If it is standard 4:3, then make sure the track is set to 4:3 in DVDSP. You only crop when encoding SD frame size (720x486) out to DVD, which is 720x480.

The target for DVDs is TV sets, and that's how we encode. You can also run a quick test by encoding a small portion as an mpeg2, burn that in DVDSP and play it out on a DVD player and TV.

Hope this helps.



www.strypesinpost.com