Which ratio to use saving to create video file. 720 or 704?

Rainet · Post by **Rainet** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 1:36 am

I have some video clips in the 704x480 ratio. And i also have some video clips in the 720x480 ratio. Now if i save all the videos in ONE create video file to 720x480. How would the 704x480 file look? Would it look worse?

Or would i be better off saving all the videos to 704x480. How would the 720x480 look when shrinked to 704x480? So basically what im asking is...720x480 or 704x480 since i have a mix of videos with both ratios?

jchunter · Post by **jchunter** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 1:46 am

Use 720 because that is standard for DVDs in NTSC land. Where did the 704x480s come from? If your camcorder shoots both, you would be better off shooting in 720x480.

DVDDoug · Post by **DVDDoug** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 2:49 am

Any time you re-code a video file, it will be degraded to some extent. If the file is DV, you probably not going to notice the difference. If it's MPEG-2 (or a more-compressed format), you are more likely to notice the degradation.

Rainet · Post by **Rainet** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 3:53 am

To clarify i have some old music videos that i collected a while back on tv. And yes they are mepg2. so should i keep it at 704x480? and shrink the videos that are in 720x480 mode? Its one or the other when i save to create video file.

One thing that was interesting was i tested 2 videos that were in 704 and burned it to 720. One looks fine (size wise)and the other now has black bars.

Half the videos are in 720, the other half in 704. Would it look better if the 720x480 videos shrink to 704 or better to keep the 720x480 videos as it is and blow up the 704x480 videos to 720? Hope this clarifies things.

maddrummer3301 · Post by **maddrummer3301** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 5:57 am

Rainet · Post by **Rainet** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 12:38 pm

Hmmm, interesting. The only problem with that solution is i won't be able to add in chapter stops. And that's the main reason to create one big file. Is there a way to save all the videos in one create video file while still maintaining their proper resolutions?

daniel · Post by **daniel** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 12:40 pm

My suggestion: create a 720 project and insert all the videos on the timeline.
Then select each 704 clip and under Attributes tab, select distort clip crossbox. Then in the distort screen, right click the preview window and select Keep original size. Repeat for all 704 clips.

You will have a 720 DVD with the 704 clips a tiny little bit short in width (8 pixels left, eight pixels right. Due to the overscan area you will not notice it on TV, (and probably also not on a PC, we're talking 1 percent here).

But, since no resizing will occur, quality is preserved (don't forget to check use smart rendering).

Rainet · Post by **Rainet** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 12:54 pm

Interesting. I will try that. So when i finally burn it, and click do not convert compliant mpeg file and burn it at 720, the 704 ratio will remain intact?

And also i have a widescreen lcd tv, will i really not notice the shortened width? Hope this works.

daniel · Post by **daniel** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 1:27 pm

More precisely, VS will produce a 720 movie with some parts having a 8 pixel wide black bar left and right.
On a TV this will happen out of the viewable area of the screen.

On 16:9 TVs, on LCD 4:3 and PC monitors YOU will see it because you know it, but casual users won't notice.

I often insert original-sized computer pictures of 640*480 into my videos (PAL 720x576) and I don't see it when just viewing the program (depends on your TV). And there we speak about 80 points and 96 lines missing.