A better way? Aspect radio.

[whatfun]

I have a project in VS10. I need to get it down the highest quality file (no compression) possible. I would like it to be 720 x 480 with an aspect ratio fo 4:3, however unless I use one of the presets I can not set the aspect ratio as the option is greyed out. I am new to video stuff.

Here is what I have been doing.

1. I have built the project and everything is as I want it
   I click share
   I choose Create Video File
   Choose Custom
   options button
   under general tab data track is Audio and Video
   frame rate is 29.97
   frame type is lower field first
   frame size is 720 x 480
   display aspect ratio is greyed out?? not sure why
   on the AVI tab compression is set to none
   data type is 24 bit
   Audio is PCM 48000khz 16 bit stereo
   on the advanced button I have checked interleave audio and video and pack audio data for every 15 frames

The video looks and sounds good. I will be doing more to it in after effext and encore, I just cant seem to get the aspect ratio set.

Is there a better way to do what I am looking for.

Thanks.

[Ken Berry]

The problem is that we don't know what you are looking for, apart from high quality. But do you intend to leave it on your computer in high quality (uncompressed?) .AVI format? In other words, what is your ultimate intention with the video?

Do you want to produce a DVD? If so, then it needs at some stage to be converted to DVD-compatible mpeg-2 format. This will involve compression and some inherent quality loss (though if the mpeg-2 properties are kept high, it will not be visible to the naked eye).

You also need to tell us where the video came from? If it was from a mini-DV digital video camera, then in fact it should be in DV/AVI format (captured via firewire???) and not uncompressed .AVI. The latter is huge (around 65 GB per hour of video), whereas DV is around 13 GB per hour.

But without some of this fundamental information, none of us will be able to help you.

[whatfun]

The source video from multiple sources.

1 - Microsoft AVI - OpenDML 29.97 frames/sec compression DV video encoder -- type 2 audio PCM 48k 16 bit

2 - MPEG2 video 24bit 480 x 480 4:3 aspect ratio 29.97 frames/sec

Those are the properties of the clips. It will end up on DVD at some point.

I need to get it into premiere pro 2 first. I can not bring it right into premiere because the audio gets out of sync (premiere pro and elements does not like mpeg video. I have no sync issues in VS10. So I thought I would bring it in here, and get it out to high quality AVI, into premiere pro 2, then after effects, and on to encore where it will go to DVD.

The reason I don¡¦t use a program to just convert the video to AVI is they are 1 hr long files, and I might only need 30 seconds of the file. So bringing it into VS10 performing some rough edit, and out to AVI - sounded like a good idea.

This way I only have 40 seconds of AVI footage to bring into premiere pro 2.

If I can provide any more info please let me know.

[DVDDoug]

I don't understand what you are doing with the aspect ratio... If all of your source video is 4x3 and you are making a 4x3 videl, everything should be OK. Don't confuse the aspect ratio with the pixel ratio.* If you use Video Studio to make a DVD, Video Studio will convert it to 720x480 if necessary, and it will add/remove pixels and re-shape the pixels as required to keep the correct aspect ratio. Of course, you will loose some image quality in the process. (I assume that your other software will do the same thing.)

I need to get it down the highest quality file (no compression) possible.

MPEG is lossy compression. Data is thrown-away during the compresion process. When you re-code the MPEG, it has to be decompressed and then re-compressed... a 2nd lossy compression step. To mimimize the quality loss, use a high bitrate. (There should be no noticeable quality loss when converting from MPEG to DV, except if you change the pixel resolution/ratio.)

Higher bitrate = higher quality = bigger file size = lower compression = less playing time.

Lower bitrate = lower quality = smaller file size = higher compression = more playing time.

I can not bring it right into premiere because the audio gets out of sync (premiere pro and elements does not like mpeg video. I have no sync issues in VS10.

Interesting!!! This seems to be very random... I've sometimes had the same problems with Ulead. (See my signature/tagline below? ) At least one person reported solving his "lip-sync" problems by switching to Premere Elements. I bought a special-purpose MPEG editor.


* Note that 4x3 and 16x9 (NTSC) DVDs both use 720x480 pixels. Both formats have the same resolution, but the pixels are different shapes. Still images use square pixels, and a 720x480 still image is neither 4x3 or 16x9!

[Ken Berry]

Can you confirm that the frame size of the mpeg-2 video is 480 x 480; and if so, where on earth it came from...?

[etech6355]

What fun, it is..
Use DV-Type-2.
I think he's on the right track.
When in the AVI -> option settings under the compression tab select DV-Type-2 for the video codec compression.
The audio setting should be selected as PCM - 16bit 48khz Stereo.

Option #2 - Elementary Streams
You also have the option under the general tab to select "Video Only" using DV-Type2.
Then also export the audio from the project as wav 16bit 48khz stereo.
Sometimes these other editors prefer working with elementary streams.

[whatfun]

Ken - Yes the mpeg2 video is 480 x 480.

DVDDoug - I was relating the pixel ratio with the aspect ratio I guess stuff can be other pixel ratios and still be 4x3.

etech6355 - I appreciate the reply. You are right on the money!! If I choose Use DV-Type-2. The Display aspect ratio on the general tab is no longer grey. So I guess I must have to select some compression on the video? to get it out with a 4x3 aspect ratio. I am not sure why? Maybe because of the different pixel sizes of my movies. At this point there is no reason to make a custom setting on my "create video file" then in my case since now all the settings match the NTSC DV (4:3) preset in VS10.

I have tried both Adobe Premiere pro 2, and premiere elements, and both programs get my video and audio out of sync while dealing with them in MPEG format. And I have even tried the MPEG add on for premiere pro 2. So until adobe deals with mpeg video better, my choice is to bring it in to VS10 or maybe Media Studio Pro 8 and perform some rough editing and getting it out to AVI. Rather than using a program to just convert an hr long mpeg to AVI resulting in a very large file to import into adobe just to use 30 seconds of the clip.

As I learn about video .. I find that I like more expansive programs that do not limit what you can do. The simple interfaces of programs like premiere elements and VS10 I find harder to use than a more elaborate program that might take a lil more time to learn.

[etech6355]

As I learn about video .. I find that I like more expansive programs that do not limit what you can do. The simple interfaces of programs like premiere elements and VS10 I find harder to use than a more elaborate program that might take a lil more time to learn.

Many of the other programs are geared for studio type environments.
They usually edit in DV-Type2 or Elementary Streams (ES). ES Streams are separate video & audio streams stored as files.

DV Type-2 is similar to elementary streams except in one file. The audio is written in the file differently than DV-Type1.

When you export any video from the expensive programs to use in VS or any other editor make sure not to include program markers, extra information that gets written into the mpeg or dv file. VS or another program will read this information and pops/click can occur in the audio, same with the video having problems.
That's called operator error.