Pixel ratio problems

I am having aspect ratio problems with digital footage in FCE lately. The footage is shot on a couple of sony cameras (mine is a dcr-hc96) and captured directly into FCE. The footage is shot in 4:3 and I want the movie to be 4:3 to post on YouTube, etc. I have been capturing the clips using the "NTSC DV" setup (via firewire).
The problem is, when I save or export the movies, the frame is stretched. When I inspect it using QT Pro, it shows the size as "720x480 (640x480)" and the display is stretched wider than normal from side to side. Apparently, the image needs rectangular pixels but is using square pixels. The only way I can get a proper frame size is to explicitly export to "640x480 VGA." This has only started happening recently. (Possibly since I installed QT Pro...)
Any suggestions? I looked here and did not find anything directly applicable. The user manual does not help (it says "fortunately, FCE always works with native resolutions so you get the exact pixel dimensions.")
thanks in advance
Powerbook G4
OS 10.4.10
FCE 3.5.1
QT Pro 7.2

+why this would happen...+
When you Export/Quicktime Movie or Export/Using Quicktime Conversion (and you use a DV codec) the resulting .mov file will always have rectangular pixels: 720x480 for NTSC. This is correct and it will display correct on a TV from the video DVD after burning this file.
If however you want to watch the same .mov file on a Mac (or PC) monitor, the player must change the pixel aspect ratio during playback, since Mac monitors are square pixels devices. The corresponding media is not affected by this option, but only the QT Player playback.
QT Player (with QT Pro) should default the Presentation option to: Conform aperture to = Clean, as I wrote in my previous answer: this is telling QT Player to make the pixel ratio conversion on the fly. My guess is that the "Conform Aperture to" option is not properly set for you; if it is not set, or it is set to Classic or Encoded Pixels it will show the stretched pixels. The Production option is almost like Clean.
If you export from FCE to some format other than DV in general its pixels are already square (e.g. H.264 has 320x240) and the Conform Aperture to option shouldn't affect the QT Player playback.
I hope this clarifies the point.
Piero

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H.264 pixel aspect ratio problem after update

Yesterday I updated Premiere Pro CC and Media Encoder CC to version 2014.2. But now I am having pixel aspect ratio problems with the H.264 codec when I export a 1080i50 sequence to PAL widescreen. The problem also seems to occur with other frames sizes.
I am using the same settings as usual with Aspect set to: D1/DV PAL Widescreen 16:9.(1.4587). However, VLC and Windows Media Player play the video with a 5:4 ratio. So it looks like the pixel aspect ratio information is not passed to Media Encoder or to the file.
This problem does not affect other codecs like AVI or MPEG-2, these are correctly displayed.
Is there anyone else having this problem? And more important, does anyone know a solution?

When creating files for computer/online playback (not editing), then best practice is to simply use square pixels with 1.0 Pixel Aspect Ratio, which will ensure that ALL players correctly display your video, no chance of problems.
Export as 1024x576 with 1.0 PAR and that is the square-pixel equivalent of PAL DV widescreen.
For NTSC users, I've seen it two ways, either 864x480 or 854x480.
Merry Christmas
Jeff Pulera

Still no fix for aspect ratio problems

I was hoping this new version would fix the aspect ratio problems with importing clips other than in the DV codec, but alas, it was not to be.
My problem is that if I import a clip that is 720x486 (non-square pixels, uncompressed), iDVD doesn't interpret it correctly. It places the clip with small black bars (like a little letterbox) at the top and bottom of the screen, then scrunches the image vertically, sprinkling it with stairstep artifacts.
What's frustrating is that versions up to iDVD 4 didn't have this problem and imported clips in any codec beautifully. It's been a known issue for a long time.
Furthermore, Apple's solution is to convert the clip to a self-contained DV movie (hello, disk space!), which is also undesirable because of the quality loss and poor colour compression. After the latest QuickTime upgrade, exporting in DV doesn't work, creating a clip that is half-field and blocky.
Argh! This is a real problem because many of us use iDVD to make screeners for clients, and it looks unprofessional. It's also a very inaccurate and somewhat useless tool when the clips are of clean lines, titles, and smooth, solid graphics, which show the stairstep effect the most.
I'm at my wit's end having exhausted all other suggested solutions (and please don't tell me to use DVD Studio Pro instead). Anyone else come up with a fix or have the same issue?
Previous discussion on this issue here: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=204675&tstart=0

Sorry, but the answer is - for professional use, use
DVD SP
No, it is absolutely not the answer. EVERYONE I know in my circle of professionals uses iDVD for banging-out quick screeners of TV spots, film clips, dailies. In fact, it's one of the main reasons they added OneStep to iDVD. DVD Studio Pro is for authoring commercial-level DVDs, with a learning curve and pricing structure appropriate to that.
I'm not going to spend time learning DVD Studio Pro just to do quick one-offs, for one, and it's overkill anyway. Not only that, but it costs a lot more than iDVD.
The inablity to import a QuickTime clip -- on Apple software, no less -- is not cool, especially since it doesn't seem an excessive thing to ask (and it used to encode just fine). It's a very basic task considering everything else iDVD has been written to do, and crosscoding and re-encoding video is a basic functionality in QuickTime.
I'm not asking iDVD to prove the existence of dark matter in the universe; I'm just asking it to play a QuickTime movie properly. Which is what it's supposed to do.
There was a work-around, supplied by Apple, but it no longer works for me, so that's why I'm asking what worked for others.

Can't render out 1.44 pixel ratio for SD 16:9 UK TVC broadcast requirements ?

I'm prepping a TV advert for broacast in the UK and the station require an SD 16:9 1.44 pixel ratio 720x576 (1024x576), the problem is this just doesn't seem possible in after effects or any adobe porduct I can see ?
The only thing I can do is render out a 1.46 pixel ratio 720x576 (1050x576) version.
Any help on this would be greatly apreciated !

1.44 is actually wrong according to the specifications. The PAR for NTSC footage is also wrong. There's an article somewhere on the Adobe site that explains the decision and there's an article by Chris and Trish Meyer on the subject. Adobe changed it to be more, not less compliant. It wasn't that long ago and we were working with 640 X 480 as the standard video size for digital production. The very best workflow is to work in square pixels anyway and only squeeze the image as a final step. And as I said before, there are dozens of codecs that don't even have a spot in their container to define PAR. For some it's like trying to add PPI info to a .gif -
What codec do they require? What data rate? Where's the white paper. I'd be glad to read it. In practical terms, and for every network from the US, to France, to Japan, that I've ever submitted work to, match their request for delivery format and they never look back. They just take your money and play your stuff. Only once in more than 40 years of submitting programming to television did I have to send a network a different file or tape.
You can't be the only AE artist producing for broadcast in the UK. I've been in television since 1969 and was one of the first utilizers of desktop production in a major US market. It's about scan lines and timeing (frame size). Go to Angie Taylors's blog and ask her the question. She's one of the top AE artists and trainers in the UK.

Inspecting FCE pixel ratio - always anamorphic, or square force possible?

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As far as the letterboxing point then, is iDVD really just that bad? I had seen quality issues with it before, but I didn't think it could possibly be this bad... Our editor has Toast; is that a potential alternative for authoring the DVDs?

PRE7: Aspect Ratio problem even before opening source media file

Hi,
I am a newbie in Premiere Elements. Read a lot of threads with aspect ratio problems, but didn't find similar problem to mine, so decided to open a new discussion.
I am shooting video with Samsung HMX-H105 SSD camcorder, in 16:9 widescreen HD video.
When I try to make DVD from the MP4 file from the camcorder, it gets skewed even before opening it, when it is seen in the right hand pane with the Media file previews. I am not sure if somebody can understand what I am trying to tell so I have a screenshot of a video that I shot with my camcorder and a video that I have downloaded, shot by someone else with Samsung HMX-H20 in 16:9 HD as well.
So even when I start a new project in 4:3 and not 16:9 my videos always get stretched. This is why I think that maybe Premiere Elements doesn't understand the aspect ratio of my MP4 video files - it can be seen in the left hand side pane, where I have circled (with white elipse) the black stripes above and below the video.
Hope that somebody can help with my problem.

You ROCK
both of you
Thanks wine_snob for pointing me how to find the Interpret Footage option.
And thanks to Steve for solving my problem
In the "Interpret Footage" and "Pixel Aspect Ratio", the working video says: "Use Pixel Aspect Ratio from File: Square Pixels (1.0)"
but on my problem video it says: "Use Pixel Aspect Ratio from File: Other Aspect Ratio (1.778)", so I changed it to "Conform to: Square Pixels (1.0)" and now I have perfectly proportinal video for 16:9
Thank you once again!

Video pixel ratio in Adobe Bridge CS3

How do I get the video Pixel Ratio to show in Bridge CS3? I went to preference and it is already checked. But, I can't seem to figure out how it show in the metadata tab. Thanks for your help.
Perry

In the Find box the Match drop down has 2 options. "If all criteria is met" is like "and" while "if any criteria met" is like "or" logic.

How to deal with different Pixel Ratios?

Hi, I have a project in which I use two different pixel ratios (0.9) and (1.2). Now of course, they both look squished, and not only that but the exporting of the file is completely messed up, with black bars and still some squishiness. Does anyone know any easy way to fix this? I have hundreds of files which are of different pixel ratios. If they need to be the same ratio going in, how is it that I can BATCH convert them to the same one? Since it would be such a pain to do them individually. Thank you so much for your time!

First decide on your output format, 16x9 or 4x3. Once you have made that decision, create a sequence in that format and use scale to frame size in the preferences before importing those clips. Do not scale up to lose the black borders, unless you don't care about the quality.

Pixel ratio, speed & quality...

I am making a slide show in FCP with the preset HDV1080i50 which gives me a frame size of 1440 x 1080 px (HD 1440 x 1080) (16:9) and pixel ratio HD (1440 x 1080) and anamorphic 16:9 not checked. I was told to work with the presets without modifying them.
Now I want to create some jpg images to fill the whole screen and with no distortion. What size and how do I prepare these files?
This movie will play on a hdtv video projector.
I also intend to downscale the movie to put it on sd dvd.
Another question... does a big jpg affects the performance of FCP? I mean if I import 500 1440x1080px jpg 10/12 into FCP to fill the whole screen or if I import 500 +/- 4000x2000px jpg 10/12 to be resized/cropped into FCP, will it make a difference in speed to create the movie, to render and to export it and will it make a difference of quality at the end?

+why this would happen...+
When you Export/Quicktime Movie or Export/Using Quicktime Conversion (and you use a DV codec) the resulting .mov file will always have rectangular pixels: 720x480 for NTSC. This is correct and it will display correct on a TV from the video DVD after burning this file.
If however you want to watch the same .mov file on a Mac (or PC) monitor, the player must change the pixel aspect ratio during playback, since Mac monitors are square pixels devices. The corresponding media is not affected by this option, but only the QT Player playback.
QT Player (with QT Pro) should default the Presentation option to: Conform aperture to = Clean, as I wrote in my previous answer: this is telling QT Player to make the pixel ratio conversion on the fly. My guess is that the "Conform Aperture to" option is not properly set for you; if it is not set, or it is set to Classic or Encoded Pixels it will show the stretched pixels. The Production option is almost like Clean.
If you export from FCE to some format other than DV in general its pixels are already square (e.g. H.264 has 320x240) and the Conform Aperture to option shouldn't affect the QT Player playback.
I hope this clarifies the point.
Piero

CS5 Pixel Aspect Ratio Problems...

Hello All,
I am working on porting over an existing .mov file importer from Windows to Mac while also upgrading it from CS4 to CS5 (and also rolling in the creation of a hand-written 64-Bit QuickTime file handling library to boot, ouch).
In my current test bed I am having problems with certain 1920 x 1080 .mov files. Some 1920x1080 files that I have get imported properly, some files that I have get imported with the wrong aspect ratio. I have verified that both files should be displayed using square pixels and have also verified that when the selector is sent that calls SDKGetInfo8( ) that I am setting the following for **all** of the above-mentioned test files:
SDKFileInfo8->vidInfo.pixelAspectNum = 1
SDKFileInfo8->vidInfo.pixelAspectDen = 1
I have stepped line-by-line through SDKGetInfo8( ) and the stretched and non stretched clips seem to yield exact same traces through this function. However, the files that are being imported with the wrong aspect ratio, of course, preview in a stretched format. Also, in the informational area of the Source Bin, when the *stretched* clips are selected the information that is provided for these clips is:
NameOfTheStretchedClip.mov
Video, 1920 x 1080 (1.7778)
00:00:9:13, 23.976 fps
etc…
For the clips that aren't stretched, the (1.7778) is (1.0). I am not the biggest expert on the actual usage of Premiere, so I can only assume given the values displayed and the respective visual result of the clips when previewed that this value displayed in the UI is the pixel aspect ratio and not the frame ratio as the clip with (1.7778) is stretched and the clip with (1.0) is not, yet both are 1920x1080 clips. What to me is suspect is that 1920/1080.0 is 1.7778 and so somewhere for the clips that are being stretched the pixelAspect ratio values seem to be getting derived using the pixel dimensions and not the values vidInfo.pixelAspectNum and vidInfo.pixelAspectDen that are explicitly set to '1' as shown above.
Thus my question is, aside from setting in SDKGetInfo8() the following values:
SDKFileInfo8->vidInfo.pixelAspectNum = 1
SDKFileInfo8->vidInfo.pixelAspectDen = 1
Where else are the pixelAspect values supposed to get set?
Alternatively:
- During which other selector calls *CAN* pixel aspect ratio get set? As I mentioned, I am porting existing code, so perhaps these values are getting set elsewhere that I am presently unable to find.
- Is there some setting that might get set at the import of a file that says to derive the pixel aspect ratio from the pixel dimensions that might be getting triggered for the clips that are being imported as being stretched?
Thanks in advance for any help!
Josh

Hi Zac,
I am taking a look at this issue further with the aid of an additional engineer here that has more experience with QuickTime files.
First off, upon viewing the XMP metadata of the stretched file in the Metadata Viewer available inside Premiere, the Video Pixel Format is, in fact, listed in the XMP metadata as 1.78.
However, the time signature on the stretched .mov file, as listed in information of the QuickTime atoms, was 23976 / 1000. On a whim we used Dumpster to change the time signature to 24000 / 1001 to see what would happen. After altering the time signature in the Atoms of the file in this fashion, in Premiere the aspect ratio is now shown to be (1.0) in the source information in the Source Bin and the video is imported in the proper unstretched format (or - better stated - played back via our PlayMod in the proper unstretched format). However when viewing the metadata in the Metadata Browser in Premiere, the "Video Pixel Aspect Ratio" is still showing 1.78. This seems to confuse the issue further as now this time signature alteration in the Atoms of the QT file has fixed something and is now seemingly overriding the order of operations you mentioned as the XMP metadata still seems to list an improper format, yet everything else is seemingly behaving fine.
BTW - Clips with other time signatures don't seem to have this problem.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Josh

Pixel/Aspect Ratio Problem

I'm midway through a huge project utilizing about a hundred stills in NTSC SD. I needed as much screen real-estate as possible for this so I used the D4/D16 Anamorphic pixel aspect ratio in Project Properties. My problem is that because I don't have a Kona or Decklink card, I don't have any preset codecs for this aspect ratio when I take it into FCP 5.1. The result is a squished widescreen frame when I output it from Motion to FCP. Not sure how to resolve this. Do I give it a custom frame size in FCP or what? Also, because this is all photos and graphics made within Motion, what's my best option in terms of quality for export from Motion to FCP? I'm assuming 8-bit or 10-bit uncompressed, but that's just a guess. Or is there a codec within Motion that I can export it as and it will come out in the correct aspect ratio in FCP?

Then I'm thinking you want to use an anamorphic widescreen format in FCP that you can then set up in DVDSP and presumably project or display on a widescreen TV...
Patrick

Exporting 1080i, Pixel Aspect Ratio Problems

Hello everyone,
I've been dealing with a lot of different format projects recently: SD, HDV 720-24P, and HDV 108050i.
For now, these projects are intended for internet delivery. I've not had too much problem exporting the SD and HDV 720-24P projects, but the HDV 108050i has been very frustrating.
When I export SD and HDV 720 in compressor, I set the pixel aspect ratios to NTSC and square, respectively. But when I try to set the pixel aspect ratio for the 1080i to "1080i 16:9" (which I believe is 1.333:1), it rejects my choice, choosing "default" instead. When compressor finishes exporting, my 1080i movie looks very squished horizontally.
The only success I have had is in exporting via Quicktime conversion, where I duplicate my compressor settings, but do nothing to the pixel aspect ratio (since there is no option to change it in quicktime, it seems). The movies I have exported with Quicktime have been fine. I don't know if it makes a difference, but when I try to export these 1080i clips, I am in the proper 1080i "easy setup."
I know almost nothing about this pixel aspect ratio business, but I believe it is the cause of my problems (since I am using the proper 16:9 aspect ratio for movie width x height).
My Questions:
1. If I am understanding the problem correctly, how do I get compressor to acknowledge the right pixel aspect ratio for my 1080i footage, rather than the incorrect "default"?
2. If am not understanding the problem correctly, what might be going on?
3. Can anyone point me to a useful resource about pixel aspect ratios? I've been searching the forums and online, and I thought I was getting a grip on things but it seems I am still way over my head. For example, what is the significance in Final Cut Pro of changing your viewer or canvas to not show square pixels? Do you need to format for square vs. non-square depending on the final delivery destination (not the source format)?
Thanks!
Message was edited by: Haberdasher

Sorry to bump, but any ideas?

Experts Only: Difficult Pixel Aspect Ratio Problem

I am having trouble with the PAR (and Screen Aspect Ratio) from one particular camera that belongs to the client. It's a Sony SR-100 SD camera that records some form of MPEG-2 directly to a HDD. Normally I don't have trouble sussing out aspect ratios, but this one has me stumped. My guess is that QT and/or FCP are not handling it correctly.
The native footage is read as muxed MPEG-2 @ 640x480 with square pixels in QT Player (Movie Properties) and FCP (Item Properties). This doesn't fit the SD frame. More later. A handy tool called MediaInfo Mac tells me the same clip is Primary Stream MPEG-2--not muxed--with AC3 audio at 720x480. MediaInfo Mac doesn't compute the PAR, but it does say the display aspect ratio is 4x3, so I am assuming some distortion is taking place. My client claims the specs from the camera documentation match the MediaInfo Mac data--not the QT data--and I believe him.
None of this matters, of course, if the footage plays fine in FCP. It is too small--it displays 112.5% scale up at -12.5% PAR. Odd for 720x480 native video, but that's not what QT and FCP are reading. I ran the same clip through Squared 5's Streamclip to convert to DV (as suggested by this site: http://www.aulich-adamski.de/en/perm/how-to-edit-mpeg-2-in-final-cut-pro). This is where it gets really weird. The resulting clip, when imported to FCP, is read as 810 x 480 with square pixels. 810x480. That is not a typo. On the other hand QT Player reads (and plays) the DV converted clip at 720x480 from 640x480 (DV PAR), and MediaInfo Mac reads the same. See? Weird.
The bottom line is I can use the footage scaled and squished. I don't think the client will mind, if he notices. We aren't using much of his material. The issue is I thought I understood this. Either I don't, which is fine and maybe you can 'splain it to me. Or I do and QT and/or FCP are not reading this material correctly. Any thoughts?
I posted this on the FCP discussion as well.

Then I'm thinking you want to use an anamorphic widescreen format in FCP that you can then set up in DVDSP and presumably project or display on a widescreen TV...
Patrick

Pixel ratio output problem

A bit of a newbie here with a problem. I'm actually just doing an exercise from a book and I'm a little confused about something.
I have a composition that I have set to NTSC D1. I have imported .swf footage that was created at 720x534, wider than the final format to account for the stretching. Once inside AE, I fit the footage to the comp. The footage in AE now looks stretched. I understand though that when this is used in on video hardware it will look correct.
So I rendered out the composition to a .mov file. When I view this file, the animation is no longer stretched. I expected this to still look stretched on my computer monitor, and that if this video were shown on a TV or other video that it would look correct.
I don't understand why the .mov isn't stretched anymore. Can anyone help?
Thanks in advance.

It looks like this is just a Quicktime setting. Quicktime is adjusting the output you see so that it doesn't look stretched by default.
There is a "Conform aperture to:" option in Window > Show Movie Properties.
This article pointed the way:
http://www.digitalrebellion.com/blog/posts/why_does_quicktime_report_a_different_resolutio n.html

Aspect ratio problem with AVCHD in iMovie 08

I am importing footage from a Panasonic HDC-SD9 into iMovie 08. the footage gets in there fine and looks great EXCEPT that the footage (all shot in 16:9) is squashed a little bit. in the preview clips below, it looks fine, but in the player above (and if I export it as a Quicktime file) it is squashed slightly. there are black bars above and below the footage, and (I'm guessing) were the video stretched to fill the entire area, eliminating the black bars, it would be the correct aspect ratio. I've tried importing footage form the camera supposedly shot in 4:3, and the same thing happens.
I know that I can simply do a quick edit in imovie, export it, import it into final cut pro, and stretch it back. however, I'm worried about losing quality, and more importantly, I don't know the exact ratio, since I can't even figure out what imovie is doing to the video to make it squashed, let alone in what manner.
the footage from the HDC-SD9 is AVCHD, and I understand there is something about square pixels vs. rectangular, but I don't know much about it. I have tried every iteration of imovie's limited aspect ratio settings, and I can't get it to work. I know it's meant to work well with AVCHD, so I'm assuming I'm missing something fundamental and simple. (some box to check to let imovie know I'm importing AVCHD?) it's maddening to see the footage correctly in the thumbnails, but squashed for (seemingly) no reason in the playback. can you help me out? otherwise I am going to film myself holding something that is a perfect square, then import it to imovie, then export to quicktime, then import the quicktime file into finalcut, then stretch it til the rectangle becomes a perfect square, and write down the settings for the future. seems ridiculously complicated, especially for the mac world.
I love imovie 08 (seriously, some of the new toys are just so amazing, and no render time at all!), and I love this camera. please tell me they can get along!

I think I'm having a problem similar to this. I'm using a Sharp MiniDV camera, and shooting in 16:9. When I used to import to other versions of iMovie it worked fine, but w/ iMovie 08 it is squashing and stretching the incoming video to more like 20:9 (I have no idea what the actual ratio is, this is just a guess). I tried changing import to PAL 25fps, but that didn't do any thing. Any other suggestions?

Pixel ratio problems

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