7 Replies Latest reply: Jan 11, 2011 4:01 PM by Jeff Bellune RSS

    Sides Cut Off on DVD

    EckleySP Community Member

      Happy New Year to all.

       

      I konw there are questions about this and everyone always goes back to the 'safe areas' -  But, just to confirm that this always happens and there is absolutely nothing that can be done about . . .

       

      I have a sequence in Premiere Pro that is 1920x1080p (30fps) that is 'rendered' out in AVI format (preset seems to make no difference NTSC DV or Widescreen).  And, yes, on the PC it looks fine, and when I import the file into Encore and preview there, all looks fine.

       

      When I view the DVD on TV, the menu is fine, but the video clip has been clipped/cut off on the sides.  Not the top/bottom, just the sides.

       

      I understand safe areas and that 'some' TVs cannot handle the full frame.  The TV I am using is a relatively new flat screen/High Def/ - and I get the same effect regardless if I play it via a PS3/HDMI or the XBOX (Red White Yellow).  Though with the PS3, the actual picture does not fill the entire screen, but does with the XBOX (wierd, I thought).

       

      I have been making DVD with Encore for a long time and I just don't recall seeing this before.  Just seems like I would have noticed by now.

       

      Scott

        • 1. Re: Sides Cut Off on DVD
          Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

          If it's cut-off on the sides, it is Pillar-boxed. This is usually the result of a mismatch in the PAR (Pixel Aspect Ratio). Since you are going from HD to DVD, my guess would be that your original material is square-pixel, and that the DV-AVI down-rezz is coming in at 0.9091 PAR which is Standard. Can you confirm the PAR of your Exported file? Can you confirm the full specs. of your Export? Can you try an Export with a PAR of 1.212 (Widescreen)?

           

          Good luck,

           

          Hunt

          • 2. Re: Sides Cut Off on DVD
            EckleySP Community Member

            I appreciate not only your expertise, but your short and concise explanations - in this case, of what has to be (one of) the most misunderstood aspect of video editing.

             

            I do not have a clue of what I am doing, and to make matters worse, I think what I should be doing varies with that I am doing. . .   If that makes any sense.

             

            What I am doing with this particular project is simply taking a song and putting pictures to it (the sequence will have nothing but pictures).  The pictures have gone through Photoshop and are of that file type.  So, yes, the input to this project has square pixels.  If I were inputting video clips, what I would choose as the sequence settings would be easy and obvious.  But with JPEG images (square ones), I never know what to choose, but I generally want to watch the DVD on a widescreen TV (most of my clients own one) -  and watch it in a way that would make use of the wide screen. 

             

            So, yes, I could change the aspect ratio of each picture - changing the pixels from square to 1.2121 or .9091, but, as I'm sure you know, the picture becomes flattened (wide) or elongated (skinny).  

             

            So, now that I've established the input, what now?

             

            Thanks again for your time and . . .   oh, did I mention patience?

             

            Scott

            • 3. Re: Sides Cut Off on DVD
              Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

              Back in PS, I would create a New Image, and choose the NTSC (if you are in NTSC-land) 720 x 480 Widescreen w/ Guides Preset from the drop-down menu.

               

              Bring in each of image, and then hit Ctrl+T (Free Transform). Hold down Shift to Constrain Proportions Click on a corner Handle, and resize the images to fit that New Image. You will likely have to "crop" the top, bottom, or top & bottom to fit. Flatten and Save_As. I would choose PSD, and not JPEG, especially as you have already done one JPEG compression. Those images should then fill the entire Frame Size in the DVD, and you will not have the altered PAR. Much of that can be done with Actions, but you WILL want to do the Free Transform by hand/eye, as only you will know what looks best for each image. Do not forget to hold down Shift, and work with one of the corner Handles.

               

              Good luck,

               

              Hunt

              • 4. Re: Sides Cut Off on DVD
                EckleySP Community Member

                I'll give this a shot, but in PS with CS5 the preset you list is not listed.  I am indeed in NTSC Land, so I'm guessing I would select the preset "Film & Video", then pick an aspect ratio of D1/NTSC Widescreen.  The Film & Video preset sets the "frame" at 720x480 with a resolution of 72px.  

                 

                Time passes.

                 

                OK.  I did this, pulled in the PS file into a sequence of Premiere Pro using the HDV720p30 preset (for no obvious reason).  I then used Dynamic Link to load the sequence into Encore and created the DVD.  I used Dynbamic Link because I have no idea what settings I should use to render out a video file.

                 

                Anyway, when I play the DVD there is still a bit of clipping on the sides - at least when I compare the program monitor in PP to what I see on the TV.  Again, when I play the same DVD on the computer (Windows), there is no clipping.

                 

                Let me know what presets I should be using to render out a video file (I don't always use Dynamic Link), or what Sequence settings I should use in PP-  I can't do much more with this right now.  There are hundreds for JPEG images that I have already run through PS to 'fix' them and put pretty frames around them, so going back to start that process is out of the question.   It's all education at this point.  Something that simply does not stop.

                • 5. Re: Sides Cut Off on DVD
                  Ann Bens CommunityMVP

                  HD(V) is 16:9, dvd widescreen is not quite 16:9 due to the changing of the PAR within Premiere, that is why you are experiencing the narrow black lines on the side.

                  The only way to get rid of this is to crop in the export settings.

                   

                  crop on export.png

                  I advice you not to export to avi and then to dvd. Its a convertion that is not needed, dv-avi is not lossless.

                  Go straight from HD to mpeg2-dvd.

                  • 6. Re: Sides Cut Off on DVD
                    EckleySP Community Member

                    I appreciate the information and I'll get back to it at some other time. But to be clear, I don't see any black 'pillars' on the sides.  Instead the picture appears the right size, it's just the image 'bleeds' off the 'page' - as if the actual size of the image is slightly more wide than the 'widescreen'.  AND, this I see this only on the TV. again, on the PC, I see the 'full' image - just as I see it in Premiere Pro.

                     

                    I've tried the same disk in another TV and get the same result.

                    • 7. Re: Sides Cut Off on DVD
                      Jeff Bellune CommunityMVP
                      it's just the image 'bleeds' off the 'page' - as if the actual size of the image is slightly more wide than the 'widescreen'.  AND, this I see this only on the TV

                      This is called "overscan", and every consumer TV on the planet is subject to it.

                       

                      -Jeff