16 x 9 format in cc601?

[DrYo]

My output format needs to be NTSC 720x486 (cc601/quantel from the Maya presets) for authoring to a video dvd for a standard television set playback on a home dvd player. But I want my renderings to be in letterbox format with the familiar black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. Is there a way in maya to only render the scene to do this? Can I adjust the frame I'm rendering to do this?

Thanks.

First of all, NTSC DVD is *not* CCIR-601 720x486. It is 720x480.

For 16x9 enhanced ("anamorphic") NTSC DVD, the render settings are:

width 720
height 480
device aspect 1.777
pixel aspect 1.185


If you want your DVD to be "flat" letterboxed, not 16x9 enhanced, then your render settings would be:

width 720
height 364
device aspect 1.78
pixel aspect 0.9

Then you would need to place your footage in a 720x480x0.9 composition in a 2D application such as After Effects, and output to a movie that has the black bars burned in.

[brianod]

First off, thanks for your reply.

I have read that true NTSC was 720 x 486 and that video DV format (from a camera) was 720 x 480. But I guess you are saying that if I want to display on a standard video DVD (like from Blockbuster Video) than I should use 720 x 480.

I want the flat 16 x 9 (non anamorphic) so I guess I will have to render to those smaller specs and composite. Well, that way at least saves me rendering time.

I did think that there was a way somehow to set the "film back" settings and the smaller actual safe frame rendering as a single render, but I guess not.

Thanks again.

[inguatu]

First of all, NTSC DVD is *not* CCIR-601 720x486. It is 720x480.

For 16x9 enhanced ("anamorphic") NTSC DVD, the render settings are:

width 720
height 480
device aspect 1.777
pixel aspect 1.185


If you want your DVD to be "flat" letterboxed, not 16x9 enhanced, then your render settings would be:

width 720
height 364
device aspect 1.78
pixel aspect 0.9

Then you would need to place your footage in a 720x480x0.9 composition in a 2D application such as After Effects, and output to a movie that has the black bars burned in.

confusing considering After Effects tells you to use a 1.2 aspect ratio, which in Maya would be Device aspect ratio: 1.778 and Pixel aspect ratio: 1.200.

Further complicating it... changing either device aspect ratio or pixel aspect ratio automatically changes the other. So with that, there's no way you could have a 1.185 for pixel and 1.777 with device, without locking one or the other attribute, which doesn't make sense.

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