Why Is 720x480 Outside Tv Safe Zone?

[Quercus]

I use Photoshop to edit pictures and VideoWave to organize them prior to burning to DVD. In Photoshop I re-sized each picture to 72 dpi, 720x480 horizontal format, to view on NTSC TV at 4:3 ratio. In VideoWave, a large part of the image is outside the safe TV area and when burnt to DVD then viewed on TV, also excluded.

 

I read http://forums.support.roxio.com/index.php?showtopic=31005 so know that I can pad around the image with black bars using a separate program but why is 720x480 out of Photoshop incorrect?

 

Second question. Some of my pictures are in vertical format. How should these be scaled? I tried 480 for the height, which results in a width of 320. The top and bottom of the picture is still outside the safe TV area.

 

Thanks, Martin

 

[malatekid]

I use Photoshop to edit pictures and VideoWave to organize them prior to burning to DVD. In Photoshop I re-sized each picture to 72 dpi, 720x480 horizontal format, to view on NTSC TV at 4:3 ratio. In VideoWave, a large part of the image is outside the safe TV area and when burnt to DVD then viewed on TV, also excluded.

 

I read http://forums.support.roxio.com/index.php?showtopic=31005 so know that I can pad around the image with black bars using a separate program but why is 720x480 out of Photoshop incorrect?

Let me give my take mathematically:

 

If you're trying to fit in a 720x480 source to a 4x3 area, you either have to crop the source or rescale it (by padding around the border). The 720x480 translates to an aspect ratio of 4.5:3 which is slightly bigger (12.5% bigger) than the 4:3 aspect ratio. Imagine fitting a rectangle (the length is greater than the width) inside a square, where the short side of the rectangle is the same as each side of the square. You either have to make the rectangle smaller, or lose a portion of the rectangle.

 

A lot of posts here (do a Search) provides detailed discussion on the TV safe zone issue.

 

In Videowave, select File->Production Settings and select the option for handling a 4:3 or 16:9 source.

 

Production Settings

 

Default handling for non-4:3/non-16:9 source: Choose how to handle video source that does not match the production type. You can choose to show the entire source, or crop the source to fill the screen.

Edited October 4, 2008 by malatekid

[Quercus]

Let me give my take mathematically:

 

If you're trying to fit in a 720x480 source to a 4x3 area, you either have to crop the source or rescale it (by padding around the border). The 720x480 translates to an aspect ratio of 4.5:3 which is slightly bigger (12.5% bigger) than the 4:3 aspect ratio. Imagine fitting a rectangle (the length is greater than the width) inside a square, where the short side of the rectangle is the same as each side of the square. You either have to make the rectangle smaller, or lose a portion of the rectangle.

 

A lot of posts here (do a Search) provides detailed discussion on the TV safe zone issue.

 

In Videowave, select File->Production Settings and select the option for handling a 4:3 or 16:9 source.

 

Production Settings

 

Default handling for non-4:3/non-16:9 source: Choose how to handle video source that does not match the production type. You can choose to show the entire source, or crop the source to fill the screen.

 

 

Thank you for the reply. However I don’t think this is the issue. I know that 4:3 corresponds to 720x540 pix, but all the other forums and articles I have read say to use 720x480.

 

Let me try to clarify what is happening when I add a photo to VideoWave. All four sides of the picture are outside the TV safe area. If my error was that of aspect ratio, I would expect:

 

1. The 720 width would fit in the TV safe area and the 480 height would be bounded top and bottom by black bars.

2. Or, the 480 height would fit the TV safe area leaving the 720 width cropped.

 

It seems that VideoWave is lacking a “fit to TV safe area” command.

 

I created a 720x540 image and again all four sides are outside the TVSA.

 

Lastly I created a black box larger than an image, then pasted the image onto it. So far this is the only way I have found to fit the TVSA.

 

Martin

 

[grandpabruce]

Thank you for the reply. However I don’t think this is the issue. I know that 4:3 corresponds to 720x540 pix, but all the other forums and articles I have read say to use 720x480.

 

Let me try to clarify what is happening when I add a photo to VideoWave. All four sides of the picture are outside the TV safe area. If my error was that of aspect ratio, I would expect:

 

1. The 720 width would fit in the TV safe area and the 480 height would be bounded top and bottom by black bars.

2. Or, the 480 height would fit the TV safe area leaving the 720 width cropped.

 

It seems that VideoWave is lacking a “fit to TV safe area” command.

 

I created a 720x540 image and again all four sides are outside the TVSA.

 

Lastly I created a black box larger than an image, then pasted the image onto it. So far this is the only way I have found to fit the TVSA.

 

Martin

 

Use a program, like Image Cropper, to crop your photos. Image Cropper is free. Use around 80% for the crop. It works great for me, because it bulk crops.

 

You can get it, here:

 

http://www.darkwood.demon.co.uk/PC/crop.htm

 

 

[sknis]

For more information and other options, read this.