Q: We are playing our videos on plasma monitors. Everybody looks "fat" and the video isn't crisp. Can you fix that?
A: Widescreen plasma and LCD monitors are everywhere now... They are
especially popular in corporate lobbies and trade
show exhibits. Unfortunately, many people
are
using them improperly. To display high
quality
images on a wide screen (16x9) monitor, the videos must be edited in that same wide screen format.
The reason your people look “fat”
or your company’s logo looks “squished” is that a standard format (4x3)
video has been stretched widthwise to fill the extra wide screen. That makes everything on your original video
about
25% wider than it would be on a standard monitor (thus transforming
your trim180 pound executive to a more portly 225).
There
are settings on the monitor to display a standard video correctly, but
it will result in black bars to each side of the image, which might
take away from the visual impact of the widescreen look.
What else can be done?
HIGH DEFINITION versus
STANDARD DEFINITION
There are three ways to create full
frame wide screen video in the correct proportions to play back
properly on wide screen monitors.
- If your footage already
exists, it can be edited on a wide screen editing system using a
variety of insets and other scaling and layering techniques that will
improve the quality of the video and maintain the correct proportions
when played on a wide screen monitor.
- If you are just
beginning a new video, the project can be produced from the start in
wide screen Standard Definition. That
format
requires a specialized camera that records images in wide screen.
- Or, for the highest
quality, your project could be produced in High Definition. The HD format has five times more resolution
than
standard video, so all the images will be lifelike.
Many
people say that HD gives them a feeling of actually being there, not
just watching on a screen. HD requires
specialized cameras and custom editing equipment.
But
I don’t have the budget for expensive High Definition. Now what?
The cost of producing wide screen
and High Definition video has been drastically reduced in the past few
years. The advent of more affordable
equipment
has lowered the production cost of these wide screen projects to levels
close to standard definition production.
So the next time you
begin a video project, we suggest that you carefully consider what
equipment will be used to play back your video before choosing a format. We edit projects in Standard Definition,
Standard
Definition Wide Screen and High Definition. Just Ask
Mainstream…
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