PapaJohn custom profile for 16:9

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I've long used PS3 and wmm in creation of DVD for TV. I'd like to start my
next big project formated for NTSC widescreen. I'll be using over 300 large
jpgs (Canon 5D) and the play duration will exceed 1 1/2 hour.

Question: PapaJohn has three custom widescreen profiles, 420x220, 852x480,
and 1704x960. Is it correct to assume that the 1704x960 would be the
perferred choice for playback on a 42-inch widescreen TV, or am I not
considering some important missing factors? Is this profile, as well as the
others mentioned, formatted for NTSC? The standard profiles offer only
640x480 NTSC.

I hope you can direct me to a source to help clear up this issue. Thanks.
 
to play it at those resolutions, you can't use a DVD... you need to connect
your computer to the screen and play it from there.

The right choice would be the highest quality that plays smoothly and at the
right aspect ratio (4:3 versus 16:9). Make a test file of just a few pix,
render it to each of the profiles, and check it on your big screen.

The playback aspect ratio depends a lot on your player and version.
 
hkoons why not use HD ?

Use HD-DVD or BluRay-DVD 1920x1080p looks great on
Home Theatre where screen size is nearly floor to ceiling.

Only problem I don't think old XP WMM supports HD format,
you have to go to Vista Windows Movie Maker, which on the
Vista newsgroup people are saying is quite stable even
although its still only a beta.

You will need a HD or BluRay burner.

Look ahead one day you may buy a home theatre and your
production will be ready for the big screen not the little
108cm (42") HD TV, maybe your TV is not HD but just WS,
also not all HD TV's are 1920x1080p,

If you are in USA there is a slow uptake of true HD
1920x1080p, USA is a bit of a backwards country when it
comes to HD, the FTA TV networks are slowly converting to
HD transmissions, but oh so slow.

Don't waste your money on little 122cm (48"), 142cm (55")
TV's that are still very expensive mickey mouse size
compared to HD Home Theatre, even HD PSP2, XBOX,
etc, on HD Home Theatre is heart attack material, wicked !

Note, most busineses and clubs replace their Projection
equiptment every year, so there if often lots of cheap second
hand (Home) Projection equiptment available with plently of
hours still to go on the lamps.

Some people even letterbox the old CinemaScope Movies
(2.66:1) and promotional videos, music videos at
SuperWideScreen aspect ratio of 3:1 into the HD-DVD /
BluRay-DVD frame.

If you view these "ExtraWide" HD-DVD's on a 1.77:1 (16:9)
TV you have to put up with the top and bottom black bars
(Letterbox).

But if you use a HD Home Theatre setup from a HD-DVD /
BluRay-DVD player or even your PC ( if you have to) you
don't notice the letterbox effect, its just like a CinemaScope
or SuperWide 3:1 "Real Movie Theatre Experience"
 
Are the custom profiles for the NTSC or PAL playback?

I would expect the authoring too, Adobe Encore, to compress the resultant
mpg2 file to fit the media, in my case a double layer disk, or the standard
4.7GB. Because the mpg2 file going into the authoring program would be
gigantic (ie. at 1704x960) considerable compression would be required. This
being the case would using your 852x480, or even the 420x220 aspect ratio,
where less compression would be required result in equal performance on a 1
1/2-hour presentation.

It is difficult to put together a few pics and test this as I'd have to do
enough jpgs to force the authoring program into considerable compression for
proper comparison. My last project started out with a 18GB project
compressed to a single DVD. However, it was in 4:3 aspect ration where now I
want to set it at 16:9 to eliminate distortion when viewing on a widescreen.

Thanks again for your input.
 
My ultimate goal is to produce a DVD to play on a widescreen TV. My computer
is only my work station.

Isn't it important to choose the correct format (ntsc or pal) right at the
onset, ie. PS3, so that this format is transferred to wmm and it's resultant
mpg2 file gets transformed to a playable DVD with the authoring software? I'd
like this important step clarified in my head before I spend days of work
with PS3 to find that I have to do it all over again.

Grumpy. Thanks for your input but I don't ever expect to have a TV larger
than my new Panasonic 42" plasma. TV takes a very secondary role in my life.
 
High quality NTSC DVD's have MPEG-2 files of 720x480 pixels.... that's the
standard, so no matter how you get there... that's what you'll have

The standard 4.7 GB DVD holds an hour of high quality video, so your 1-1/2+
hours will be pushing it into needing more compression with some (minor)
loss of quality... provided your DVD software can handle the files when
they total more than an hour.

The PS3 story project won't need to be redone... regardless of the profile
you use to save it to....

I strongly recommend making a quick 2 test minute story. Render it using a
half dozen of the canned and custom profiles, put them all on a single DVD
and watch them on your big screen.... Do it now so you can gauge what
adjustments to make.... like the TV safe zone - how much border do you need
because the TV crops off the edges.
 
Bingo! That's the information that I needed. Thank you. I will follow your
suggestions.

I didn't see a 720x480 profile mentioned in your website. Could you please
direct me to a source that I may download it.
 
It's there in the 'Heading to Disc' section of the Photo Story 3 > Saving
page... scroll down almost to the bottom....
 
In recent days I've gotten back to that project and have some interesting
results. I've made 6 different DVD samples. In using 720x480 (PJohn
custom)profile in PS3, from photos cropped to that aspect ration with
240pix/in in PS, and rendering them for widescreen 16:9 AVI file in Adobe
Premiere, putting that file through Adobe Encore, the result is a smooth
flowing video. Only four photos were used in this test. Although smooth,
the images lacked detail.

I tried doing the same with a higher resolution in PS, using images cropped
at 1065x600 and 300pix/in. This achieved greater detail as one would expect,
but after doing this several different times each experienced a flaw. Pans
in PS3 that went from small to full screen had the effect of "forgetting" to
pan the lower quarter of the screen and then suddenly making "catchup" by
instantly showing that which had missed.

Question: Do you think that PS3 is just incapable of handling those larger
images, or could it have something to do with the nature of the 852x480
custom profile provided at the (your) PapaJohn website. I trace the origin
of this problem at the point where PS3 converts its WP3 file to the WMV file.

Is there, perhaps, another way for me to accomplish the same, ie. more
detail in the images when viewed on a 42" screen and still smooth flowing
pans?

Howard
 
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