the effect of scaling to frame size (PP)

[metathran]

Hi guys. I'm still trying to learn video editing but i keep getting hung up on potentially minor issues which are nevertheless very frustrating. First, a little background:
I'm now trying to record World of Warcraft at 1440 by 900, and obviously I want to export at that resolution, but whenever i set my in-game resolution to 1440 by 900 and start recording, the clips come out as 1680 by 1050 (my old settings). Whenever I import the clip, it still registers as 1680 by 1050 until I go to export, at which point in the preview window it will tell me the source resolution are the same as my output resolution (1440 by 900). I'm using adobe premiere pro, tho I don't think that makes a difference.

Anyway, the problem I may or may not be having with PP is that every clip I import must be scaled to frame size. I'd like to make it so that I didn't have to do this because I think it hurts the overall quality of the finished product. Are my fears unfounded? If so, what should I do so that clips can be rendered without needing to be scaled down? And how can I record clips at the resolution I desire, because I don't think I had this problem before?

btw, when I set my resolution to 1680 by 1050, I still have to scale down the clips

edit: thanks in advance. love the site, no one helps me out like this forum :P

[poisondeathray]

Yes any scaling will hurt the quality to some degree

How are you doing the initial capture? eg. Fraps? If your game is 1440x900, and your capture is 1680x1050 - it has nothing to do with Premiere. You should fix you capture settings

[metathran]

Hey again poison. I can't figure out how to fix the capture settings...fraps should be recording at the ingame resolution, or so I thought. And why is premiere sending me mixed signals about the clips resolution? In the properties it will say one thing, and when i go to encode, it will say the source clip has another resolution.

[poisondeathray]

If fraps is capturing at 1680x1050, that suggests that you're playing at that resolution in full screen mode. If not, see if there is a "windowed mode" for your game, or if your game supports other resolutions

You don't lose that much quality scaling down, and the degree of scaling is minimal from 1680x1050 => 1440x900. You won't even notice the difference if you captured at 1440x900 vs. scaled down to that.

You can still setup your sequence at 1680x1050, and at the very end when you export , scale it down to 1440x900

[metathran]

I'm playing in maximized windowed mode...it never occurred to me that that might be my problem. But if you say the quality lost is negligible, then so it is! Thanks a lot poison