Pixel Aspect Ratio, Part 1

[BJ_M]

Here is a guide to aspect ratios from artbeats.com that's worth checking out. It explains the basics of 720x480, 640x480, 1920x1080 and how video will output on computer screens and televisions. Valuable tips and tricks are included so your video doesn't output disproportionately.



One of the more annoying idiosyncrasies of digital video is that images often look distorted on a computer monitor: they’re either too wide or too skinny, especially when working with widescreen footage.
This can lead to a crisis in confidence – often late at night, usually on deadline – as to whether you can trust your eyes, or if you are doing the right thing. In this article, we will help explain the tricky subject of pixel aspect ratio or “PAR” for short, including PARs for common video formats. In our next article, we will discuss strategies
for mixing non-video assets such as photographs and scans with your digital video, including how not to make a client’s logo – or the clients themselves – look too fat or too thin.

Download the complete guide HERE

[Soopafresh]

Good find, and easy to read...

[devil121]

My friend after reading the article one thing isn't clear for me. Will any one describe me where it says that "Computers are, for the most part, logical devices. As part of this, the picture elements or “pixels” on their displays are usually square: as wide as they are tall. Thanks to this, when you draw a circle that is supposed to be, say, 200 pixels tall and 200 pixels wide, it looks like a perfect circle."