Sizing photos in Premiere 6.5 (still confused)

[shimonmor]

Ok...I'm off probation and cleared in hot to post all my questions.

My big question (actually, I have three) has been nagging me for a while, and after spending my two day probationary period reading through posts till my head hurt, I'm still confused.

I'm using Premiere 6.5 and I make lots of slide shows which I burn onto DVD to distribute to friends and family to watch on their home DVD players. I use cross fade transitions and the "Ken Burns" pan and scan effect so I try to use larger files than the 720x534.

I have used all sorts of files sizes, aspect ratios, file types from all sorts of sources and I just dump them into Premiere and I have never noticed any distortion (except for something I'll get into below). The pictures look fine, although the ones that don't have the 4:3 aspect ratio have black bars on the sides or on top and bottom depending on the orientation (which is what I expect).

So, my first question is: why is 720x534 so important when it seems any aspect ratio works ok??

My second question is that I do notice some "barrel" and "pincusion" types of distortion with photos only if they have the black bars (meaning it's not 4:3) but I think it's due to the TV not being flat...I don't see it on the computer screen only on the TV. Is this normal or this a byproduct of my not understanding/heading the 720x534 rule.

And my last question is, what is the rule of thumb for file sizes when doing the "Ken Burns" pan and scan effect? I usually don't zoom in more then 200%. I have lots of HD space so I've been using TIFF scans that are 25MB and JPGs from my 7MP Canon S70.

Thanks for the help and I'm looking forward to spending some time on this forum learning from others (I love the Internet!)

[guns1inger]

Don't know where the 534 comes from (unless it's a square pixel thing - it's not a valid DVD resolution), but anyways - you have already answered your main question yourself. AR doesn't matter because Premiere pads out the borders with black to preserve the 4:3 AR of your project.

It's your TV. Try lowering the brightness and contrast. Most people have these set way too high, which puts extra strain on the tube, and can cause these distortions. It may not fix them completely, so maybe it's time to buy that plasma you've been admiring.

Again, you have answered your own question. If you never zoom in more than 200%, start with an image 200% larger than your project resolution. Your source images should be plenty big enough. Remember though, if your source image is too large, you may have to sharpen it after resizing. or it may get too soft. Sometimes it is easier to prep the image in Photoshop first. I always prep mine this way, to make sure I have the best images going in.

[shimonmor]

Don't know where the 534 comes from

I got that from this site (this post: https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=192278 ). 720x540 or 720 x534 make sense to me in a "theoretical" sort of way but I'm just trying to get this idea to match my experiences.

Thanks for the confirmations. Maybe I'm not as ignorant as I thought. But getting someone to say, "you're on the right track" sure helps.

so maybe it's time to buy that plasma you've been admiring.

I would hate to get rid of my 20 year old RCA 29" professional model TV which weights half a ton...it's built like a tank and is fairly bulletproof (bought it used from a production studio for $100).