Common Size and Black Bars

[TheMcD]

Hi everyone,

I have two videos that are different sizes. I need to find a common size to convert them into.

How do I calculate a final size that I should covert them into?

Video 1: 2880 X 1800
Video 2: 1440 X 1080

Thanks

* One is a presenter, the other one is his recorded screen. I will be flipping back and forth between the videos, but want to get the best (common) resolution since they were both recorded in different resolutions.

* I don't mind adding black bars either, just need to find the best (largest) resolution.

[JVRaines]

Your question would be easier to answer if you told us the resolutions of your videos.

[El Heggunte]

Q.: How do I calculate a final size that I should covert them into?

A.: It depends. The more information /details you hide, the less we can help you.

[TheMcD]

Yes, true, but I'm trying to learn or use a tool on a web site.

I didn't want to come here and ask every time.

[JVRaines]

In that case, why don't you try all the options and see what comes out to your liking? That's the best way to learn and you will be able to suit your own tastes.

[TheMcD]

Video 1: 2880 X 1800
Video 2: 1440 X 1080

[Cornucopia]

You are making a lot of assumptions. We cannot.

Are those square pixel ARs? (both)?
Is there any existing letterboxing/pillarboxing (aka black bars), or do both just have active picture?
In which direction do you want the change to tend? - more squarish/portrait or more landscape/horizontal?
Certainly a knowledge of your final destination format needs should guide you...

Scott

[TheMcD]

There are no (black bars) on either.

16:9 (is preferred).

Final destinations: Web and DVD.

[Cornucopia]

So....
ASSUMING your pixels are square, you have got a 1.6:1 (16:10) image and a 1.33333:1 (4:3) image.
IIWY, I would-
Crop crop 90 pixels top & bottom on image 1 giving you 2880x1620 (now a 16:9 image). If cropping removes important footage obects, instead then pillarbox 160 per side to give you 3200x1800.
For image 2, pillarbox 240 per side to give you 1980x1080.

Then resize down to std 1080p settings (1920x1080) for BD and web use, and alternately resize down to 720x480 for DVD use (yes, it will be stretched/squeezed. That is to be expected but will show correctly from DVD players).

You haven't said anything about framerates, or audio, and those are cans of worms in themselves.

Scott

Btw those cropping/padding should be done within an NLE, or prior via AVISYNTH serving into a lossless encoder, to minimize quality loss.

There are other stylistic options available to you but I only mentioned one since your info was so sparse.

[hello_hello]

I'd probably add black bars to the sides of the 1440x1080 video to make it the same aspect ratio as the first. Assuming the first is 2880/1800 = 1.6 it means:

1080 x 1.6 = 1728 - 1440 = 288 / 2 =144.
So if you add 144 pixels of black border to each side of the 1440x1080 that'll increase it to 1728x1080 = 1.6.
For the first video you could resize down. 1800 / 2880 x 1728 = 1080 (as a formula for resizing "old height" / "old width" x "new width" = "new height") or ("old width" / "old height" x "new height" = "new width")
So it'll resize to 1728x1080 without distorting the picture.

There's lots of ways to do it, You could crop picture from one video before resizing rather than add black borders, or do a bit of both, but it might depend if you have an output target in mind. If you want standard 1080p (1920x1080) you'd add 240 pixels worth of black each side of the 1440x1080 video to make it 1920x1080, and resize the first video down to 1728x1080, then add 96 pixels of black each side to make it 1920x1080 too.

Of course you could upscale the 1440x1080 video rather than downscale the first.... lots of ways to do it.

[TheMcD]

Ok, thanks.

I appreciate it. Gonna try a few of these, see what I like best.