4:3 to 16:9 does pillarboxing take away from the image?

[brassplyer]

If I have a 720x480 4:3 image I want to upconvert to 16:9 for either Youtube or Blu-Ray - is there a better way to do it than embedding the 4:3 image inside a 16:9 frame? I want to retain the 4:3 proportions and don't want to stretch the image. Do the pixels used for the black bars have any impact on - i.e. do they take anything away from the 4:3 portion of the image?

Thanks!

[pippas]

Faced with that requirement, I would resize the video to 960 x 720.

That would achieve 2 things as far as You tube is concerned:

• It would be re-encoded by You Tube as HD, which should offer better results.

• It would allow you to display the clip with square pixels, so no need for any 4:3 'aspect ratio' flags which (I think?) You Tube would ignore anyway....

I'm sure there will be alternative suggestions from some of our expert members as well....

[jagabo]

If I have a 720x480 4:3 image I want to upconvert to 16:9 for either Youtube or Blu-Ray - is there a better way to do it than embedding the 4:3 image inside a 16:9 frame?

How else could you do it without distorting the picture or cutting away part of it?

Do the pixels used for the black bars have any impact on - i.e. do they take anything away from the 4:3 portion of the image?

Take away? You mean bitrate? Perfect black (or any other flat color) take almost no bitrate to encode.

[manono]

If I have a 720x480 4:3 image I want to upconvert to 16:9 for either Youtube or Blu-Ray - is there a better way to do it than embedding the 4:3 image inside a 16:9 frame?

Why upconvert to 16:9. If I'm understanding you correctly, if you just upload a 1.33:1 video (640x480, 960x720, whatever) YouTube will add the black bars during playback to keep the same aspect ratio.

If your source is a 4:3 DVD, they'll resize it themselves to 640x480 for display. And 4:3 720x480 is also an acceptable Blu-Ray resolution. For higher Blu-Ray resolutions, yes, you'll have to both resize and also add the black bars on the sides.

[brassplyer]

If I have a 720x480 4:3 image I want to upconvert to 16:9 for either Youtube or Blu-Ray - is there a better way to do it than embedding the 4:3 image inside a 16:9 frame?

How else could you do it without distorting the picture or cutting away part of it?

Dunno, that's why I'm asking. Lots of gaping holes in my knowledge of video tech.

Do the pixels used for the black bars have any impact on - i.e. do they take anything away from the 4:3 portion of the image?

Take away? You mean bitrate? Perfect black (or any other flat color) take almost no bitrate to encode.

Okay so it's not going to degrade the 4:3 image portion.

[jagabo]

If I have a 720x480 4:3 image I want to upconvert to 16:9 for either Youtube or Blu-Ray - is there a better way to do it than embedding the 4:3 image inside a 16:9 frame?

How else could you do it without distorting the picture or cutting away part of it?

Dunno, that's why I'm asking. Lots of gaping holes in my knowledge of video tech.

There's nothing magical about video technology that lets it violate the laws of geometry.

[SameSelf]

If this is your own footage, you can do whatever you want to it. For example, even though I shoot in FHD, I crop to a film aspect ratio. It is a common misconception among amateurs that EVERYTHING in a frame must be kept. Instead you want to focus the viewers attention on the principle element in the scene. 4:3 video is barf. If you can crop it to 16:9 without chopping off someone's head, do it.