Public TV Station Needs Help With 16:9 Aspect Ratio Conversion.

[LO2]

Hi. I work at a small non-profit public television station, and we have a problem. We have a great deal of programming that's been recorded at 4:3 resolution, and we need to convert it to 16:9 for the switch to DTV. Here's all the details.

(Note: our files are recorded as m2p, but they behave like normal mpeg2 in almost all cases. Just change the extension to your liking. I made sure that the file had some fast motion, because I've noticed that some conversion methods cause motion to get very choppy.)

We record MPEG2 video at a resolution of 720x480 (even though you'd think it would be 640x480, considering that it's a 4:3 output). We'll eventually be able to record HD video on a new server, but our budget won't allow us to do so just yet, so we're going to upconvert records from the SD server we have now.

Here's the problem: We can change the output to put SD on HD sets, but then HD (from the satellite) would be compressed to 4:3 (tall and skinny), or vice versa (good HD but short and fat upconverted SD).

The best solution I can think of is to take the old 4:3 records and add black "letterbox" bars to the left and right of the video so the system will think it's airing 16:9 video.

Here are the problems so far:

I don't know a good conversion solution that won't seriously degrade the original video quality.

I have hundreds of video files to convert (at least), so a batch conversion method would be a godsend.

Half of the video files we have are true 4:3, while the other half are letterboxed 4:3. The true 4:3 need the left and right bars added. The letterboxed 4:3 need the top and bottom bars removed, and need to be enlarged to have a height of 480 pixels (or they won't play right from the server).

I really need your assistance. We simply don't have the money for high end automation systems that do this kind of thing automatically, and I'm getting a little worried. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

Please let me know if you need any other information.

Thanks,
LO2

[filmboss80]

Did it occur to you to call the chief engineer at a larger public tv station in another city for a consult? Your situation is not unique.

You do indeed face the issue of picture degradation. Most stations that I'm aware of use hardware solutions as opposed to software reencodes.

If your station is too cheap to hire an engineer that knows what he/she is doing, it really isn't worthy of an FCC license, IMO.

[minidv2dvd]

what is the new desired ouput resolution? 1920x1080 i/p? 1280x720 i/p? 852x480 i/p?

what are your current choices for editors/encoders?

[LO2]

Did it occur to you to call the chief engineer at a larger public tv station in another city for a consult? Your situation is not unique.

You do indeed face the issue of picture degradation. Most stations that I'm aware of use hardware solutions as opposed to software reencodes.

If your station is too cheap to hire an engineer that knows what he/she is doing, it really isn't worthy of an FCC license, IMO.

Larger stations can afford much more expensive equipment that does the Aspect Ratio changes automatically. We are on a budget and can't afford it.

I understand that some picture quality will be lost, but as this is a short term fix (probably 6 months), I can take a little loss. All of the programming fed after Feb. 10th will not need conversion, so they will be fine. Also, the majority of our programming after the switch will be from the new feeds. This need is for breaks and shows that won't be refeeding in HD for a while. I just don't want a serious degradation of quality (as I said).

Our engineer is quite capable. He can arrange it so we can change aspect ratio on the fly, but without automation systems to support it, we'd have to staff the station 24/7, which once again brings up the budget issue.

I didn't really post this request in search of criticism. I would like some help from people who are more knowledgeable than I am about this particular issue. Thanks.

[LO2]

what is the new desired ouput resolution? 1920x1080 i/p? 1280x720 i/p? 852x480 i/p?

what are your current choices for editors/encoders?

This video will be upconverted from a SD system that needs video to have a height of 480 pixels (with can vary), so output resolution for true 4:3 with bars on the left and right would be (I'm guessing on width) 960x480. For 4:3 that's already been letterboxed, I need to remove the pre-existing bars and make the new height 480, with the height (once again a guess) at 960. The sample video I provided is the letterboxed 4:3, so anyone wanting to play with it can try to do either type on conversion.

I'm pretty sure that the original is interlaced. I'd like the option of i or p output, so I can compare the two on screen after upconverting.

As for editors/encoders, anything that would work, really. Freeware would be great, but I can buy quality software as well (nothing really expensive).

Thanks for your interest.

[filmboss80]

A server system like the Omneon Spectrum (used by Vermont Public Television) will take any format, then automatically convert to play out to 2 separate streams: One for HD 16:9, which will place pillarbox bars beside 4:3 SD images; the other for SD 4:3, which will place letterbox bars on 16:9 image. Stations can play HD as their primary broadcast stream and SD as substream.

A less expensive piece of hardware is the SeaChange MediaClient 6000 series. Also, there are devices by manufacturers such as DVEO that will provide similar solutions.

The FCC only requires that you broadcast in digital after the Feb changeover, but does not require 16:9 or HD.

Sorry for the harsh tone of the earlier post. It reflects frustrations emanating from earlier career days at a similar type station where management threw dollars at things totally unrelated to front-line on-air operations, then cut budget corners where it really counted. With the high volume of programming material, your only realistic solution is a hardware acquisition, such as the ones mentioned here. Someone is going to have to find the funds to solve this problem.

[edDV]

PBS/CPB have a library of documents covering the conversion to digital from every angle. Plus they have seminars, etc.

This includes style sheets and alternatives for various existing equipment. I'll try to find links later.