Confused about aspect ratio of Canopus ADVC-100 captures

[Michelle]

I want to capture tv shows. TV has an aspect ratio of 4:3. The ADVC-100 captures at 720x480. That's an aspect ratio of 3:2. So it seems that my captures will have an incorrect aspect ratio. Is that right?

[TBoneit]

If what you believe is so, then all dvd movies would be off too.

The DVD Player takes the DVD Format video and renders it into 4:3 for the output. It does that with 352 by 240, 352 by 480, 720 by 480 resolutions.... These are all valid DVD format resolutions for NTSC.

In other words when it is encoded and authored the DVD is set to tell the player how to output the file. I've simplified it of course.

BTW 352 by 240 is also VCD resolution it is the 44.1 Khz vs 48 Khz audio that is part of the difference between VCD and DVD at that res.

And SVCD in NTSC is 480 by 480 a 1:1 ratio but it looks fine on the TV too. The player does the work to make it look right.


FWIW I have and Use the ADVC-100 it works great.
Good Luck

[gavmiester]

Dont get hung up on the aspect ratios....just dtry one and burn to a rw...then check it out on your tv.....if you dont like it, experiment.
There is a lot of debate over bitrate settings, so play around with those as well until you are happy with your results.....personally, I up the bitrate for high action content, eg basketball....otherwise I tend to get loads of motion artefacts....happy playing.

[Michelle]

Thanks. My unit will be here in a few days so I'll be able to see what it really looks like. I read a guide on aspect ratios and that's what got me started wondering about this.

[The village idiot]

The reason it seems to be out of aspect is because you are thinking about square pixels. SVCD is 480x480. Many computer players will display it as a square (aspect 1:1), with all the distortion that you would expect. But in truth, the stream is tagged in such a way, that the pixels are indicated as being rectangles (aspect 4:3). Same type of thing happens with the 720x480 that you DV is.

That is about the easiest way I can explain it. Some encoders let you choose whether the pixels are square, or rectangular. So be careful when you start messing with the advanced settings in your encoder (software).