16:9 question

[HunnyB Profile Private message]

When I create a show in widescreen, and watch it on my widescreen t.v.,
images are cut off. I am staying in the safe zones --- I think anyway.
Any suggestions?

HunnyB

[mrcracked]

when I used to make flash movies for TVs I used in displays I had a trick I used before I started. All TVs have a different safe zone. I have seen some Plasma and LCD TVs that show the complete picture. My own TV; a LCD projection Akai is the same way, but after talking to others; even Plasma and LCD TVs may have part of the screen hidden by the casing. CRT type televisions are by far the biggest offenders.

when making a show for a specific television I used a simple process. I made an image the exact size for the output of the television. Then I positioned guides around the edges at 5% intervals making an effective guide box. I use Photoshop myself, but I do believe that almost any image software supports guides. I then made boxes of different colors at the guides at 5%, 10%, and 15% with the smaller boxes being on the topmost layers. I burned this image to a DVD and then played it on the TV we would be using for the display. Judging by which boxes were showing and which boxes were cut off I was able determine pretty accurately how much of my project would be cut off by the television. Almost every CRT was different, but the HD televisions behaved most nicely.

At this point you could use your visual measurement to set the safe zone guides at the correct percentage, or if you are unable to adjust them simply place the guide image in the background and use it as a guide.

I have uploaded a sample to this URL in case you are interested. In fact it is actually made to widescreen settings. 864x486 with a pixel aspect ration of 1.0 so you are welcome to use it if you would like. If your software wants a picture aspect ration of 1.2 you should make your image 720x486

http://www/crackedandbent.com/safezone/ ... l_size.jpg

I hope this helps,

Mark

[mrcracked]

ooops...shoddy typing caused a hyperlink disaster. Here is the corrected link.

http://www.crackedandbent.com/safezone/ ... l_size.jpg


sorry about that

Mark

[briancbb Profile Private message]

Beth

Is it possible your 'widescreen' is not a full 16:9. In the UK I have seen widescreens that are 14:9, and these would have more cutoff at the sides.

You can check, measure the width of the picture on your screen and divide by the height. If the answer is 1.7777 it is 16:9. If it is 1.5555 it is 14:9.

Brian

[mrcracked]

Not that this contributes in any way to answering your question, but if you want to see one of the TVs we used in action you can follow this link. I happened to find this picture this morning when I was searching my archives for elements for my contrasting colors show.

http://www.crackedandbent.com/halloween ... oween3.jpg

Needless to say....you have probably figured out who I work for now.


Mark

[HunnyB Profile Private message]

Hey guys. Thanks for the help.
Mark - great display picture. Will be a great in your "contrasting color slide show".
And Brian - who is Beth????

HunnyB

[briancbb Profile Private message]

And Brian - who is Beth????

Don't know quite where I pulled that one from

Brian