Re: compression and aspect ratio

Hi Chris,

I think your getting true 16:9 and anamorphic
confused. NTSC is not capable of displaying
a 16:9 image in the same manner as HD.

NTSC video only comes in 1 aspect ratio. 4:3.

Because of these restrictions think of this as a workaround to
put a 16:9 image into a 4:3 frame. That workaround is called Anamorphic widescreen.

The 16:9 data is horizontally squeezed
to fit into the 4:3 frame (squashed like you say) and we need to tell AE
to un-squeeze it so that we can view it as it was intended.

The proper way to do this is as Simon stated.

NOTE: It might initially look squashed in AE because the programme by default shows everything on screen in square pixels, but if you toggle the button in the bottom right of the composition panel (hover over them one by one and you'll find the one you're looking for), you can correct the view to 16:9 so you can see what you'll expect to see on the DVD.

..by making the source video bigger is that making the pixels bigger and worse??
Yes.
You do not want to scale your video in any way if you want to maintain the highest quality.

.also if i do export in quicktime as 720x480 and then import into FCE do you know if I have to make that footage anamorphic in FCE to get 16:9 result ??????

Again its just a matter if setting your FC timeline up for it to
interpret your anamorphic footage correctly. Dragging and dropping a clip
into a new timeline should prompt you to set the timeline with the same properties
as your rendered clip.

BTW you can set up your compositions in AE in a similar fashion by dragging and dropping
your video footage into the "make new comp" button at the bottom of your project panel.
AE sets up a new composition based on the length and format of your footage.

This process of stuffing 16:9 into 4:3 continues to happen every step along the way.
When you create your DVD the DVD software will put a flag on your 4:3 content telling the
DVD player to correctly interpret the footage again.

-Andy