CATEGORY: Video Duplication

Revisiting anamorphic and aspect ratios . . .

We certainly remain in transitional times in our media field.

And few things illustrate that more than the continuing confusion created by the various aspect ratios that video can be displayed in these days.

SD, HD, 4:3, 16:9, letterbox, anamorphic, wide-screen . . . all terms that you hear mixed together.

My good buddy and tech guru Chris Vazquez wrote an excellent article on this site two years ago about SD anamorphic , and it continues to be one of the most-read articles on my website, but questions still abound, especially when it comes to DVD authoring.

So let’s try to further clarify.

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Don’t forget the “record inhibit” tabs . . .

We may indeed be heading toward a tapeless environment sometime down the road, but I assure you, we aren’t there yet.

Our videotape services department is still busy all the time.

So this is a reminder that when sending us or anyone a source or master video tape, it’s just good practice to be in the habit of setting any record tab to “safe” so as to prevent any accidental recording over.

(Sure, we’re professionals, but hey, why take any chances with your media.)

Such “record inhibit” tabs vary between tape formats. On most broadcast formats like BetacamSP, dBeta and HDCAM, it’s a red tab on the underside that gets pushed in. (see photo above) . . .

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The importance of “house reference”

If you’ve played piano, you are proably familiar with the metronome.

Or perhaps you have played in a rock band, you’ve realized first hand the value of a good drummer.

Or maybe you’ve worked on your car. You are likely well aware of the importance of the timing belt.

In any of those cases, if you lose the “sync,” things start falling apart.

Same in video . . .

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Some further answers on delivering video around the globe . . .

free-vector-world-map copy A client of mine shot me an e-mail recently with a couple of questions regarding video deliverables and standards conversion.

All excellent questions, and I thought I’d share some of my answers with you.

First, let me restate that one of our main services here at Video Labs www.VideoLabs.net is indeed standards conversion.

Here is my quick-read blog about our high-end SD converter, the Alchemist Ph.C: http://tinyurl.com/6egswq

However, except for vhs, we do not do SECAM. In my 3+ years here at Video Labs, I have yet to fulfill an order for SECAM.

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