CATEGORY: Video Postproduction

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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What is “Audio Description?”

You are likely familiar with the term “closed-captioning” for television and video.

But have you hear about “audio description,” or the acronym, DVI?

It stands for “Descriptive Video Information.” (Note: Some call it “audio description,” others “video description.” WGBH, the PBS station in Boston calls in it DVS, a term they copyrighted through their Media Access Group http://tinyurl.com/kmtuuj, the entity that pioneered the process.

However it is called, the purpose of the service is to make television and video programming more accessible to the visually-impaired segment of the audience.

(Data from the National Health Interview Survey states that over 20 million US adults have some form of vision loss even with glasses or contact lenses.)

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