Promo Only Aspect Ratio

[discodonal.com]

Does anybody know what aspect ratio promo only music videos are delivered in?

[Darryl]

The DVDs have the video in 4:3 with any other aspect ratios in letter boxes.  The MPEG4 files are the same - example from the July 2012 Pop disk - "Adam Lambert - Never Close Our Eyes Promo Only Intro Edit.mp4" is a 16:9 video in a 4:3 file.

So when I convert them to MPEG2 I keep the 4:3 aspect ratio of the file.  Ots Studio automatically corrects the aspect ratio of the content and the video displays correctly in Ots Studio and Ots AV.

[discodonal.com]

I am using the download service and the videos are 720p, does this not mean that they should be 16:9? I am very confused!!!

[Eden]

Yes your correct i download at 720
July week 2
Alex Clare - Treading Water 1280 x 720 when converted in studio 2.40:1 = black bars top & bottom
Maroon 5 - One More Night  1280 x 720 when converted in studio 16:9 = widescreen
You can always alter in studio but you will lose the sides. Maybe someone can explain this better than me
Rob

[Darryl]

Sorry, I should have been more specific in the information I gave.  I still receive the MPEG-4 DVD rather than their new HD service.  This might only be available by download.

[discodonal.com]

What I don't understand is what aspect ratio to use with TMPEG Express. Is it 16:9 as the resolution is 720p (1280 x 720) or do I change to 4:3 and let OTS Studio do it's magic.

[Eden]

What i would do is encode at 16:9 & let Ots Studio do the rest.

Had a quick look at TMPEG Express is it bit overkill just to convert to mpeg-2 seems more like a full on video editor to me but if you've already
bought it then use it.
Did you check out the software i use its really easy to use & a lot cheaper
BTW the Promo Only HD downloads are top quality thought Mixmash was good but these are far better
Rob

[Darryl]

If the source media is 16:9 then encode with the 16:9 settings.  Ots Labs produced a set of TMPGEnc templates that you can download from their website - these were for creating optimized MPEG2 files (for slower systems).  My computer wasn't very powerful when I started down the video route and I had a lot of AVI captures of Pioneer karaoke laserdiscs to convert to MPEG2 along with quite a lot of MPEG1 Sunfly VCD karaoke rips.  This is why I chose TMPGEnc - you can set up a batch of conversions and let the batch converter get going while you are working on the next lot.  That said, it may well be overkill for many people.

The link to the Ots Labs TMPGEnc files is here: http://www.otslabs.com/studio-tmpgenc-templates/

They set up specific templates for 16:9 and 4:3 source files.  Although you probably won't want the optimized video (unless you want to save disk space or have a slower computer/less powerful video card), the settings for the output resolutions and aspect ratio in the Ots Labs templates might help you to work understand the options available.

You could try encoding one source file with a few different settings until you find something that you are happy with.

Another thing to note is the choice of audio encoding.  Music video DVDs tend to have the audio in MPEG2 format - if you ever want to export the audio for use on other devices (like an mp3 player, or on CDs for your car stereo), you might want to encode the audio as MP3 at this point in the conversion (Ots Studio allows export of the audio in the native encoding).  Of course you could choose to store the audio and uncompressed PCM (i.e. wav) if you had it in an uncompressed source (e.g. compact disc or some blu-ray DVDs).

Since you are converting from MPEG4, the audio will already be compressed.  TMPGEnc is be able to tell you how the source audio was stored as well as the video format (resolution, encoding etc.)

[discodonal.com]

When I import the promo only hd files they are way smaller than when I convert to mpeg 2. Why is this when I am keeping the resolution the same.

[MusicmadUK]

All videos should be displayed in the resolution the director intended it to be viewed at (Formatted in a 16:9 Frame), period! Some of the promo (dvd) video companies I won't name them choose to format their dvds for 4:3 aspect ratio, why?. Even the most rundown of venues have 16:9 HD Screens!!! so please stop this practice!.

I Know ots gets round this but if you have hard coded titling on the videos you can lose part of the text info and it looks very bad in my opinion.

[Jumpin' Jeff]

I totally agree Kev! I do my best to alter the aspect ration to gain enough of the usable title, without cutting fonts in half, and maintaining most of the actual image.

[discodonal.com]

This has answered a lot of my questions.

http://promoonly.com/hd/

[Jumpin' Jeff]

Wish that had been available whenI was still purchasing vids...

[discodonal.com]

Just tried the demo ots av with 720p and the videos and ticker look amazing!! Not buying until I see what's coming up.