[SBE] mixed aspect ratio workflow

[David Baker]

Thank you John and Tony.
Your responses shed light on many issues, especially the problems of 16:9 in the analog domain.
We were somewhat shocked to see the DXC-D55WS cameras give a narrower field of view in 4:3 mode over the DXC-3000's we upgraded from 4 years ago.
I found it to be an electronic cropping of the image off the 16:9 chip, and couldn't find a way to change where it got cropped.  Ever since, I have been trying to utilize this camera
in the intended 16:9 mode, especially since it helps shooting talk shows with multiple guests on a small set.
We're still shooting material in 4:3, but have cameras that will do HD.
Thanks for the input.
 
Dave



>>> John Peterson <jpeterson at prairiepublic.org> 1/18/2012 12:36 PM >>>

As long as you are using composite analog I don't see the benefit in trying to do 16:9. Yes it is good to fill all the new screens but as long as you are analog you will have problems working with both aspect ratios. I could be wrong but I don't think AFD is used in the analog world. 

Where does the 4:3 content come from? Legacy material? or are you still shooting field stuff in 4:3? I would wait to do 16:9 until you can do SDI. And I would upgrade the field cameras to 16:9 (HD) as soon as possible.

Legacy 4:3 material will always be needed/used but once you make the switch to widescreen, specially HD, producers will minimize the use of the 4:3 material because of the look and the hassle.

John

On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 11:46 AM, David Baker <DBaker at addison-il.org> wrote:


Hello all,
Our facility is attempting to utilize its newer widescreen studio cameras/lenses to produce content in 16:9. The signal would be distributed and recorded in composite analog until we can pave a path to SD-SDI. Currently our Sony cameras output a full-screen 16:9 anamorphic image. 
Our problem lies in incorporating 4:3 content into these productions, as well as also combining final productions with other mixed content (4:3, letterbox 16:9, etc.) programs into a signal that gets to the cable provider in some watchable manner - with no postage stamp look or stretched images.
As far as I can tell, the key seems to be in the use of an Active Format Descriptor (AFD) in our program material. Can AFD be inserted in an analog signal? Does AFD use happen in the production facility, or at the cable provider end? 
Our provider doesn't seem to be able to automatically switch aspect ratio when it gets our signal. The response was they were "not entirely convinced it could work, or if it did what it would look like since there is no other working example to follow".

Does anyone have a better way of managing this problem, and can recommend some type of equipment interconnection/content workflow?
I have a feeling this may be an ongoing headache with no easy answer for many facilities, but thanks for any insight!
Thank you,

David Baker, CBTE, CBNT
Media Production Coordinator
Community Relations Dept.
Village of Addison, IL
ofc: 630-693-7554 ( tel:630-693-7554 )
cell: 708-935-7829 ( tel:708-935-7829 )
fax: 630-543-5411 ( tel:630-543-5411 )
www.addisonadvantage.org

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