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C
CanadianCoupe5FE2
Participant
April 15, 2021
Question

Does the project frame size cause the media to be up/down scaled to fit?

  • April 15, 2021
  • 2 replies
  • 606 views

I have used a MovieMaker Pro device to scan Super8 cine movies into 1440x1080 video files in 4:3 aspect ratio.

 

In Adobe Elements I found that when I create a new project to edit these videos I have to select "PAL->Hard Disk->Standard 48Khz". This is because this is the only project with a 4:3 aspect ratio. The preview window is the correct aspect ratio (4:3) and when I add my media it correctly fills the entire preview window (see the attached "standard" image).

 

I then export the video using a custom format which gives me a 1440x1080 video.

 

This all works but what I want to know is when I add the media to the project does it scale it down to the 720x576 frame size of the project? Am I losing information at this step even if I finally export it at the original frame size of 1440x1080?

 

I have tried selecting other projects with 1440x1080 as the frame size (see the attached "Widescreen" image) but all these appear to be 16:9 aspect ratio meaning I end up with black bars on the left and right after I add my 4:3 media.

 

Thanks

 

John

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

S
Steve Grisetti
Legend
April 15, 2021

If your project settings are standard definition, you are editing your video as 720x480 (or 720x576 PAL). So, yes, it is being scaled down from your original 1440x1080, even if you then output it as 1440x1080.

 

The only way to maintain your original resolution in Premiere Elements is to edit it in a 1920x1080 project and output it as 1920x1080 with black bars along the sides (or enlarged to fill the screen with some of the top and/or bottom trimmed off). 

 

If it were me, I'd just output it letterboxed (widescreen with black bars on the sides). That will ensure you are watching your video at its source resolution -- and your audience probably won't even notice the black bars on the sides.

    Ann Bens
    Community Expert
    Ann BensCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 15, 2021

     (widescreen with black bars on the sides) you mean pillarboxed.

    S
    Steve Grisetti
    Legend
    April 15, 2021

    Thank you, Ann. I guess letterboxed is technically the other direction. 😉

      Ann Bens
      Community Expert
      Ann BensCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      April 15, 2021

      As of now Elements cannot handle non-standard framesizes.

      You can if you are a bit computer savvy you can make your own project settings.

      How To Create 1440p and 2160p (4K) Projects in Premiere Elements – Custom Sequence Presets - YouTube

        C
        CanadianCoupe5FE2Author
        Participant
        April 16, 2021

        Thanks for the YouTube link Ann. I'm a software engineer so creating a custom setting was relatively easy for me 🙂

        Getting it to work was tricky though due to the lack of any documentation. At one point it would work except Adobe Elements would crash when I tried to interact with the export dialog. It didn't seem to like a 20 fps configuration so I changed it to 30 fps and it was happy.

         

        Now I have an additional custom project setting for my 1440x1080 Super8 scans that is in 4:3 ratio 🙂

         

        The value for the fps towards the end of the custom ".sqpreset" file is quiet weird. It seems to be 254,270,016,000 divided by the number of fps you want. 

        Ann Bens
        Community Expert
        Ann BensCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        April 16, 2021

        Glad you got it working.

        There is no documentation as you are not supposed to do this.

        20 fps is not a standard framerate.

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