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friggin overscan

Last post 06-14-2008, 7:55 by A6BN. 7 replies.
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  •  05-30-2008, 13:31 186439

    friggin overscan

    just wish what I see on the preview screen will be what I see on the t.v.  so I can quit hitting my head on the wall when I forget and have to adjust all the pictures that are hanging off the edge and reburn...think I would remember by now... Stick out tongue
  •  05-30-2008, 14:59 186485 in reply to 186439

    Re: friggin overscan

    It has been a long time since I set up a TV but as far as I know, overscan still depends on how the TV is set up as there is no standard. I played one of my DVD's on a TV where the titles were almost off screen and the title editor gives a pretty good guide...

    Aggravating as hell I agree but, as Walter used to say, “That’s’ the way it is."

    Jerry

     

  •  05-31-2008, 5:21 186719 in reply to 186439

    Re: friggin overscan

    Suggestion for feature:

    How about showing the "TV-safe" areas with dotted lines in the preview window (a bit like how the title-safe area is marked when editing a title)?
    (a) Add a tick-box in the "Edit settings" dialogue "Show TV-safe area"
    (b) When the box is ticked, add the dotted line to show the "safe area" that should not disappear due to overscan. When the box is not ticked do things as they are now (so processing power is not gobbled up by calculating and displaying the dotted line).

    As a workaround temporarily apply the "2D editor" plugin, set the horizontal and vertical size to 110% - then the preview monitor will "overscan" like a bad TV. Then you can scrub trough and see if anything appears to be too close to, or off the edge of the screen.

    Regards,
    Richard

  •  06-07-2008, 0:17 191586 in reply to 186719

    Re: friggin overscan

    I think this is a moot point, with flat panel TV's on the rise, and SD broadcast being turned off next Feb, requiring every one to have a digital TV, (more then likely it will be a LCD or Plasma) which these types of TV display the entire picture, this feature will go they way of the dinosaur.
  •  06-07-2008, 19:22 192047 in reply to 191586

    Re: friggin overscan

    Curious you should say that..I have an HD Plasma and there is certainly overscan occurring somewhere Indifferent

    When I make a DVD slide show (in SD) I have to add about a 50 pixel edge to prevent cropping on pictures.  I don't notice it on video but I expect that is because of some compensation going on in the camera.

    Jerry 

  •  06-09-2008, 7:54 193049 in reply to 192047

    Re: friggin overscan

    Most (all?) television sets still have overscan - even LCD and Plasma displays, just as Jerry said.

    Why?

    I believe the reason is because most television is broadcast with overscan and if your TV displayed the entire image you would very likely see undesirable artifacts around the edges.

    Maybe some models have an option to show the entire image or not.  That would be a cool feature.

    Anyway... the overscan is usually smaller on an LCD TV, but it is not zero like it is on your computer.

  •  06-09-2008, 8:35 193062 in reply to 193049

    • jjn is not online. Last active: 02 Dec 2008, 23:48 jjn
    • Top 25 Contributor
    • Joined on 05-09-2007
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    Re: friggin overscan

    You shouldn't see any undesirable artefacts if the broadcasters have done their job properly. The trouble is that there is no such thing as a fixed amount of overscan, so if a broadcaster decides to leave in a shot that has, for example, a boom mic creeping into the top of frame, someone will have a TV that will display that boom. Broadcast monitors have an Underscan button that you generally leave pressed so that nothing untoward on the edge of frame will escape attention. And now with streaming TV channels and stuff like the BBC iPlayer, the old excuse of "Don't worry, it will be in overscan" just doesn't work anymore.

    Most, if not all, TVs - plasma, LCD or whatever, can be adjusted so that you get no overscan/cuttoff whatsoever. I know a Video Editor who had to set up his own LCD TV because it was overscanning about 20% and driving him crazy. Of course, some of controls are in software now, so you have to have a manual and take the cover off as well as being technically very capable. In the past with three-gun CRT tubes it was even more of a skill, but it can be done.

    So why do some TVs come out the factory set-up to overscan so much even in this day and age when electronic circuits are so stable?

    When you go to the store and look at them all lined up, how do you judge which has the best screen? I actually think some manufacturers believe the TV that overscans subjectivly has a larger screen because the picture has been blown up, and we are too stupid to notice that stuff is missing off the edges!

    Because of this, Broadcasters are still having to use the safe area rules where captions have to be within the centre area (80%?) of the picture. Next time you are in a TV shop, see how much the positioning of captions vary from TV to TV.

    Exactly the same compromises that home video makers have to take into account have been a pain in the backside for broadcasters since the 30's Sad

  •  06-14-2008, 7:55 196746 in reply to 193062

    Re: friggin overscan

    each TV model/manufacturer is different and depending on the pixel size, image size and OEMs scaling algorithm, there will always be overscan, even on HDTVs..

     I agree a toggle on/off off the safe area on the preview screen would be a nice to have,

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