Catherine De Paula, Editor
Make sure your NLE project is set to the right aspect ratio, as dictated by your source footage and delivery requirements. Avid for example will create your titles differently depending on the aspect ratio of your project.
Within the PAL standard there are two standard definition aspect ratios, 4x3 and 16x9 Full Height Anamorphic. 4x3 consists of 720x576 non-square pixels, which is the equivalent of 768x576 square pixels. 16x9 FHA consists of 720x576 anamorphic non-square pixels, the equivalent of 1024x576 square pixels. The square pixel dimensions are what should be used when creating graphics for the respective SD aspect ratios, although Photoshop CS2 now have size presets matching the non-square and anamorphic as well as HD frame sizes.
All HD formats are 16x9 square pixels, so the term “FHA” does not apply. The two HD ratios are 1920x1080 and 1280x720. If working with SD copies of your HD material during offline, set your SD project to 16x9 FHA.