Resolution size, # of passes, when creating MP4

[JRR]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I didn't see it in this part of the forum, nor the help (but I may have missed it)

I am converting all my shows to MP4 and have two questions (at this point)

1. My images are 1280x960. Should I be "publishing" at 1280x960 or 1280x720 ? "People" are recommending "720p" which I assume is 1280x720. I don't think I see a difference when I try both.

2. I am offered a choice of one pass or two passes one the encoding. I asume for simple shows (no videos, or pans) that two passes are perhaps overkill. The resultant file sizes are the same (±)

Any thoughts would be appreciated

Thanks

Jim

[PGA]

Jim,

I do not produce video files on a regular basis. So when I do, I always take whatever defaults PTE has offered me. I've not yet been disappointed with the end results.

regards,

Peter

[Lin Evans]

Hi Jim,

The difference in aspect ratio may not be apparent at the screen resolution you are viewing your mp4 shows depending on how you have set the zooms, what you have chosen as your display default in PTE and the virtual size of slide in the Screen Tab of Project Options. What can happen is that depending on the resolution of your own display device and that of another user, there may be a difference. Many new displays are either 16:9 (most HD displays at 1920x1080) and 2560x1440 or 16:10 (larger displays which might be 2560x1600). Some of the newest large screen displays are 3840 x 2160 (16:9).

The 1280x720 would fit nicely on the 16x9 aspect ratio screens. The 1280x960 size equals a 4:3 aspect ratio such as you might have with an Olympus dSLR. This would fit some of the older CRT displays but some of the image would either be cropped on a different aspect ratio display or there would necessarily be some additional black on the sides if you filled the vertical aspect of the display.

It's not a simple thing to decide unless you know what aspect ratio display that your show will probably be seen on. Unfortunately there is no one size fits all solution. In terms of best results, I would probably do the cropping myself via the size and use 1280x720 which would have a bit better fit all around than the original 1280x960 on most displays. It's too bad that display manufacturers and camera manufacturers rarely get together on specs. It means the photographer must generally shoot much wider than desired to accommodate the necessary cropping for slideshows.

As for one pass, two passes - I've personally not seen any significant differences so I usually go with a single pass myself.

Best regards,

Lin

[JRR]

Thanks Peter and Lin

Muchly appreciated