Just that. thanks.

For TV (specifically North American formats), I usually work at 640 x 480, 72dpi. Ive tried larger formats, and theres not much difference in quality when you get into post work. Cinema depends on whether you want widescreen or not. Someone posted some appropriate formats for those in an earlier thread; you can probably find them by doing a search for "cinema" or "movie".

Also, in a practical sense, it really depends on where you want to end up, & what hardware will be available to get you there. i.e. don't render in a format that your editing system can't import efficiently... don't edit on a system that only outputs a Master format that your lab or duplication facility can't handle... etc. You have to plan the "hand-off" from each stage of the process, all the way to the end, to determine the best place to start.

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In Europe you need to work for the PAL norm which is 768 x 576 pixel, 25 frames per second. In America NTSC norm is used which is 640 x 480 pixel but 30 frames per second. I recommend an output format like DV (Digital Video) so you are able to send your file via firewire ro an extern camcorder or other digital device.

But -- don't master to DV if you are ultimately going to network broadcast or film. You'll want to try to retain resolution and stay in a full bandwidth uncompressed digital format as long as you can afford to. (DVC Pro & DVCam = 4-2-2?, or 4-1-1? yes?)

NTSC standard is actually 29.97 frames p/s not 30. Don't know why but that is the technical answer.

NTSC standard is actually 29.97 frames p/s not 30. So in a 90-minute movie, if I show it at 30fps it will come out 5 seconds too short. We can't have that!!!

Attached Link: http://www.enklave.com

Alright, lets get into medias res. The frame rate for video is exactly 59.94 fields p/s. DVD-Video disks can also contain movies at 23.976 fps which is nearly film speed. Film has 24 fps so for transfering film to video so one has to slow picture and sound down by 1000/10001 and dublicate a every fourth field to get the frame rate. On to the frame size: DVD-Video frames use 720 by 480 Pixel (NTSC) or 720 by 576 pixel (PAL) but use non-square pixel. In order to prevend your video to look kind of distorted you have to work with D1 (or CCIR 601) video that uses the slightley larger frame size of 720 by 486 (also non-square). So if you stretch a D1 image until the pixels are square the frame size will become 864 to 486. After finishing the movie you have to scale it sideways to 720 by 486 non-square pixels and then crop top and bottom 3 lines so you get the 720 by 480 pixels. But here comes another problem: Overscan. But I think this goes to deep...