User Manual

50
Working with projects
Last updated 11/5/2019
Check your project settings
Project presets include project settings under three categories: General, Capture, and Video Rendering. After you start
a project, you can’t change most of the settings, such as frame rate, size, and aspect ratio. However, you can review the
settings to ensure that the media you want to add to the project is compatible.
?
Open the project in Premiere Elements, and choose Edit > Project Settings > [category].
Note:
Third-party products, such as PCs, capture cards, and hardware bundles sometimes include custom presets. See the
third-party documentation for details.
NTSC vs PAL presets
NTSC presets conform to the NTSC standard, where each video frame includes 525 horizontal lines displayed at 29.97
frames per second. The Standard NTSC preset applies to footage that has a 4:3 aspect ratio. The Widescreen NTSC
preset applies to footage that has a 16:9 aspect ratio.
PAL presets conform to the PAL standard, where each video frame includes 625 lines displayed at 25 frames per second.
General settings
General settings (Edit > Project Settings > General) control the fundamental characteristics of a project. They include
the editing mode used to process video, frame size, aspect ratios, count time (Display Format), and playback settings
(Timebase). These settings match the most common source media in your project. For example, if most of your footage
is DV, use the DV Playback editing mode. The quality of your video can deteriorate if you change these settings
arbitrarily.
General settings include the following options.
Editing Mode Identifies the television standard and format for the project. You cannot change the Timebase, Frame
Size, Pixel Aspect Ratio, Fields, and Sample Rate preview settings. The editing mode determines these settings.
Note: The Editing Mode setting represents the specifications of the source media, not the final output settings. Specify
output settings when you export a project.
Timebase Specifies the time divisions used to calculate the time position of each edit (PAL: 25, NTSC: 29.97).
Playback Settings This button is available if you use a DV preset, a DV editing mode, or install a plug-in that provides
additional playback functions. For a DV editing mode, this option indicates where you want your previews to play. For
information on the playback settings for third-party plug-ins, see the developer documentation.
Frame Size Specifies the frame pixels for your project playback. In most cases, the frame size for your project matches
the frame size of your source media. You can’t change the frame size to compensate for slow playback. However, you
can adjust the playback settings: Right-click/ctrl-click the monitor and choose Playback Settings. Adjust the frame size
of the output by changing the Export settings.
Pixel Aspect Ratio Sets the aspect ratio for pixels. The video format (PAL or NTSC) determines this ratio. If you use a
pixel aspect ratio that is different from your video, the video can appear distorted when you render it and play.
Fields Specifies the field dominance, or the order in which the two interlaced fields of each frame are drawn.
Display Format (video) Specifies the way time appears throughout the project. The time display options correspond to
standards for editing video and motion-picture film. For DV NTSC video, choose 30-fps Drop-Frame Timecode. For
DV PAL video, choose 25-fps Timecode.