DV Titling and Text

Introduction

The DV Codec does not handle text or video with sharp defining edges very well. The following recommendations will help to produce better looking titles and text in DV rendered video played back on an NTSC video monitor.

The Problem

The DV Codec was designed to handle images that blend together smoothly. Therefore, it does not handle text or images that contain hard-edged lines. This makes creating good looking titles and text more challenging.

The Solution

Adjust color, sharpness, and opacity of the text to make it look better encoded in DV Codec and displayed on an NTSC video monitor.

Use a sans serif font, not a serif font (avoid small filigrees).
Use bold lines; do not use thin outlines.
Text height should use at least 20 scan lines.
Horizontal lines should use at least 2 scan lines to avoid interlace problems.
Use only NTSC legal colors and levels. Keep all color channels within a range of 16 to 235. Keep white at 90% on colored backgrounds or 80% on black backgrounds. Try not to use white on black.
Keep the contrast down and reduce saturation in bright or dark colors.
Apply a bit of a blur to soften text edges.

Page updated on Monday, 20-Oct-2008 08:31:36 CDT.