Designing titles for TV

If your intended audience will view your finished program on a TV, preview the program on a TV monitor as you work. Elements that appear satisfactory on a computer screen may be unacceptable when viewed on a TV because computer monitors and TV monitors display images differently. The outer edges of the image may be cropped, colors may bleed, and horizontal details may appear to flicker. However, once you are aware of a problem, it’s easy to take steps to correct it.

The Safe Title and Safe Action margins in the Monitor panel designate the title’s visible safe zones. These margins are displayed by default when the Monitor is in title-editing mode.

Safe zones are useful when editing for broadcast and videotape. Most consumer TV sets use a process called overscan, which cuts off a portion of the outer edges of the picture, allowing the center of the picture to be enlarged. The amount of overscan is not consistent across TVs, so to ensure that titles and important actions fit within the area that most TVs display, keep text within the safe title margins and all other important elements within the safe action margins.

A margin is displayed if a check mark appears next to its menu item.

You can adjust the sizes of the Title Safe area, the Action Safe area, or both (for example, to customize them for displays with less overscan).