Wide format capture (16:9)

IHSP · #1 (**permalink**) 12-21-2003, 03:04 AM

I have been shooting digital video in wide format. So now I want to capture the video on my computer and burn it on DVD. I have Pinnacle Studio 8. When I try to capture it with this software bundle it stretches the video vertically. When I inquired with Pinnacle about this they asked me to buy their high end product selling for $600+.

What is my solution here. Do I need another piece of hardware or is this software related problem?

Does anyone have a cheaper solution to this?

Marc Peters · #2 (**permalink**) 12-21-2003, 03:00 PM

Is your video in "true" native 16:9 format or is it 4:3 with black bars? It sounds as if studio 8 is using the wrong pixel aspect ratio during capture. Is there an option to change this? If not, you can correct this in TMPGenc if you're going to encode to MPEG. Could you post a screen shot of you captured video? Or even better host a 5 sec clip of your captured video? I can then show you how to alter it.

IHSP · #3 (**permalink**) 12-24-2003, 06:57 AM

How would I post a screen shot of my captured video?

I use Sony DCR-PC120 model if that is any help. When I plug my camera to TV directly it completely fills the wide screen display. No black bars.

If Studio 8 is using the wrong pixel aspect ratio during capture I don't know how to change this. Tech support at Pinnacle is not much help either.

I do encode my movies to MPEG.

Marc Peters · #4 (**permalink**) 12-24-2003, 03:02 PM

I assume you've got a widescreen TV

.

I've just done a google search of the Pinnacle site for "widescreen" and come up with a blank for Pinnacle Studio. I assume you're not going to want to spend money.

It's an easy process to convert your video back to the correct pixel ratio, but it would help greatly if you could email a short clip (say 5 secs) so that I can show you exactly how.

IHSP · #5 (**permalink**) 12-24-2003, 07:28 PM

Yes I do have widescreen TV.

I can send you a clip if that helps. I am assuming following:

1. You would like to see captured clip from Pinnacle.

2. MPEG Format

What address should I email it to?

Marc Peters · #6 (**permalink**) 12-24-2003, 07:30 PM

Reply to the address in my profile

IHSP · #7 (**permalink**) 12-24-2003, 08:22 PM

As you suggested I have sent that video clip to you at this address:

webmaster@videoeditingforums.co.uk

Hope this is the right address.

Marc Peters · #8 (**permalink**) 12-24-2003, 09:59 PM

Quick reply

Okay, Pinnacle Studio is being thick and seeing your 16:9 as 4:3, so its squishing up all the pixels creating a distorted picture. If you're playing this back on a widescreen TV, you can get around this by simply switching the TV mode to "stretch". But this isn't exactly perfect.

You can change the aspect ratio in TMPGenc. In order to minimise the amount of times you encode (successive encodes to MPEG reduces quality), I suggest you do this once you've outputted your final video.

So first of download and install TMPGenc. http://www.tmpgenc.net/e_main.html

Once installed, open up and start a new project. (I'm assuming your from North America as your original video was encoded to NTSC)

Check the options as outlined and click next. Click browse next to the video Video File box and select your video (the audio will be auto selected):

Change the aspect ratio as below and leave the other settings as they are:

Click next, then click Other Settings. In the Advance tab, change the video arrange method to Full Screen Keep Aspect Ratio as below:

LEave everything else unchanged and click OK. Click next and then next again. Finally click OK. This will then create a video (mp2) file and audio (wav) that will be DVD compatible files for use in your DVD authoring program. If you run into trouble, we can change a few settings to create a system file with Video and Audio combined. Click OK to start encoding!

You will now have video with the correct aspect ratio. However (there's always a but

), this will be in 4:3 and not anamorphic widescreen, so you will have to use the zoom on your TV.

An alternative would be to encode as above, but use NTSC [16:9] in the first step. This will flag your video up as 16:9 and "may" play as anamorphic widescreen on your DVD player even if it looks squished on a PC.

Hope this helps