16:9 to 4:3

JohnDale · Post by **JohnDale** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 12:27 am

Hi
I need to buy a new mini DV video camera, but most seem to only record 16:9 video. I don't have a 16:9 TV yet so can videostudio 11.5 plus convert to 4:3. If not is there another way to do it? Is there any loss in quality or any other undesirable side effects?

Thanks

rguthrie · Post by **rguthrie** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 1:03 am

John,

You shouldn't have a problem with using 16:9 video in a 4:3 project. You will, however, will have to deal with lossing some of your footage on the sides, depending on how you use your clips. Or you could just go ahead and use 16:9 for your projects and just deal with having to see the black band on the top and bottom of your TV screen. That way when you do get a widescreen TV, your home movies will already be in that format.

Ronald Guthrie

GeorgeW · Post by **GeorgeW** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 1:14 am

Hi John,

As Ronald mentioned -- using 16:9 will prepare you for when you do get a widescreen tv.

Personally, I used to shoot everything 4:3, until I started shooting widescreen about August of 2006. Since then, I try to use widescreen all the time because you get to see so much more (on the sides). I regret not converting over sooner...

Regards,
George

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 1:36 am

I think you will find that those camcorders will have a setting that enables you to switch between recording in 4.3 and 16.9
In fact I shot a lot of video in 4.3 before I decided to read the manual one rainy day and "discovered" the 16.9 setting

JohnDale · Post by **JohnDale** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 5:34 am

I checked the manual online and found it can also record 4x3. I am now looking at a JVC GZHD3 3ccd HD camera, to try and future proof my purchase a little. It has 3 record resolution modes XP (1440x1080i, 26.6Mbps) / SP (1440x1080i, 19Mbps) / 1440CBR (1440x1080i, 27Mbps Constant Bit Rate) all HD. I only want SD for the moment. I'm reasonably sure I can output this as 720x576 with VS11.5 for my SD 4x3 TV. How would I go editing HD on my computer, which is runs XP pro and is 2.8GHZ, 1GB RAM, 1 x 80GB HDD for XP and programs and 120GB HDD 8MB cache 7200RPM, Video card 256mb ATI Radion AGP 8x. The salesman also tells me 3CCD cameras are much better when shooting in low light, is this true, he actually said this camera will rec in 0 lux. What does 0 LUX mean

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 5:41 am

I think you will find this link of interest:
Best Method of watching HD footage on SD equipment

0 LUX = "who turned the lights off?"

rguthrie · Post by **rguthrie** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 5:47 am

John,

Lux is a measurement of illumination, i.e. light. I'm almost positive that if your camera can record at 0 lux that means that is has infrared capability. Have you every watched "Survivorman" when he's shooting a night scene and everything has a greenish tint to it? If you're really concerned about shooting a lot in low light conditions then you need to worry about signal-to-noise ratio. A higher SNR will produce better video in low light.

And yes, 3ccd cameras are better than 1ccd cameras.

JohnDale · Post by **JohnDale** » Fri May 02, 2008 3:45 am

I have bought a 16x9 video camera. Decided on a DV tape type, mainly because of the price. So now I will record all Video in 16x9. , but will this affect a slideshow of photos which I normally put on the same DVD as the photos will all text etc be the same as I authored when only using 4x3. Should i render the slide show as 16x9 or 4x3. As you can probably tell I am a little confused at the moment with which is the best way to author from now on. Just don't want to find out I did it the wrong way, a few years down the track, that I did it the wrong way.

Trevor Andrew · Post by **Trevor Andrew** » Fri May 02, 2008 2:12 pm

Hi John

I do all my video and slide shows using 16:9.

The video is from a Mini DV type camcorder, captured via firewire to DV format.
Edited then rendered to DVD pal 16:9 for burning.

Slide shows are made in 16 : 9
Images for the shows are 16 9 ratio (for Pal that¡¦s 1024 x 576)
These fill the screen fully. Using different ratios will result in a black border left and right.

All other editing, titles for example use the same procedure as for 4 x 3. The safe area being identified within the preview screen.

If I make a separate slide show ( No Video ) the project properties used are as for the video.

Have a look at my guide to ---16 :9 A look at Widescreen ---from the link below.

Hope this Helps

Clevo · Post by **Clevo** » Fri May 02, 2008 2:25 pm

JohnDale wrote:I have bought a 16x9 video camera. Decided on a DV tape type, mainly because of the price. So now I will record all Video in 16x9. , but will this affect a slideshow of photos which I normally put on the same DVD as the photos will all text etc be the same as I authored when only using 4x3. Should i render the slide show as 16x9 or 4x3. As you can probably tell I am a little confused at the moment with which is the best way to author from now on. Just don't want to find out I did it the wrong way, a few years down the track, that I did it the wrong way.

I have recently started shooting in 16:9 and still getting used to the different framing of things...it's the way of the future.

You can;t combine aspect ratios though so like me...all my previous projects will have to stay that way and that should still be fine on 16:9 widescreens (you'll just have black handles on sides)

My future slide shows...what i like to do is first show the full photo in it's original aspect...then use the Ken Burns effect to good use and pan and zoom on features of the picture. Artists like to show how they framed the whole picture and this is a good technique with stills...you also see it alot on art shows on TV

whoppke · Post by **whoppke** » Fri May 02, 2008 10:48 pm

Trevor,
You said:
"Slide shows are made in 16 : 9
Images for the shows are 16 9 ratio (for Pal that¡¦s 1024 x 576)
These fill the screen fully. Using different ratios will result in a black border left and right."

Instead of 1024x576, what would the aspect ration be for NTSC?

Wayne

Trevor Andrew · Post by **Trevor Andrew** » Sat May 03, 2008 9:18 am

Hi Wayne

720 x 576 is the video size for Pal 4:3 and 16:9, the pixels are stretched to fit the screen. (non square pixel rendering)( think of video as using rectangular pixels)
If we used square pixels we would need 1024 x 576 to fill the widescreen frame. (Keeping the vertical aspect as 576)

For Ntsc 720 x 480 is the video size for 4:3 and 16 9 again the pixels are not square.
Using the same argument.
If we used square pixels we would need 853 x 480 to fill the frame.
(again keeping the vertical aspect as 480)

You can check this from the timeline
Change to ¡¥Project¡¦ playback mode
Tools-Save current frame as image
The resultant image size can be checked from the library, right click and select properties.
Notice the size.

In theory any sizes can be used for your images, but if you want to fill the frame then an aspect ratio of 16:9 has to be used, 853 x 480 being the minimum size.

If you intend to use Pan & Zoom then I would double the size to1706 x 960.

So as to your question, what size? any size provided its 16:9

An image of 1600px -- 900px for instance would fill the frame.
An image size of 1024 -- 576 would also fill the frame
An image size of 853 -- 480 would also fill the frame

Hope this helps

JohnDale · Post by **JohnDale** » Sun May 04, 2008 3:42 am

Hi Trevor
I read your quick user guide and it was very helpfull. I have managed to author a 16x9 slideshow and it fills the screen on a friends 16x9 TV. I changed an option in preferences\edit, before loading the images into the timeline, to keep aspect ratio. Then used pan and zoom to remove the side bars. Is pan & zoom the same as the Ken Burns effect?
I attempted to change the image resolution with photo impact to 1024x 576 but this didn't work very well. The image was stretched horizontaly. But when I save the same image (save as still image) within VS11 and open that image in photo impact its resolution is 1024x576. Do you know why this happens? and it looks in proportion.

Trevor Andrew · Post by **Trevor Andrew** » Sun May 04, 2008 7:40 pm

Hi

Keep aspect ratio or fit to project size.

If the image used is the same aspect as the project then it does not matter which option you choose.

If the image is using a different aspect ratio, using fit to project size will distort the image to fit.

I always use ¡¥keep aspect ratio¡¦

Preparing the image
If you use an image editor to customise your images then you should use the crop tool.
This will crop the image to your selected settings.

If you use Image Size to re-sample the image then you will most likely distort the image.

I do not use Photo Impact but would assume it supports cropping.

I need to crop my image to 16:9 ratio, for Pal this is 1024 x 576
If I adopt Pan and zoom then extra pixels may be required to maintain quality.

I use 2048 x 1152 doubling the pixel size for most of my widescreen slide shows.

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