OK, so while I was looking for an answer to my question I found a lot of discussions about the fact that VS 10 supports or not the mod files created by the JVC Everio cameras, and I can confirm that YES it fully supports the mod files there is no need to rename the files or anything they are in fact mpg files with a mod extension, that's it...the only issue that I found (and this is my questions) is:
When I right click on the mod files in my library and display their properties, their info is accurate, the field order, bit rate, sound and aspect ratio (16:9 in my case), but when I drag it to the timeline it "thinks" is 4:3 and since I have the option set up to change the project settings to match the video properties it changes it to 4:3, in other words my videos are in fact 16:9 and that's what the properties shows in the library, but once that same file is used (dragged) to the timeline the system sees it as 4:3.... I know I can "force" the project properties to be 16:9 but then the program thinks is changing it to 16:9 which doesn't make sense since it was previously id as 16:9.. I am just curious why is doing that, any ideas???
Aspect Ratio Issue from MOD Files (Everio Camera)
Moderator: Ken Berry
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Sektionschef
- Posts: 161
- Joined: Thu Mar 16, 2006 7:24 am
- Location: Vienna, Austria
Hi
I had the same problem with the MOD files from my Panasonic SDR-S100 camcorder and found out that the S100 did not set the 16:9 widescreen flag in the mpeg2 headers correctly. To overcome this I wrote a small utility sdcopy.exe that copies/renames MOD to MPG files and corrects the mpeg2 headers for 16:9 ratio.
You can download it from
http://zyvid.com/smf/index.php?action=d ... 0.0;id=153
it should also work for all JVC Everio models.
Regards
Sektionschef
I had the same problem with the MOD files from my Panasonic SDR-S100 camcorder and found out that the S100 did not set the 16:9 widescreen flag in the mpeg2 headers correctly. To overcome this I wrote a small utility sdcopy.exe that copies/renames MOD to MPG files and corrects the mpeg2 headers for 16:9 ratio.
You can download it from
http://zyvid.com/smf/index.php?action=d ... 0.0;id=153
it should also work for all JVC Everio models.
Regards
Sektionschef
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digikey1234
More about MOD aspect ratio
Thank you for the tip, I now have another way to fix my issue, I also want to share what I found:
I think that the problem is that the files created by the Everio HDD are in fact 4:3 and not 16:9, (even if you setup your camera to record in 16:9 mode), I know this because I analyzed some of my suppose to be 16:9 files with Gspot. I am no expert but that software gives you a LOT of info about video codecs.. anyway according to gspot the MOD files are 4:3 with a weird combination of frame and pixel aspect ratios at the end what you get from the camera is a "squeezed" 4:3 frame(people look thinner and taller) that you need to stretch to make it look as 16:9, it also somehow "flags" the file to be 16:9, so in theory your software will know that the image need to be stretched, the problem is not all software sees it, for example the one that came with the camera (cyberlink) does it but Media Player doesn't and displays it as 4:3.
For whatever reason VS10 sees this flag and display it on the clip properties BUT then when you insert it in the timeline (I guess for rendering purposes) I assume it analyzes and finds that it is IN FACT 4:3...
I know I can adjust my project to 16:9 (this will stretch my image) and fix the problem, I just wanted to know what was going on...I would like to know any comments about "my theory"........THANKS
I think that the problem is that the files created by the Everio HDD are in fact 4:3 and not 16:9, (even if you setup your camera to record in 16:9 mode), I know this because I analyzed some of my suppose to be 16:9 files with Gspot. I am no expert but that software gives you a LOT of info about video codecs.. anyway according to gspot the MOD files are 4:3 with a weird combination of frame and pixel aspect ratios at the end what you get from the camera is a "squeezed" 4:3 frame(people look thinner and taller) that you need to stretch to make it look as 16:9, it also somehow "flags" the file to be 16:9, so in theory your software will know that the image need to be stretched, the problem is not all software sees it, for example the one that came with the camera (cyberlink) does it but Media Player doesn't and displays it as 4:3.
For whatever reason VS10 sees this flag and display it on the clip properties BUT then when you insert it in the timeline (I guess for rendering purposes) I assume it analyzes and finds that it is IN FACT 4:3...
I know I can adjust my project to 16:9 (this will stretch my image) and fix the problem, I just wanted to know what was going on...I would like to know any comments about "my theory"........THANKS
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Sektionschef
- Posts: 161
- Joined: Thu Mar 16, 2006 7:24 am
- Location: Vienna, Austria
Hi
In general 16:9 and 4:3 mpeg2 files have the same dimensions, both have 720X576 for PAL or 720X480 for NTSC.
A 16:9 mpeg2 file includes a "widescreen flag" in the mpeg sequence header that tells the player to stretch the video. If this flag is not set but the video is 16:9 then everything looks squeezed.
From your post I can read out that your Everio seems to have the same behaviour then my Panasonic cam. Both do record in 16:9 correct but just do not set the ws flag in the headers. I assume that the cams put the 16:9 flag information inside the corresponding MOI files instead.
Have you already tried to run my tool? If you have checked "set widescreen flag" then it will correct the header and UVS10 will handle it as a correct widescreen video.
mfg
Sektionschef
In general 16:9 and 4:3 mpeg2 files have the same dimensions, both have 720X576 for PAL or 720X480 for NTSC.
A 16:9 mpeg2 file includes a "widescreen flag" in the mpeg sequence header that tells the player to stretch the video. If this flag is not set but the video is 16:9 then everything looks squeezed.
From your post I can read out that your Everio seems to have the same behaviour then my Panasonic cam. Both do record in 16:9 correct but just do not set the ws flag in the headers. I assume that the cams put the 16:9 flag information inside the corresponding MOI files instead.
Have you already tried to run my tool? If you have checked "set widescreen flag" then it will correct the header and UVS10 will handle it as a correct widescreen video.
mfg
Sektionschef
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digikey1234
Wow! This is getting very interesting, and I can see that you really know what you are talking about, thank you for your input...
So, I understand that 16:9 and 4:3 are all 720 x 480 (ntsc) so is this "flag" in the sequence header the ONLY thing that identifies and differentiate one from the other?
Why do you think that some programs "know" that the MOD files are 16:9?
I will try your solution,, in any case do you think there is a difference in VS10 between changing the source files (your solution) and just changing the project setting "force" to be 16:9, maybe in output quality or something??
Thanks again
So, I understand that 16:9 and 4:3 are all 720 x 480 (ntsc) so is this "flag" in the sequence header the ONLY thing that identifies and differentiate one from the other?
Why do you think that some programs "know" that the MOD files are 16:9?
I will try your solution,, in any case do you think there is a difference in VS10 between changing the source files (your solution) and just changing the project setting "force" to be 16:9, maybe in output quality or something??
Thanks again
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Sektionschef
- Posts: 161
- Joined: Thu Mar 16, 2006 7:24 am
- Location: Vienna, Austria
Yes, the video size is always the same, independent what aspect ratio is used.digikey1234 wrote:Wow! This is getting very interesting, and I can see that you really know what you are talking about, thank you for your input...
So, I understand that 16:9 and 4:3 are all 720 x 480 (ntsc) so is this "flag" in the sequence header the ONLY thing that identifies and differentiate one from the other?
I know that the Panasonic software(MotioSDStudio) which came with my Camcorder evaluates the corresponding MOI file and gets the aspect ratio information from there.digikey1234 wrote: Why do you think that some programs "know" that the MOD files are 16:9?
I will try your solution,, in any case do you think there is a difference in VS10 between changing the source files (your solution) and just changing the project setting "force" to be 16:9, maybe in output quality or something??
I also know that the mpeg2 headers include fields like "horizontal size" and "display horizontal size"(see http://dvd.sourceforge.net/dvdinfo/mpeghdrs.html sequence header and sequence display extension). For a 4:3 movie they should both be set to "720" but a 16:9 movie has a different value in the "display horizontal size" field. Perhaps other sw evaluate this field in addition in case the ar flag is set to 4:3???.
Regards
Sektionschef