Help! 4:3 to 16:9 Anyway to do this w/ transitions?

[Barney1]

I¡¦m trying to combine two 16:9 .mpg with one 4:3 .avi clips and burn as 16:9. Is there anyway to do this? I was able to convert the 4:3 by putting it to the overlay track (fit to screen/keep aspect ratio), but it wont let you use transitions. I am using a trial version of Video Studio +. When I first tried this software for the first time, I did a drag and drop of two 16:9 .mpgs and one 4:3 .avi and then did a share to DVD using 16:9 as the project setting. Created a DVD, played it on my big screen and all worked fine. The whole video was 16:9. I have since been playing with the software to get familiar with it and now I cannot get it to burn completely as 16:9. The first two clips play in 16:9 and then I get the 4:3 with the black bars on the sides. I have tried basic software like Roxio¡¦s Easy CD creator 9 basic and it will burn the 4:3 .avi file to 16:9 on the DVD. This is a very basic software package. Am I missing something very simple or just off my rocker? I have been very frustrated with trying to get it to work. Outside of this I really like this software and want to purchase the real thing. Anybody out there been through this? Any help would be great!

[Black Lab]

No you can't put transitions on the overlay tracks.

There are fade in/out buttons for the overlay tracks, but that's it - fade in and fade out (well, there is a spin in/out, but I wouldn't consider that a transition). So what you could do is apply the fade out to the first clip, then apply the fade in to the second clip. Now overlap them in separate overlay tracks.

An alternate solution if you want to use other transitions is to put your clips in the main track and add the transition(s). Then render that to it's own video file. Now take that file and put it in an overlay track. If you are using dv-avi files you will not see any quality loss. Other formats could possibly suffer some loss.

[Barney1]

Black lab,

I have a yellow by the way. Great Dogs!!!
I can give that a try, but do you have any idea how I was able to get it to work the on my first try. I have been trying many and many different variations so its hard to remember my exact steps, but I¡¦m pretty sure I just dropped the two 16:9s and the one 4:3 did a share and when I previewed the DVD on my wide screen everything looked great. The 16:9 looked exactly as it did from the DVD I took it from and the 4:3 filled the screen just fine. Now when I try to recreate what I think I did, I get the two 16:9s and then the 4:3 has the black bars on each side. One thing that I may have done is that I started @ 16:9 dropped the 4:3, it asked me if I wanted to change for smart render, I said yes which would of changed the project properties to 4:3. I then dropped the two 16:9s then did a share to DVD and then changed it back to 16:9 and burnt it. I have been trying so many combinations that I can¡¦t remember what day it is!!! Any advice would be appreciated!

[Black Lab]

I don't know, as I've never had any need to change from my usual 4:3.

[Barney1]

Thanks again Jeff,

Anybody else out there been through this?
Thanks!

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi

You can use the top track to change the ratio from 4:3 to 16:9.
In the same way that you did in the overlay track.

You have to select the distort option under the attribute tab.

You should be able to edit the clip as normal using transitions etc.

[Barney1]

Trevor,

Thanks! I gave that a try and it gets it close. Looks like that¡¦s what I will have to go with if I can¡¦t figure anything else out. I will keep trying. I did compare this new video to that first one I was talking about and its close. I do notice that using the distort option you mention, it does cut some of the top and bottom off compared to that first video. Damn, I just wish I knew what I did that very first time! I did notice that that on the first one as well the 16:9 is much sharper vs when I see it now and the video doesn¡¦t flow smoothly as that first one either at least on the 16:9. I know I am sounding very anal, but I just want to get the best video out of this I can. If you can think of anything else, please let me know. You all have been a great help. This site is great! I will keep experimenting.