Want to convert 4:3 to 16:9

[lathompson]

I have copied several miniDV tapes using an older camcorder that apparently cannot play a 16:9 movie without squeezing it to 4:3 format. At least, that's what it looks like as everyone looks horizontally compressed somewhat. Can I use my VS x2 to streach it back out to 16:9? Or is all lost? The camcorder that shot the tapes was stolen. All I have is this earlier model camcorder to transfer with.

[Black Lab]

Trevor has a great tutorial about using 16:9 video. Don't worry that is say v10, it applies to all versions.
http://lata.me.uk/video_studio/16_9/16_9.htm

I also have a workaround for fitting 4:3 video in a 16:9 project.
http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php ... pn#p201763

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi

Strange, even though you are using an older camera , I would have thought that the tapes content being DV-Avi would have transferred to the pc without re-coding.
There would be no distortion, the clips would be 4:3 or 16:9 depending on how they were recorded.
I may be wrong of course regarding capture using older type cameras.

A little more info required please:-
What camera?
How did you actually connect the camera to the PC.
You should use Firewire
Then select DV as the capture Format.
Any other option and you have to set the capture properties and the correct aspect ratio.

Right click a clip in the timeline and select properties, what are they?

Jeff I have added a link to your tutorial on my web page.

[lathompson]

I did the workaround and the frames do stretch out nicely, however this requires a very time consuming rendering and although that might work for untimely jobs, it is a great problem when I have to do this with 20 hours of video. Trevor, the videos are definitely not holding the 16:9 format originally shot. The camera I'm feeding the PC with is an older Canon Optura, a product of the late 90's or early 00's. Perhaps it is the fact that I must capture to PC using the S-Video cable that's forcing the format to the 4:3 size. The Optura never handled 16:9 format. My other miniDV cam plays it the same way. Using firewire doesn't work at all and I've posted about that before, only to come up with empty answers. Here is the firewire problem......

I have attempted firewire captures using Ulead Movie Factory V6+, Cyberlink's Power Director and Corel's Video Studio Pro X2. When I use the firewire direct to any of these programs, only 8-17 seconds of capture time will pass and the programs all kick out an error message. That happens on 2 Vista PCs, 3 XP machines and 1 Win 7 machine. All fast, all without problems. The camcorders that have been used are a Panasonic PV-GS59 (the one that was stolen), two SONY cams, DCR TRV530, DCR TRV140, a Samsung SCL810, the Canon Optura and a JVC GR-DVL510. I have used various cables and even re-formatted and loaded my OS on one machine. I find it hard to believe that I'm the only one with this problem, however nobody has stepped forward to join me with the same concerns, so I guess it must be human error on my part. For this reason, I have been copying with the S-Video connection. A poor choice, but right now, the only choice! (end rant, sorry about that)

And I did check the properties again. These are 4:3 video clips for sure.

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi

Capturing DV-Avi
There is a small free program called Win – DV, It may be worth while trying this to capture using Firweire,
but if the problem is the old camera then it may produced the same results.
http://windv.mourek.cz/

Ok

I don’t know exactly what you are capturing to except its 4:3
Right click a clip in the timeline and select properties, what are they?
What settings are you using to capture?


You should be able to edit the capture properties to show as 16:9
This may depend on what Capture Format you have selected.
Choose DVD as the format
From the capture page, choose the Options Cogwheel.
Choose Video/audio capture Properties……………….
From the compression tab choose DVD
From the general tab choose 16:9 as the aspect.
Try a test capture.

http://lata.me.uk/video_studio/guides/q ... e_mpeg.htm
Gives details of capturing to Pal-DVD

[Trevor Andrew]

I have attempted firewire captures using Ulead Movie Factory V6+, Cyberlink's Power Director and Corel's Video Studio Pro X2. When I use the firewire direct to any of these programs, only 8-17 seconds of capture time will pass and the programs all kick out an error message. That happens on 2 Vista PCs, 3 XP machines and 1 Win 7 machine. All fast, all without problems. The camcorders that have been used are a Panasonic PV-GS59 (the one that was stolen), two SONY cams, DCR TRV530, DCR TRV140, a Samsung SCL810, the Canon Optura and a JVC GR-DVL510. I have used various cables and even re-formatted and loaded my OS on one machine. I find it hard to believe that I'm the only one with this problem, however nobody has stepped forward to join me with the same concerns, so I guess it must be human error on my part. For this reason, I have been copying with the S-Video connection. A poor choice, but right now, the only choice! (end rant, sorry about that)
And I did check the properties again. These are 4:3 video clips for sure.

I also find it hard to believe that you are having the same problems with Firewire capture using different cameras on various computers.

When you select the capture tab are you able to select DV as the capture format.
more importantly does DV remain in the window or does it revert to AVI ???????????

see my guide to DV - Avi Capture from the link below.

By the way if your capturing using S-Video then you have a capture device other than Firewire.
Is this external and used on all pc's for capturing video
If its external, does it have a firewire terminal

now i'm thinking out loud........................
What capture device are you using.

Exactly how are you connecting the cameras to the pc's?

[Clevo]

What could be happening is there might be a short sequence at the begining of the tape that was shot in 4:3, then later the camera person switched to 16:9. During capture the first 4:3 sequence will cause the later 16:9 footage to be capturd as 4:3 (squashed).

To avoid this, spool to the first 16:9 shot footage and capture from there

[lathompson]

I'm away from my office for this 3 day weekend and I want to get into the details with anyone who is willing to absorb them. Trevor, I am like you.... I find it almost impossible to believe that this problem is as described. Perhaps you might read my January post http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=36859 . I stopped looking for answers back then, when there was a lack of interest to the problem. Apparently, nobody reading this (or other forums where I posted it) had experienced the same ordeal.

In order to answer some of Trevor's questions, I need to be in my office so I can give accurate model info on the various pieces I use to transfer.

I will say this at this time, I use a SONY breakout box for converting analog to digital to one computer and for everything else, I use firewire direct to the computer. At least that's what I would be doing if the damned problem would go away.It is interesting that firewire has worked before and for years I had no problem. Right now, in order to preserve the highest quality, I have to use an older computer and Adobe Premiere version 6.5. a worn out, NON state of the art program. Luckily, right now I don't have many customers asking for miniDV transfers and my one transfer setup is getting by. You know, with at least 3 other programs (mentioned previously) ready to work and equipped with perfectly good capture devices, I should not be pigeon-holed into using an antique setup. I simply don't understand how I cannot see what's going wrong. PC's programs and capture characteristics simply cannot change on their own. Computers don't make mistakes. They simply react to input, whether by human or script!

About the S-VHS...
Right now, I am helping my brother to learn to do transfers. He lives in another state and I will have to give him help by email & phone. He is on a very tight budget. His computer has no firewire, but does have USB 2.0. For him, I have given him a simple, cheap setup. It's ROXIO's VHS TO DVD boxed setup. I have to help him, so I'm becoming familiar with it by transferring some tapes of mine (miniDV) for practice. That's why I'm using the SVHS setup right now as the ROXIO setup has no firewire interface. And that's where I ran into this problem prompting another post for answers. I was just sure that the 16:9 footage would maintain it's proper format.

Clevo.... Thank you for your suggestion. I already did that and it did not help. So far, 8 tapes in a row have transferred with this problem, so I think it's something basic. Just have to find out why.

Larry T

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi Larry

Mini DV type camcorders record the footage to DV-Avi.
This is Digital Video and saved to Mini DV Tape.
The data should be transferred to the computer using Firewire to DV format
There is no re-coding taking place, what you have on the tape is what you get on the computer. DV-Avi video files.
This is the best method to transfer the data from a Mini-DV type camera.

If you were to select DVD as the capture format, in fact any other format other than DV then the footage will be re-coded from DV-Avi to that format. The user has to correctly select the capture properties.
----------------------------------------------------------------
If you connect the camera through another type of capture device it is likely that the video data is re-coded during transfer. This normally means the user has to set the capture properties. If you set 4:3 when it should be 16:9 then the footage will be distorted.


To be honest I just don’t know what is happening, but feel we are not singing from the same songbook. References to different computers seem to rule out a common problem, unless your using the same external device on each computer.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your comments regarding VHS capture is confusing as I thought your problems stemmed from DV and firewire?
-----------------------------------------------------------
Most Mini-DV type camcorders from the US may support Passthrough aka Throughput. This allows you to connect an analogue source (VHS) to the cameras AV-In.
Then connect DV-Out to firewire on pc. Effectively using the camera as an analogue/digital converter.
This option may be worth exploring, for your brother…………

Your reference to “cheap setup. It's ROXIO's VHS TO DVD boxed setup”
You get what you pay for, going cheap is gonna give poor results.

So Larry please do this for me.
Open Video Studio with a new project.

1 / Connect your camera to your pc using a firewire connection. (usually 4 pin on camera and 6 pin on pc)
2 / From the capture window select DV as the capture format, this option should remain as DV.
You should be able to play the cameras tape from the controls below the preview screen.
3 / Select the Options cogwheel and choose DV-Type 1.
4 / Set the digital clock to 10 seconds.
5 / From –File Preferences-Capture tab-set Press OK to Capture
6 / From File –Preferences-tick - Show Messages when inserting first video………..
7 / Pressing capture will show a window, allow the tape to run a few seconds, then press capture.
8 / Capture will stop after 10 seconds the video will be loaded to the timeline.
You will receive a window message asking you to match the project properties. Select OK.

Is there any problem with that procedure????????????????

[Peem]

I am probably just showing my ignorance here . I believe some cameras make 16:9 by stretching the pixels. Could this be relevant?

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi Peem

The original poster Larry did originally ask the question regarding 4:3 or 16:9 aspect, having to use S-Video to capture caused some aspect problems, using Firewire seems to cause crashes, the same problems occur when using a variety of computers and different cameras as quoted below. Very Strange. It’s the Firewire issue that I am addressing, well trying to.

Earlier post from Larry

I have attempted firewire captures using Ulead Movie Factory V6+, Cyberlink's Power Director and Corel's Video Studio Pro X2. When I use the firewire direct to any of these programs, only 8-17 seconds of capture time will pass and the programs all kick out an error message. That happens on 2 Vista PCs, 3 XP machines and 1 Win 7 machine. All fast, all without problems. The camcorders that have been used are a Panasonic PV-GS59 (the one that was stolen), two SONY cams, DCR TRV530, DCR TRV140, a Samsung SCL810, the Canon Optura and a JVC GR-DVL510. I have used various cables and even re-formatted and loaded my OS on one machine. I find it hard to believe that I'm the only one with this problem, however nobody has stepped forward to join me with the same concerns, so I guess it must be human error on my part. For this reason, I have been copying with the S-Video connection. A poor choice, but right now, the only choice! (end rant, sorry about that)

[lathompson]

Trevor, sorry for the delay in answering your suggestions. I will work with your suggestions ASAP, but it is a Holiday weekend here and I am at home. The problem is not here. it's at my studio location.

[Black Lab]

I did the workaround and the frames do stretch out nicely, however this requires a very time consuming rendering and although that might work for untimely jobs, it is a great problem when I have to do this with 20 hours of video.

No doubt, but nobody said video editing was a fast or easy process. You may have to bite the bullet and use this workaround for your 20 hours of video then, in the future, make sure you are recording and capturing the correct ratio.