Changing Aspect Ratio from 16:9 to 4:3

[gwhite]

I have a movie made on a Canon Powershot camera, which spits out .MOV files in a 1920 x 1080 format (16:9 ratio). It's only a few seconds long, but it's about 50 Mbytes.

I'd like to shrink this down and get it so it will display in a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation. From past experience, the format PowerPoint seems to work best with is .WMV.

I'm new to VideoStudio (using V7). I spent about 3 hours this afternoon trying to figure out how to produce a .WMV file that doesn't have black bars on top & bottom. The best .WMV profiles I could locate are 4:3 aspect ratios like 640x480. That gives a reasonable file size, and fits the presentation nicely, but those don't match the original file aspect ratio properly. I tried using the Cropping filter to get the aspect ratio right on screen, but when I created the .WMV file, it gave me black borders on ALL sides.

I seem to be missing one or two crucial steps in the process. Can some kind soul tell me what I'm doing wrong?

Also, I trimmed the original video in length, and figured I would save the truncated version back into the original .MOV format. However, none of the .MOV profiles match the resolution of the original. There seems to be provisions for adding new/custom profiles, but I can't figure out how to do that. If I try to modify an existing one, the resolution is always un-editable. Can one download new profiles? If so, from where?

Thanks!

[lata]

Hi gwhite

And welcome to the forums.

To remove the black border you have to zoom into the original frame this will remove some details left and right.

First go to Preferences (F6) to set the background to any colour but black, that will help in identifying the video frame.
Then set the project properties to use a 4:3 ratio, (Alt+Enter) You may have to create / modify a template to use 4:3
DV-AVI has a 4:3 option.

the preview screen will display as 4:3.

Add your video to the top track
Double click to open the options panel, below library, choose Attributes tab
tick Distort clip, a bounding box will show around the clip (Preview Screen)
Drag video diagonally to reveal corner trim points
Drag the corner to increase the size
Right click for anchor centre
Repeat till the top and bottom borders are full.

You will lose details left and right

Your project is now showing the video as 4:3
rendering to WNV should render as your projects view.

[lata]

Hi

To create a new Project Properties profile.

Go to Settings – Project Properties – type a new name
Choose a Profile Format try DV AVI
Choose New – will open the edit window

Set your preferences
Render the project to same as project properties to create a AVI video

[gwhite]

Trevor,

Thanks for both tips. I'll experiment with these, but it may be a few days before I can get back to it.

I did try using Distort to stretch the video after cropping, but I think the problem is that the session profile needed to be set to 4:3 before I load the video in the first place. I'll have to trim the start & end again once the original is loaded, but that's easy.

I can also experiment with using .AVI files in PowerPoint. I got .WMV to work in the past, and have tried to stick with that.

It still seems odd to me that I can bring in a .MOV file with certain properties, but after a simple edit like trimming the length, there doesn't appear to be any way to save the movie again in the original format while retaining all the original properties. As soon as you touch the file, you are limited to whatever canned profiles are available for export.

Lots to learn....

[lata]

Trevor,

It still seems odd to me that I can bring in a .MOV file with certain properties, but after a simple edit like trimming the length, there doesn't appear to be any way to save the movie again in the original format while retaining all the original properties. As soon as you touch the file, you are limited to whatever canned profiles are available for export.

Lots to learn....

Hi

There are several ways to render video files to original properties provided the video file is recognised by Video Studio.

Some options.............
Video Studio will render a video clip after trimming, go to File – Save Trimmed Video
The file will be saved to the working Folder, a thumbnail placed in the library. It should use the original video files properties,
However sometimes cannot read the video correctly so may have problems, but for most it works well.

You should also set "Show Messages when inserting first video file…. (via preferences) That may prompt you to match the project properties, again works for most formats but not all…Mov types, NO, they cannot be used to set the project properties. Always start a new project to test this option.....

Movie Profile Manager will allow you to create your own template and can be used for Mov types, you can use the Add option to replicate video files properties.

Share Same as First Clip may also be available, again for most formats but not all, maybe that option will also render your Mov to same as original