Converting 4x3 to 16x9?

[mattbrown]

I have a lot of old footage shot on my old Sony 8mm camera. It had a 16x9 crop option on a 4x3 frame. So when I used Pinnacle to capture the video, I got a series of 4x3 AVIs in a letterbox format.

Now that I just bought a Panny GS500, I'm recording everything in true 16x9 and I will want to merge the old stuff with the new in the videos I'm making. Is there an easy way to crop the 4x3 videos into a 16x9 AVI?

I have After Effects 6.5 and I know I can do it with that. Didn't know if there was something easier.

Matt Brown

[Huy Vu]

Try editing in a 4:3 project, then the GS500 footage will show up letterbox and match with the Sony.

[mattbrown]

Well, I want the end product to be in 16x9, not 4x3 letterbox.
Matt

[Allen Achterberg]

You kill the resolution when you do this, but I can bring it to a 16:9 timeline, and resize the 4:3 material to 16:9. You are magnafying your image so just expect lower quality when displayed on a 16:9 monitor. After doing this, it should play letterboxed 16:9 on 4:3 sets, and should fit full frame on 16:9 sets. I've done this in Avid, works as it should.

All the Best

[mattbrown]

Allen,
That's how I was going to do it using After Effects. Import the video, magnify it to fill a 16x9 frame (crop the top and bottom), and rerender. Was hoping there was something quicker, but I guess I just set it to run overnight. Thanks!

Matt

[Allen Achterberg]

What are you editing in?

You may be able to try this, Don't know if it will work just came in my mind.

Perhaps from your NLE you can stretch your cropped 16:9 4:3 native video to an anamorphic quality, stretch it until it the crop disappears in your 4:3 monitor, then export as 16:9. That may work, I don't know for sure as I've never tried it, but it seems like it could be another option so you don't have to use AE and wait til morning to see it.

Why can't you perform this i your NLE as opposed to AE?

[mattbrown]

My NLE is Pinnacle Studio 9. Its a very picky app and quite limited. You cannot combine 16x9 and 4x3 vids, let alone zoom and crop.

[Allen Achterberg]

It may be time for you to upgrade to a system that gives you the tools you need...

[mikkowilson]

Pinnacle Studio and AE ... interesting combination of apps.

Yeh, look into a more powerfull editor.
Even Premiere Elements (which it often totally overlooked) would be a huge step up. It can do all the regular resizing like any other NLE. At $90 for a fully featured NLE, it can't be beat!

Pinnacle Sucks.

- Mikko

[arielman]

Pinnacle Sucks.

- Mikko

Sure does ...I still have Studio as I have some projects I still make DVD's from.
All projects are finished . A few days ago I installed the 10.7 patch (previous I had 10.6) and now ALL my projects are useless . Pinnacle says this is normal for any update . I wonder how many customers they lost with this update ?

Thankfully I now use Vegas 7 . What a difference !!

Go ahead and step up to a better editing program you won't regret it.
Ian

[mattbrown]

Yeah, it is a strange combo of apps. I got Pinnacle two years ago as OEM software when I bought the capture card. Used that ever since. Just got After Effects a few months ago and haven't gotten around to getting a better NLE. Since I have AE, would Premiere be a good choice?

Matt

[mikkowilson]

They do work together very well. And Photoshop as the 3rd part is a prety sweet package.

However asking "Which NLE should I get" is like throwing a mouse into a room with 5000 cats. Things will heat up fast.

Take a look around the forum and you will find loads of discussion on peopel oppinions of NLE.


- Mikko ... is a Premiere user since v4.1

[mattbrown]

Mikko, let me ask this. Will Premiere merge this footage the way I want it to? I've gotten so comfortable with AE, that Premiere would be an early front runner if it had this one basic feature. I don't do this alot, maybe once a year to put a film together about my young boy and the new one on the way:thumbsup:. I really don't think I'll be upset with any decent NLE, especially coming from Pinnacle (which I noticed doesn't even have its own Forum on this board). I'll start reading the threads. Thanks for you help.

Matt

[mikkowilson]

If by "Merge" you mean edit? Then yes it will.

Download the Demo (of either the full version or of Elements) and give them a spin.

- Mikko

[mattbrown]

Mikko,

"Even Premiere Elements (which it often totally overlooked) would be a huge step up. It can do all the regular resizing like any other NLE. At $90 for a fully featured NLE, it can't be beat!"

Well, because of the price I bought Elements tonight. Yes, I can import 4x3 material into the 16x9 project,and I figured out how to do the zoom. You have been a great help.

And thanks to everyone else who contributed to the thread. I got exactly what I wanted.
Matt