please tell me what I need to do in my situation

phazelee

phazelee

Well-known member
What do i need to do, to stay in true 16:9 going through both these programs.

I use vegas to capture and edit, and i use after effects for magic bullet.

Thing is, in vegas, my squeeze footage has the black bars on top and bottom which i want and like but when i import the squeeze footage in after effects the black bars dont show.


If i want to capture the squeeze mode with vegas, edit, what do i need to export as? And then, if i wanted to use after effects to use magic bullet...do i need to change anything in after effects to keep the black bars?

Confusing
 
It's probably because you're editing the squeeze footage in a 4:3 timeline. The only time you need the black bars is when you're viewing 16:9 footage on a 4:3 screen.

But there's no reason to work in a 4:3 project. You can work in 16:9 and still export as 4:3 when you're done.

Or, you can export as a widescreen DVD and the DVD player will take care of it for you on a standard TV.

But if you have squeeze footage, and you're working in 4:3, and you export as 4:3 when you send to After Effects (keeping the black bars), you're throwing away a quarter of your resolution. You don't want to do that, do you?
 
Jim is right that using squeeze mode (DVX 100?) achieves 16:9 by stretching the video vertically costing you loss of vertical resolution.

That said Vegas is much more intuitive about setting aspect and frame rate with imported footage. AF requires you to tell it what the clip should be.

Also as Jim said you shouldn't see letterboxing on squeeze footage unless you are in a 4:3 editing template. Assuming you wanted a widescreen look for DVD or web, etc. you need to edit in a 16:9 template (at the loss of resolution) and the video would appear without letterboxing as the video is unsqueezed.

In AF you would open a 16:9 DV project import that clip. Highlight the clip in the bin window, right click and select "Interpret Footage" from the pop-up menu. Then choose "main" from the next pop-up. You then get a new pop-up with several different parameters for you to accept or modify. At the bottom under "Other Options" you can select the Pixel Aspect Ratio. Set this to DV1/DV Widescreen 1.2

Your video should now fill the 16:9 template with out black bars and without distortion. I believe that whether you edit in 4:3 or 16:9 that you have already lost resolution because the Squeeze mode has stretched the video during the recording process and the file media on tape cannot be restored. This recording mode commits you and leaves no options to reverse this in post.

If you record normal 4:3 you can letterbox or uprez to 16:9 in post but your archived footage is max resolution to start with. Squeeze footage has already been reduced in resolution when its written to tape during the acquisition record mode.

S Cannon
 
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Thanks for the information.

So, shooting in SQUEEZE is actaully losing resolution.

I really love the black bars on top and bottom, I want that cinema look. It seems both of you guys recommend shooting in 4:3, so either normal or letterbox. Since I like the letterbox look, I guess from now on i'll shoot with letterbox.
 
[slow motion]Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo![/slow motion]

I HATE letterbox.

But in order to have 16:9 with the DVX, you're going to lose resolution no matter what you do (unless you use the anamorphic adapter). You can shoot squeeze; what it actually does is take the image from between the black bars of letterbox and stretch it vertically to fill the frame, slapping a 1.21 pixel aspect ratio on it.

The upshot is that it's just about the same as cropping and doing the stretch in post.

I find letterbox mode useless because it's still a 4:3 image, only with black recorded at the top and bottom. Those black bars are part of the picture, and will be affected by anything you do to the image -- color-correction, transitions, anything -- and that can be annoying. You're going to end up cropping them off, anyway (unless all you do is make cuts and render, but who does that?), so if you're going to shoot 4:3, shoot full-frame and have some latitude for cropping and reframing.

Bottom line, though, is that the effective image is the same resolution whether you shoot squeeze, letterbox, or full-frame and crop.

So, it IS up to you . . . but the letterbox bars appearing "cinematic" is only an illusion, borne from a compromise. Like I said, the letterbox bars are only there if you're viewing widescreen material on a 4:3 screen. And other than viewing on a TV, it's rarely necessary. On a computer, you can render at any aspect ratio you want and players will adapt. For DVD, you can render a widescreen DVD and the DVD player will display it correctly on widescreen and 4:3 TVs alike (i.e., it will add the black bars for display on a 4:3 TV).

The only time you'd really have to render as 4:3 is if going to a tape medium that you intend to watch on a TV. In that case, with 16:9 footage, the black bars will be supplied automatically during the render.

Even though you like the look of the black bars, you're really working with 16:9 footage, so you should work in that environment. You don't sacrifice any render or output options when you do.
 
thank you for the reply, i understand it a lot better.

Thing is, when i use 4:3...i'm afraid when i add 'letterbox' with magic bullet that i'll end up cutting a part of her head off or something similar.

So, if i use 4:3 with my dvx100a....should i take some black masking tape and tape over my LCD to look like it is letterboxed? That way, i'll know my composition a lot better. I think i read somewhere that some people do this.
 
That is what a lot of people do, though I use Scotch tape, because you can see through it.

But with 4:3 footage, you can reframe it if you find something outside the frame. You've got 25% of the image to move up/down with. You can even give yourself camera tilts which weren't there originally.
 
Hey Mr. Jimerson one more question.

Soon or later, I plan on getting a dvd player that supports 16:9 to use as a monitor when my dvx100 is on the crane.

What should i do then? Use scotch tape on the dvd player as well?
 
Turn on the letterbox feature in the DVX to display the bars in the LCD. Use black gaffers tape to mark the postion of the bars both top and bottom. Gaffers tape has a lower stickiness than masking or other types of tape and it won't harm the LCD if it touches the screen.

You can also buy Datel 16:9 Framing Overlays

http://www.evsonline.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=SSDVX

Turn off the letterbox bars once you set up your framing reference and keep you subject centered inside the markers. When you capture the footage you now have the option to leave as 4:3, letterbox in post, or uprez to 16:9 using Instant HD or Photozoom Pro. Be aware if you plan to uprez you must shoot 24p, or convert 60i footage to 24p. These programs won't work with interlaced footage. Preferably shoot your footage in Scene 6 mode with the DVX which is 24pa (2-3-3-2 pulldown). You can use DVFilm Maker to convert 60i to clean 24p.

http://www.dvfilm.com/maker/index.htm

S Cannon
 
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yuujinlee said:
Hey Mr. Jimerson one more question.

Soon or later, I plan on getting a dvd player that supports 16:9 to use as a monitor when my dvx100 is on the crane.

What should i do then? Use scotch tape on the dvd player as well?
Click to expand...

If you're shooting full frame, yeah. Or use whatever tape you feel comfortable with.
 
In the past, I just use a gel, so I can see through it and I'm not taping directly to the screen. Gaffer tape to the edges, and I'm set, and this way I can still see through for 4:3 framing too.

Phil
 
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