Yet another 16:9 export question.

E

elodis

Member
I've searched through a bunch of similar posts, but haven't found my exact combination and want to make sure I do this right.

The details:

Footage was shot in 24P (non-a - f5) mode, std aspect.

Created project vegas as NTSC DV 24p(720x480)

Placed in the widescreen masking bars myself.

What's the best export method (and any other changes i need to make) to create a DVD (24p im assuming) export so that on a normal tv the video will be displayed WITH widescreen bars and on a widescreen tv, the cropped image will fill the frame (no bars).

And finally, are there any settings i need to lookout for in DVD architect when authoring final project?

Thank you for any help!
 
You need to crop the image to 16:9, not just put black bars over the image. You haven't changed the aspect ratio at all if all you did was apply a mask.

Go into pan/crop and choose the 16:9 preset. In a 16:9 project, the image will automatically stretch to 16:9 at default settings.

Then, for the DVD, render as DVD Architect 24p Widescreen. Then use a Widescreen project in DVD Architect.
 
You can crop one, copy it, and then select all of the others and Paste Event Attributes. But that will apply any other effects you have on that clip.

You can bring your timeline into another project (if you have Vegas 6 or 7) as a NESTED project and apply the crop as a whole to it.

You can render your project as DV (with 2-3-3-2 pulldown if it's 24p), bring the AVI into new timeline, and then apply the crop and re-render.

Each has its plusses and minuses.
 
thanks again!... will there be any loss of quality with either method 2 or 3 that you listed?

i'm thinking method 2 will be the way to go
 
As a nested project, no -- at least not any more than there would be if you rendered straight from the original timeline, because it does the same thing.

There's a THEORETICAL generation loss by rendering as DV and then rendering again, but Vegas's DV codec is quite good. It takes quite a few generations for any quality loss to be apparent. I wouldn't sweat it. If you choose this option, though, render as 4:3 first, then crop it.
 
David,
I often use the 4:3 > 16:9 widescreen conversion with my 25P PAL footage and it works very well. I discovered there is a difference between Vegas 6 and 7: version 6 needed the Switch function per 4:3 clip with 16:9 cropping to make it convert in the right aspect ratio within a 16:9 project file. While in Vegas 7 when cropping to 16:9 on a 4:3 clip, it immediately does the conversion right (I don't have to change the Switch settings). Has Vegas been changed at this point?
 
What "switch" function? I've never needed to do anything like that in any version of Vegas going back to V4.

Where is this "switch" located?
 
Hi David, I learned the Switch function on this forum (or was it Dvinfo.net?).
When I try to reproduce the need for it with Vegas 5 and 6, it works like you say: insert a 4:3 video inside a 16:9 project, add the 16:9 frame with the Pan/Crop tool and it's automatically made 'anamorphic'. Strange, I worked on a big project with Vegas 6 where I needed to use the Switch function. It's located at: Edit, Switch, Maintain Aspect Ratio (first select a video event on the timeline). Odd, maybe a poltergeist in my computer who helps me out from now? ;)
 
Ah, got what you mean now -- Switches.

At default, it's set to "maintain aspect ratio," which is what you want. Most people don't even know it's there, so they would not have changed it. It must have been changed on your machine for some reason?
 
I'm confused, I took 4:3 footage from my camera and imported it. Then, I made an NTSC DV 24p widescreen project, and put the 4:3 footage in it. In the video preview I see the video with black bars on the left and right. So, I go into pan / crop and select 16:9 and notice a top and bottom portion are cut off. Then I changed the switch to not maintain aspect ratio. Then I render as 1.212 720x480? There aren't any black bars. Are you supposed to do this yourself, because this is where I get lost.
 
When I say maintain aspect, only bars on the left and right come up like so.



another w/ pan crop settings

(i chose the 16x9 preset from the dropdown menu)
 
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That won't matter.

But you can get rid of it by right-clicking on the frame in the pan/crop window and choosing "match output aspect."
 
But when I render it as you said there is still no black bars. It's just 720x480 and looks normal
 
Pfista, that's right: when you work in a 16:9 project you won't see black bars. You get a true widescreen video (anamorphic). That doesn't have black bars on the top and bottom. Your dvd-player will add them when you playback this video on a 4:3 tv.

If you want black bars on top and bottom, change the project to 4:3 format and render using a 4:3 format to MPEG2.
 
Dumb question I'm sure, but what happens if you change the overall project settings (FILE, PROPERTIES, VIDEO, TEMPLATE) to widescreen after you are well into the project and intially had it set up as regular NTSC DV 24P and NO widescreen?

Will it screw everything up?

Basically, I want to create this as a widescreen version now, after initially tackling it as 4:3.
 
You will need to check any generated media. If you generated it in the 4:3 project, it will still be 4:3 and you may not get the alignment you were expecting.

The same thing will happen if you work in 4:3 and then export as widescreen. You should switch the project over to widescreen and check everything before you render.
 
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