switching projects from Widescreen to Full-Screen

rrrrob schrieb am 10.08.2009 um 00:33 Uhr
I authored a DVD in widescreen format. Now I want to create the exact DVD in full-screen format. I saved the project with a new name, then I changed the project property to full screen (NTSC 720x480). I also replaced all video components with full-screen aspect ratio video. The two menu preview screens then switch to full-screen aspect, but all of my video preview windows still show the widescreen aspect, with the full-screen video 'letterboxed' within a widescreen preview window.

Is there any way to test to see if the project will render this way without waiting the 5 hours of rendering to see? i am thinking that maybe this is just some sort of glitch with the preview window and that the project will render everything in 4:3 aspect. However, when I do a preview of the DVD, the video still appears to be letterboxed.

In the past, I just started from scratch when switching over ot the full-screen project--but I'd prefer not to this time because I have a lot of charpter marks I'd like to retain.

P.S.: I can't just change the properties of the project and let DVD architect change my widescreen video into 4:3 aspect ratio because I need the interlaced video to remain organized, which is why i pre-rendered my full-screen video separately from my wide-screen video for insertion into the two projects.

Kommentare

Ehemaliger User schrieb am 10.08.2009 um 12:43 Uhr
It sounds like you are letting DVDA do the video compression for you. This is not normally advised because you don't have as much control over the video settings as you do withing Vegas.

What format did you pre-render your wide and normal aspects to?

Dave T2
rrrrob schrieb am 10.08.2009 um 13:53 Uhr
the videos (and the menu videos) are rendered to DVD Architect NTSC Widescreen and DVD Architect NTSC Full Screen....so I don't think that's the problem...when I start from scratch, I get everything to work--it's just when I try to switch an existing widescreen project over to a full screen project that i have problems here...and like I said, the MENUs seem to switch to the correct aspect ratio, but nothing else does--I get letterbox bands not only on the bottom (which is expected), but also the sides....
Ehemaliger User schrieb am 10.08.2009 um 14:06 Uhr
Then it should only take minutes to re-render to see if it works. Not hours.

Dave T2
rrrrob schrieb am 10.08.2009 um 14:55 Uhr
I am thinking that because all widescreen video was replaced with full-screen video, the smart prepare data will not be used. And if I simply change the project properties from WS to full screen, it still renders the video in widescreen--it only changes the menu to 4:3, just like what I see in the preview window.

In any event, I figured out a work around...when I DELETE the widescreen video completely and re-add the full-screen video, the aspect ratio seems to reset to the desired full-screen size...the problem only seems to arise when I use the REPLACE function instead...I was able to use the SAVE MARKERS function (it kept freezing up the program last night) to retain the markers for use in the full-screen version.
Ehemaliger User schrieb am 10.08.2009 um 15:13 Uhr
Glad you found a workaround.

But again, if your MPEG files that you import into DVDA are compatible files, it should only take 15 minutes to a half hour to prepare and burn a disk.

5 hours implies that DVDA is re-rendering your footage.

Dave T2
rrrrob schrieb am 11.08.2009 um 14:41 Uhr
oh, i see what you are getting at.

My project has a movie that does indeed have to be compressed via bitrate reduction in order to fit it on the DVD, even though I rendered it as a DVD architect NTSC mpeg-2...if there is a way to reduce the bitrate in Movie Studio beforehand when rendering to that template, please let me know.

However, I did notice that when I authored the 4:3 version of this disk, it didn't take as long as the widescreen version did...it's like it saved the smart prepare data from the widescreen version and used it when I rendered the full-screen version, even though I used two different prepare folders....totally confused why that happened, but perhaps I'll figure it out on the next project.
Ehemaliger User schrieb am 11.08.2009 um 15:19 Uhr
Sorry, I have Vegas Pro which gives you full control over the bitrate. I know Studio has some limitations.

The problem with the way you are doing it, is the video is getting compressed twice. If you can't get the correct bitrate in Vegas, you are better off bringing the AVI into DVDA and letting it compress it only once.

Dave T2