4:3 to 16:9 and vice versa

ushere wrote on 9/15/2004, 3:25 AM
waded through the search results, but would like simple answer for vegas 4.

material shot 4:3 straight conversion 16:9?

material 16:9 ditto to 4:3?

i work with a variety of clients, who in turn work with a variety of hard of hearing cameramen. most doco's come in with some footage shot at the wrong aspect ratio.

i simply want to put it in and spit it out at the ratio i want....

many thanks in adavance,

leslie

Comments

mel58i wrote on 9/15/2004, 4:32 AM
I can help you with 4:3 to 16:9 as I have to sometimes provide 16:9 from stuff I shoot in 4:3.

Think the easiest way in V4 is to open up a widescreen project and import your 4:3 material. Then click on pan/crop and select 19:9 from the drop down list, and stretch to fill frame, uncheck maintain aspect ratio. This will stretch the width and also stretch the height to maintain the correct ratio - you will of course loose a little at top and bottom.
Then render as avi or mpeg, but select 16:9 in the custom video properties of the render box.
I suppose, do the reverse for 16:9 to 4:3, but qiute a bit of the sides will be lost.

Hope this helps.

Mel.
rcampbel wrote on 9/15/2004, 8:27 AM
There is also a short tutorial description on how to do widescreen from 4:3 source material on the Vegas Scripting and Training site.
tailgait wrote on 9/15/2004, 9:14 AM
For what it's worth I just finished a movie that combined 4:3 and 16:9 on the same timeline. What I did was set the project for widescreen, then I brougt in the 4:3 video. (The 16:9 needs no adjustment) Then I clicked on the FIRST FRAME of each clip or still shot--this is important--opened up the pan/crop effect and clicked on the "match output source" button. This gives me a 16:9 frame which I can actually move around up or down to get the best 16:9 shot in any particular clip. After this is all done, I print to tape making sure the pull down menu is set to "insert 24f 2-3 pulldown." This will output all the 4:3 and 16:9 video to tape in 16:9. Hope this helps.

As to the reverse, although I've never tried it. I would import the 16:9 clips into a project set at 4:3. Then I would go to pan/crop and, again, click on the "Match output source" button. This will give you a 4:3 frame which you can position on the FIRST FRAME (Important!) of any clip. Then print to tape in 4:3 (regular NTSC DV) and you will have it.

In each case you will lose some of the picture, but the fact that you can choose WHAT to lose makes it easier to handle.

If you want to combine the above two examples, print them both to EV tape and then re-capture them and edit them together.

Burt