Help with Crop 16:9 to 4:3 clips in MS6

rondi wrote on 8/25/2005, 8:40 PM
Hello,
i have numerous short (<2min dog agility runs) 16:9 clips taken with my Panny GS400 that i want to convert to 4:3. (We have a WS TV, so i tape everything in WS, but friends do not have WS---yet, so i gotta convert to 4.3.) I've "played" with MS6 Plat for the last couple of hours, but the only way i found to get the aspect ratio correct is to do the crop on EACH clip, including the Text and the Video Overlay--a bummer. When i use Edit/Select All and then Crop, it only does it on the clip where i right click. Any suggestions on how i can do all at once???

And how do i make the Crop, Maintain Aspect Ratio "stick" to No? I've created my own Preset with the 640x480, but the Maintain Aspect Ratio choce is not saved with the Preset. If i don't always change it to No, the AR is incorrect.

thanks for any suggestions,
ron

Comments

allyn wrote on 8/25/2005, 10:05 PM
why do you need to crop? if you burn a widescreen dvd and they play it on their old-fashioned tv, their dvd player will automatically "do the right thing". which means, either the video will appear letterboxed or cropped, according to how they have their dvd player configured.

either way, you don't need to do anything other than make sure the videos you burn are widescreen.
TravelJunkie wrote on 8/26/2005, 4:21 AM
Use "Paste Attributes" in VMSv6.

Choose a single event and apply your 4:3 crop. Select that event and copy it to the clipboard. Select all other events in the project, including text and overlay tracks, and right click. Select "Paste Attributes" ... Job Done!!

This feature alone is worth the upgrade...
rondi wrote on 8/26/2005, 9:01 AM
allyn--most folks we know, who don't have WS hate the black lines--they just don't understand--AND with my video's, there is very little lost by me cropping. it is much easier for me to give them shots of their dogs running that they just enjoy, rather than fiddling around with their DVD player.

TJ--this is great--thanks much. i found i can Mute the Audio tracks, do a Edit/Select All and Paste the Attributes.... You've saved me so much work---:)

Now if i could find how to make the Maintain Aspect Ratio setting "stick" with my saved Preset...

thanks again,
ron
allyn wrote on 8/26/2005, 10:41 PM
ok just one more thing and i'll shut up.

if your friends don't like letterboxing but they still see it, they probably have their dvd player set wrong. most dvd players have a setting for how to deal with widescreen videos on 4:3 tv sets, either to letterbox or crop. this is usually in the setup menu and there are three settings: 16:9, 4:3 letterboxed, and 4:3 cropped.