Help with HDV and rendering

bbcdrum wrote on 10/25/2007, 4:50 PM

I just got a Canon HV20 and I am using Vegas 8a on XP (SP2).

I set the HV20 to record HDV. The HV20 documents state that it has a "true HD" CMOS Sensor (1920x1080). If I play the HV20 directly into my HDTV with an HDMI cable, I get a full screen 16:9 picture.

When I capture the video with Vegas 8 (via 1394 cable), Vegas identifies it as 1440x1080. If my project is 1920x1080 or 1440x1080, the preview shows full screen. If the project is set to 720x480 or if I render to "DVD NTSC" (or separate ac3 and mpg streams) I get letterboxes top and bottom in the preview and on my TV when I play the DVD.

Can I get full screen DVD from my source video?

Ideally, what I want to do is edit the video, keep it HD, and save the .veg file. Then, create a DVD for now and then, when an HD burner and player is under my Christmas tree (I hope, I hope!), render and burn an HD (or Blue Ray) disc. I want all of them to play full screen on an HDTV. Is this possible?

What about bit depth? My captured video shows 1440x1080x32. Does that mean 32 bit?

Lastly, I don't fully understand HD resolutions, pixels, and aspect ratios. Any thoughts on where i can find a good tutorial?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Kevin

Comments

Stuart Robinson wrote on 10/25/2007, 5:23 PM

All HDV is 1440×1080 regardless of the sensor. When the images are captured to tape, they're anamorphic and stretched back out by the display, just like an anamorphic DVD. So first up, always remember to use the 1440×1080 HDV project profile in Vegas with the appropriate frame rate.

You can get "true HD" at 1920×1080 from the HV20, but only by capturing the HDMI output in real time, not recording to tape.

To create a 16:9 DVD, you don't have to change the project settings, just the "Render As..." settings. There, make sure you select a 16:9 project, either PAL or NTSC and Vegas should do the rest.