Help with rendering and resulting aspect ratio

Soundhaven wrote on 9/9/2015, 8:52 PM

I am just now rendering my first project (a 50 minute honeymoon travelogue!) and am encountering problems with the way it looks once it's burned to DVD.

The clips were all shot in SD using a Canon camcorder. My project format is NTSC DV Widescreen (720x480, 29.970 fps). Everything looks perfect on the preview screens, and the raw clips look fine on our TV when I simply plug the camcorder into the TV. But I've burned the finished video to DVD a couple of times, trying different options, and both times it ends up elongated/stretched, with a small black space on the top and bottom of the frame. Not as large as a letterbox frame, but it is there.

I'm still getting used to all the terminology. When I go to burn to DVD, I see boxes with the following options:

"Stretch video to fill output frame size (do not letterbox)" - This one confuses me. I don't want a letterbox, but I also don't think I want my video stretched. Do I leave it unchecked?

Use widescreen DVD format - I do want my final video to show up as widescreen (per my project properties), but I'm not sure if I need to check this box.

Is there anything else I need to be thinking about in terms of getting the final project to look the same as it appears when I'm editing? What am I doing wrong?

Also - I would like to have a hard copy DVD of this, but I'm thinking I may also want to share it via Dropbox. Knowing my format/properties, what would be the best rendering option? Would it be better to render it as a file first, but do it in a format that burns to a DVD?

Sorry for the elementary questions. I'm getting up to speed as fast as I can!

Thanks for any help out there.

Paul

Comments

Steve Grisetti wrote on 9/10/2015, 7:16 AM

How about giving us some specifics about your process?

You say your video is standard def. Does that mean that you got it from a miniDV camcorder and that you used Movie Studio's capture tool to capture the video over a FireWire connection? Capturing over a USB connection or using third-party software could mean that you're not working with standard 720x480 DV-AVIs.

1) What are your Video Project Properties? Do they match your media?

2) How are you getting your video from Movie Studio to DVD Architect?

3) What are your DVD Architect project properties?

Soundhaven wrote on 9/18/2015, 3:26 PM

Steve,

Thanks for your reply, and sorry it's taken a while to get back to you. Here is my entire process, as maybe you'll spot something along the way that is giving me trouble.

The camera is a Canon FS200 which, as I say, shoots in SD. (For what it's worth, the clips show up just fine when I plug the camera directly into my TV, i.e., 16:9). I ran into a lot of difficulties in trying to get Vegas to "see" my camera when I plugged into my USB port to import the project media. Here is the exchange I had with forum members a few months ago:

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/showmessage.asp?forumid=12&messageid=920969

Since I had heard Vegas "doesn't like" MOV files, I ultimately copied and pasted the MOV files from my camera to my computer hard drive, and then I imported them into my project. Note that when I created my project, I used the auto-detect feature, allowing Vegas to set the properties based on the video clip format. Apparently it got it wrong, because the clips were all squeezed horizontally on the preview screens in Vegas (it made them 4:3). A forum member advised me to change the project to NTSC DV Widescreen (720x480, 29.970 fps). Once I did that (and changed all the clips to match), everything looked fine, and I proceeded to edit my project.

Now, as I'm ready to render, I encountered the choices I laid out in my original message:

"Stretch video to fill output frame size (do not letterbox)" - I was thinking no letterbox is good, since the clips are (or should be) 16:9 and so are the screens I'll be viewing on (i.e., I know I definitely don't want 4:3). The first time I rendered, I selected that and ended up with a stretched-out video. The second time, I unchecked this and still ended up with a stretched video. So I figured I was doing something wrong with the next option...

"Use widescreen DV format" - This is what I want, ultimately, but I'm not sure if selecting this actually stretches my project which is already IN widescreen format. I now suspect I don't need to check this, because the last time I rendered (3rd attempt), I left this unchecked, and I also left the "stretch video" option unchecked. Now, the video looks good when I play the DVD on the TV, although a tiny bit of the frame gets cut off to the right and left. It's acceptable, although I have to go in and change the position of some titles that hug the outer edges of the frame.

As for DVD Architect Studio, this is where I get even more confused. (I'll confess I haven't delved into the manual, which I need to do.) When I set the properties,
I am seeing MPEG-2 as the format, 16:9 as the aspect ratio, and 720 x 480 (NTSC) as the resolution. I would assume those are the correct settings, since my project came out, this last time, looking fine except for the cut-off horizontal edges.

It would be great if you or someone could walk me through what the correct choices/properties are, based on what I've told you, and the reasons why. As I am a beginner, it would also be great if you could provide a link to some resources that explain the acronyms in a way a beginner or lay person could understand. Diving into this stuff, it's hard for a person to understand what DV, PAL, NTSC, and so many other abbreviations mean.

I would also like to render this project to a file that can be shared on YouTube or just with other people who may want to watch it over their computer. There are just so many possible output formats that I really don't know which one would be correct. Again, I would really like to study up on all this so as not to rely on one-off questions for guys like you on the forum!

Really appreciate your help.

Paul

musicvid10 wrote on 9/18/2015, 3:31 PM

You need to keep your DVD format the same as your source aspect.

vkmast wrote on 9/18/2015, 4:46 PM

@Sound,
first, your files from Canon FS200 SD are actually not *.mov files, but mov***.mod files.

This is the updated SCS KB advice re Render settings for a DVD. They forget to mention the Widescreen video stream option though.
And this tutorial might be useful for you: https://www.moviestudiozen.com/free-tutorials/sony-movie-studio-platinum/72-how-to-render-360p-169-video-for-youtube-using-sony-vegas-movie-studio-hd-platinum-11.

Short and sweet explanations of the acronyms are still here http://www.afterdawn.com/glossary/ as was linked way back when.

Bliss Video Productions wrote on 9/18/2015, 7:05 PM

Here's a question -- in OPTIONS > PREFERENCES > PREVIEW DEVICE, what is it set for under "Conform output to the following format:"?

vkmast wrote on 9/19/2015, 4:29 PM

@Bliss,
don't know which version the OP (or you) got, but the option you mention must have been rephrased in recent versions of Movie Studios and Vegas Pro.

Soundhaven wrote on 9/19/2015, 5:28 PM

I've been chipping away at this project for so long, I forgot I had already asked one of my questions and gotten an answer! Anyway, thanks for your responses, everyone. I'll be digging into this.