Pro 9 - Rendering NTSC DV Widescreen?

Miranova23 wrote on 5/31/2011, 12:27 PM

All of my clips are NTSC DV Widescreen (720x480), pixel aspect ratio 16:9. I want to render out the finished video project now as the same size and ratio. But nothing I've tried thus far will give me a widescreen output once I watch the finished video.

I'm usually quite good with codecs, formats, and such, but this one has me so confused. I've also tried it both with and without the "Stretch... Do not letterbox" option checked, to no avail. Uncompressed either crashes the program or comes out standard size, sometimes with faces a strange color-keyed-out grey. Any suggestions?

Comments

Former user wrote on 5/31/2011, 12:30 PM

To what format are you trying to render?
The resolution of a 16 x9 SD video is alway 720 x 480, so your media player has to honor the 16 x 9 flag. Many don't.

Dave T2

Miranova23 wrote on 5/31/2011, 2:12 PM

I've tried several combinations of the following specs:
Type = avi
Template = Default Uncompressed, NTSC DV, NTSC DV Widescreen
Frame Size = Custom, Project, NTSC DV (720x480)
Pixel Aspect Ratio (when changeable) = 1.21, 1.45
Video Format = NTSC DV, NTSC DV Widescreen, Sony 10-bit YUV Codec, Sony YUZ Codec, Uncompressed.

The type could also be avi, mov, or any other very-high-quality container. Otherwise format doesn't matter, so long as it will produce a true 16:9 ratio with no letterboxing.
I've gone back & rechecked the actual "media info," a lil context menu helper I think I got via VLC codecs, and it does say 16:9 for some. They playback in VLC player 16:9. Turns out it's just showing up squished & letterboxed in Windows Media Player then. That's strange. Would a different setting help that, or maybe a different container? Or would it require some 3rd party help to WMP?

Former user wrote on 5/31/2011, 6:28 PM

I may be wrong, but I don't think WMP will see the 16 x 9 Flag in an AVI file. It might in an MPEG. If you want to guarantee that your video is 16 x 9 on a computer screen, then you need t render it to a 16 x 9 aspect/resolution with square pixels (1x1).

Dave T2

Chienworks wrote on 5/31/2011, 7:21 PM

Are your project settings also set for 16:9? If they're set for normal 4:3 then Vegas will conform your widescreen video to 4:3, then render that 4:3 frame into the final 16:9 frame.

musicvid10 wrote on 5/31/2011, 8:51 PM

Sounds like possibly another case where your media aspect flags are not reporting correctly in Vegas.

In Project Media, right click on each file, and set the Properties for Widescreen aspect. Then your Preview and Render should look correct if each is set correctly for Widescreen 16:9.

(If you are getting your DV captures from Windows Movie Maker, you are bound to have a lot of problems. The captured files are noncompliant.)

farss wrote on 6/1/2011, 7:04 AM

The Sony 10 bit YUV codec is very nice but probably overkill, 8bit would save some space.

Fundamentally the problem is that this and other SD DV codecs do not support a 16:9 flag. Even if you put that onto a "professional" tape format like Digital Betacam you'll still have the same problem which is why I see tapes with big orange stickers that say "16:9"!

The only surefire way to avoid this problem as others have suggested is to render out with square pixels which would be 872x480, you'll need to create a custom render template to do this.

Bob.

OldJack wrote on 6/1/2011, 8:03 AM

I use DVD Architect NTSC Windescreen Video Stream template and click the custom button, click the audio tab at the bottom and check the include audio box. This appears to give a full widescreen.