Project problems with varying formats

jkastrinos wrote on 12/22/2009, 7:02 PM
New to Vegas. I have read several posts of people having the same problem I am having and I have tried several things but the results are not as good as I would like. Basically, I have 3 clips from 3 different views of my band doing a song. Each clip has a different format. I have them on the timeline synched to the live audio mix. Throughout the song, I cut from clip to clip. I am trying to render something appropriate for the web but I am having problems with the different formats. Here are my formats:

1. QuickTime 720x480x24, DV/DVCPRO - NTSC

2. MainConcept MPEG-2 29.970 fps interlaced, 704x480x32, MPEG-2

3. MainConcept MPEG-2 29.970 fps interlaced, 720x480x32, MPEG-2

The main problem I have is with clip 2 being squeezed. So I tried setting my project properties to widescreen. It fixed the width of that clip but then I had letterbox borders and problems with the other 2 clips. After trial and error over several nights, I finally got things to look right but I have borders on all sides now. I am sure someone has the correct setup and steps I need. Any help is greatly appreciated.
JPK

Comments

musicvid10 wrote on 12/22/2009, 7:11 PM
Are all the clips 16:9, or is one of them 4:3?
jkastrinos wrote on 12/23/2009, 6:15 AM
From what I can tell, only clip 2 is 16:9. If I could get it to fill the preview vertically, I can crop one side so that it fits correctly in a 4:3. But it didn't seem like I could get it to import into the project without being squeezed horizontally. I am trying to avoid having to do a conversion with an external tool, like MPEG Wizard, before importing. Of all 3 clips, this clip already has the least amount of detail. Thanks,
JPK
Chienworks wrote on 12/23/2009, 6:21 AM
Right-mouse-button click on clip 2 on the timeline and choose Properties / Media. You can manually set the pixel aspect ratio there. Probably something like 1.24 would be necessary to get it to 16:9. That should take care of the stretching. Now in Pan/Crop right-mouse-button click in the cropping frame and choose Match output aspect. That will crop it to fill the frame.
jkastrinos wrote on 12/23/2009, 7:01 AM
Thanks Chienworks, I will try that tonight when I am back on that box.