Comments

FuTz wrote on 6/29/2003, 6:39 PM

If you mean having these black bars on top & bottom of the picture:

-project settings (File menu): Normal
-render: Regular
PAW wrote on 6/30/2003, 3:00 AM

The capture program should pick up it is 16:9 and falg the media as 16:9

Right click on the media in the media pool and view properties it should be flagged as widescreen.

Set your project to Widescreen NTSC or PAL and you are away

If your source media is not flagged as widescreen you can change it manually, also select display device aspect ratio in the preview window.

PAW
RBartlett wrote on 6/30/2003, 6:29 AM
Hi8 and even D8 don't have lenses or CCD to accomodate both 4:3 and 16:9.
16:9 mode is more often than I'd rather say, a quasi 16:9. You get fewer lines than you do in the 4:3 mode, so it is in fact a crop.

So expecting Vegas to detect this, especially from a Hi8 source, becomes superfluous.
It won't even save tape space.

The only gain is that on some consumer/prosumer cameras you seem to get a slightly larger picture in 16:9 mode to that of 4:3. Folk have assumed that the steady-shot circuit is letting more width of the horizontal get squeezed into the "720" (Hi8!) space.

Where the 16:9 mode is a rip-off. I'd recommend doing this same rip-off in post.
The closest to 16:9 on a 4:3 CCD/lens is to bolt on an anamorphic lens. The cost of these is so great that you might just get yourself a 3CCD 4:3 pro camera.

The 16:9 story hasn't panned out. Yet folk are wanting HD and 24p already.

Consider putting a label on your target formats saying "Best viewed on a 4:3 display, or a 16:9 in 4:3 mode" or add your own jumpback borders to your 4:3 to make it 16:9 so that they can be selectively shown or hidden on depending on the users TV.

14:9 protected is a good aspect ratio to go somewhere in between. You need to think a bit harder to accomodate this in Vegas and end up with representative ARs.
seeker wrote on 6/30/2003, 12:04 PM
RBartlett,

In general I agree with your post, which is in agreement with the article, Shooting Widescreen on DV, but I have a couple of comments:

"The only gain is that on some consumer/prosumer cameras you seem to get a slightly larger picture in 16:9 mode to that of 4:3. Folk have assumed that the steady-shot circuit is letting more width of the horizontal get squeezed into the "720" (Hi8!) space."

I don't know if this also applies to Hi8, but for DV there is a slight increase in vertical resolution from using the camcorder's 16:9 mode, at least according to Ben Syverson:

16:9 mode may give slightly better resolution

"The closest to 16:9 on a 4:3 CCD/lens is to bolt on an anamorphic lens. The cost of these is so great that you might just get yourself a 3CCD 4:3 pro camera."

A less expensive approach is to screw on an anamorphic adapter to your existing lens. My Sony DCR-TRV510, like many Sonys, has a 37mm filter thread, into which I currently have screwed a Sony .6X wideangle adapter. It stays there most of the time, not just to protect my taking lens, but because I almost always want the wideangle capability and I can't handhold the long end of my zoom ratio anyway.

Century Optics makes a series of anamorphic widescreen adapters for many camcorders. The ones for relatively small diameter lenses like my 37mm threads cost "only" $395, which is comfortably less than buying a 3-CCD pro camera. OpTex also makes anamorphic adapters, but they apparently don't come in a 37mm version.

Of course I do want to upgrade my consumer camcorder to a pro camera when I can afford to, but in the meantime I plan to go with what I can afford in the near term, namely the $395 Century Optics anamorphic add-on.

In case people are interested in the prices of Century Optics add-ons for other models of camcorders, here is a current PDF price list for Century Optics products. The model for my camcorder, DS-1609-37, is listed on page 5. Models for larger camcorders cost more, typically $895.

-- Seeker --