Can I easy resize from very fine 4:3 to very good quality widescreen??

vantechmag · Member Joined: 11 May 2009 Location: Sweden

Yes, this is probably my last big question and I did first search for this, but didn't find any clear advice...

I have my material recorded as PAL interlace 4:3 with a very fine Hi8 video camera, that gave 390 lines visible sharpness (at 30% contrast) and then transferred (most of it) to big DV tapes...

*** I mainly wonder if it's possible to continuously "cut out" the best part of the picture, with Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 or Vegas Movie Studio 9 (at Vista 32bit) and then resize the result with VERY good quality to 16:9 with help of ANY smart trick (and even a cheap external program) except scripting with programs as avisynth???

** And I do also wonder if Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 or Vegas Movie Studio 9 is the best alternative for this editing?!?

Observe that Im not "math smart" enough to use scripting programs and I simply don't understand many editing terms / words like "envelope" yet... My material will also stay as video (never convert to 24p) and I use the PAL system, but I want to release my films in USA too, in good time...

Im very grateful for any advice AND examples of what quality I can expect, but please don't guess!!

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zoobie · Posted: May 11, 2009 15:47

yes it's possible but not recommended
throwing away parts of your frame for a widescreen style doesn't make a lot sense...but whatever
those editors usually just add black bars to simulate the "cutting"
find something that really cuts the frame...like virtualdub
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minidv2dvd · .com Joined: 12 Jul 2008 Location: United States

not many people here would recommend converting it to 16/9. it's 720x576 as a 4:3 DVavi. to convert to 16/9 you will have to crop off quite a bit of both the top and bottom.

i'd give it an old school look and people will expect it to be 4:3.

filmboss80 · Member Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Location: United States

There have been many occasions where I've been required to incorporate archival 4:3 footage into a 16:9 project. I personally like to use VirtualDub to crop the top and bottom for widescreen, then use the Resize filter in the bicubic mode to restore to legal DV-AVI aspect ratio, creating an elongated, anamorphic image that goes to normal perspective on widescreen. Sometimes, I crop fully for the 16:9 frame; sometimes I will make a pillar-boxed 4:3 image inside a 16:9 frame (resizing at a greater width, then checking "Expand frame and letterbox image" in VirtualDub's Resize filter); and sometimes I will compromise, cropping half the usual amount from tops and bottoms, while pillarboxing the sides at half size.

I wish I could give more detailed instructions, but all my settings are based on NTSC DV-AVI (720 x 480). You'll either have to do the math yourself for PAL -- or allow a PAL video person to weigh in.

In turning standard definition to widescreen, you are essentially making an anamorphic image that will be stretched out to 16:9. If the source material is good, you'd be surprised how the cropped and resized footage turns out. I expected something blocky, but simply got a slightly softened image.

NOTE: I would NEVER do this to any extensive measure. If most of your footage is 4:3, stay with that aspect ratio. I alternatively had a project that was 90 percent 4:3. For the remaining 10 percent that was 16:9, I lopped off the sides. You've got to use good judgment. In most cases, it's best to keep the entire 4:3 image and just switch your monitor to play it pillarboxed.

jagabo · Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Location: none

Cut 72 lines off the top of the frame, 72 lines off the bottom (or any combination totaling 144 lines), resize what's left to 720x576, then encode as 16:9 for DVD. If your video is interlaced, and it almost certainly is, you need to use an interlace aware resizing method (and none of them is great).

vantechmag · Member Joined: 11 May 2009 Location: Sweden

Thanl's for the advice's... I guess that I have to try and see how it work out, when I select Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 or Vegas Movie Studio 9

I was mainly hoping on some "miracle" solution for the resizing and clear advise if Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 or Vegas Movie Studio 9 is best for this... Yes, it's very hard to choose between them and I did also find out in this sites tools section, that Magix might be an even better alternative!!!! *Arrrgg*

But im very happy I found this forum

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filmboss80 · Member Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Location: United States

Thanx, Jagabo, for the numbers. (In NTSC, it's a 120-line crop. That's what I was accustomed to.) Instead of taking 72 from the top and 72 from the bottom, optimum framing may require you to take more from the bottom than the top (i.e. - 30 from the top and 114 from the bottom). Your total cropping just has to equal 144 lines.

You still have the option of using the freeware tool, VirtualDub, to do your cropping, saving the clip as a new DV-AVI. Thereafter, you should be able to import the resized clip into either VideoStudio or Vegas just fine.

guns1inger · Member Joined: 01 Apr 2004 Location: Miskatonic U

If the video was shot 4:3 then the chances of it framing well for 16:9 are slim to nothing. You will find that you end up lopping off heads and ending up with all sort of horrible framing problems. Think of it as being effectively a bad vertical pan and scan.

I have only had to do this a couple of times, so I did it in Vegas Pro. Do the crop with keyframes to reframe on the fly so that the frame is correctly positioned within the new 16:9 window - lots of key frames if you want smooth movement - then resize at the end for anamorphic output. Thankfully on the occasions I have had to do this, it has been smaller sections of 4:3 material for inclusion in a larger 16:9 whole, so there wasn't huge amounts of work. An entire video will take quite some time.
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jagabo · Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Location: none

In VirtualDub filters you should:

Null Transform + Crop (144 lines total of top/bottom, leaving 720x432)
Deinterlace (Unfold fields side by side, image now 1440x216)
Resize to 1440x288
Deinterlace (Fold side by side fields together, 720x576)

You should always crop an even number of lines, never an odd number. Cropping an odd number will result in a field order reversal and blur the chroma channels of a YUV 4:2:0 source like PAL DV.

mpgabor7 · Member Joined: 15 Nov 2009 Location: United States

I think the easiest way to change from 4:3 to 16:9 in VideoStudio is to first set your project properties to 16:9. Then drop your video clip onto the timeline. Under "edit", choose "video filter". Within the "video filters", drag or apply the "video pan and zoom" filter to your clip. Click on "customize filter" and you can customize what you'd like to see or choose your size. Then be sure to choose 16:9 as your output when you make your video.
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