ratio / format / codec problems, pls help!

[phaedrus]

hello everybody,

I'm relatively new to video editing/conversion. Use a Panasonic GS230 camcorder. MotionDV installed. For publishing on the web (YouTube) the ASF output format used to work quite well. Untill.. it didn't anymore.

The asf movies suddenly show up in my player (Media Player Classic) in a 11:9 format, with black bars on the site. They do the same after uploading to youTube. Even the same file which is actually working on YouTube now has the wrong format..??

I'm recording 4:3 movies, MotionDV stores the editing results as avi formats, Video: DVSD 720x576 25.00fps 28800Kbps [Video 0], video size 768 x 576. It looks to me that the not square pixel ratio causes the problem.

So I tried with K-lite and NCH Prism. Now even WMV and mpeg4 / Divx outputs have the same problem. Can anybody help me out on this? I'm afraid installing the codec pack worsend the problem..

hope to hear something!

eric

[jagabo]

PAL DV always uses a 720x576 frame size. That can be either 4:3 or 16:9 display aspect ratio. If playback is your concern just use a player that lets you force the DAR. Many players don't pay attention to DAR flags, especially in AVI files. If you need square pixel video for uploading resize so that the frame size ratio matches the DAR. For example 768x576, 640x480, 320x240 for 4:3 videos. 704x400, 640x360, 320x180 for 16:9 videos.

[phaedrus]

hello jagabo,

thanks a lot for your reply!

So, I understand the PAL DV uses non square pixel for both 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratio. Playback isn't the problem really, the avi files do play back right in the 4:3 display in both WMP and MPC.

The problems occur after converting the movie. For YouTube I used the ASF output format of MotionDV, 352 x 288 frame size. Also not square pixel, I suppose. It uses Windows Media Video 7 352x288 10.00fps 768Kbps [Raw Video 1]. This output used to play back correct in 4:3 in my players as well after uploading to YouTube.

But now the same conversion with MotionDV doesn't work properly anymore. It plays back in 11:9 in my players as well after uploading to YouTube. It looks like it doesn't convert the 11:9 frame size to the right display ratio (4:3) anymore.

I've tried several other conversions with Prism instead of MotionDV. Output in ASF format with Windows Media Video 9 720x576 25.00fps 4096Kbps [Raw Video 0] displays as 11:9 after uploading. I tried a Xvid MPEG-4 with the same results.

I've also tried your suggestion resizing the (ASF) output to 640x480 with NCH Prism. didn't work also, displays as 11:9..

I made some WMV files with WMM and Prism. Only the movies from WMM forced to 640x480 and ratio 4:3 by decreasing the maximum output size play back in the right 4:3 ratio. I don't like the quality on youTube but at least it's the right display ratio...
The WMM movies with 720x576 and 4:3 ratio display as... 11:9..

hope you or anyone else can help me, this is driving me mad..

eric

[jagabo]

I don't know MotionDV. But typically video editing sofware has some way of specifying the DAR of the input video and the DAR of the output video. The source DAR is often set by right clicking on the clip in the timeline -- a menu pops up with misc. selections including DAR. The output DAR is usually a property of the project. Look for project settings somewhere then look for DAR settings. Maybe someone who uses MotionDV will be able to give you more explicit instructions.

Stay away from K-Lite. It can cause lots of problems.

[phaedrus]

hello Jagabo,

thanks again for information.
MotionDV doesn't have much possibilities. It stores the captured movie as avi in PAL format. After editing you can output to avi, mpeg1 or ASF.
Outputting to AVI gives 3 options for AR, N (4:3), Wide (16:9) and Cinema (16:9). When I use the 4:3 avi it produces the PAL output 720 * 576 (4:3). Non square pixel ratio. No problem so far, this one plays back well in WMediaPlayer and on YouTube.
Outputting to ASF (what used to function well) only gives a choice for size (352x288 or 176x144) and 3 options for resolution. These outputs suddenly play back as 11:9.
Outputting to mpeg1 gives no option at all, it's 352x288.

So, I don't think MotionDV causes the problem. When I compress the AVI file with Prism the same problems occur. And as I said, also with Windows Movie Maker unless I decrease the output file size as far untill it uses 640x480 and 4:3 ratio.

But now I saw something I saw before watching the movies on YouTube. I compressed to mpeg1 and uploaded to YouTube. It played back fine on youTube the first time. While replaying it it suddenly appears in 11:9 display. And after another replay it plays back again in the correct 4:3 display. Still does.. (???)

Can this be a problem of my Codecs installed? It looks like sometimes other codec is used?? Maybe there's a possibility to disable a codec through K-lite?? But which one?

The problem did occur [s:e36ef189bf]before[/s:e36ef189bf] installing K-lite but after installing and trying several programs like premiere, Quicktime etc.. I saw several warnings about K-lite on this forum. I like it because it gives me some insight about the codecs. If I do a uninstall, would it remove eveything?

Well, I think the problem is in the codecs, but what to do?

Regards,

eric

[phaedrus]

oops.. Have to make an addition to this. The avi files (PAL) do not play back correctly, but also as 11:9.
And experienced the same switching of display ratio with ASF as the mpeg1; after editing the movie info (just description) in YouTube it switches from 4:3 to 11:9, but stays that way..

I'm lost..