Converting a 4:3 project for a 16x9 HDTV

[jeffgrooves]

Hello!

I would appreciate some advice on the following if anybody knows how to do this:

I shot a digital video in the typical 4:3 mode on my Panasonic MiniDV cam. While shooting the project, I kept in mind where the black bars would be at the top and bottom of the screen so that I could either add them in later OR just resize the frame to fit a 16X9 TV. And YES, I understand that means I will lose some of the picture at top and bottom because it has to be adjusted and basically zoomed in to fill out the 16X9 size frame...

But, I'm not sure how to do this... and I'm certainly concerned about quality. I hope that resizing the frame wont degrade my image much. I edit with Adobe Premiere Pro (yes, I know it's not the latest version).

I'd like to be able to do this so I can put it on DVD and have it take up the whole 16x9 screen on my TV so I dont have to watch it with black bars on the left and right of the screen (ie. the 4:3 aspect ratio).

Any advice would be highly appreciated! Thank you.

[jeffgrooves]

Checking in again... nobody knows how to do this???

[filmboss80]

You not only lose video information at the top and bottom of the picture, you also lose image detail because you are zooming in on the pixels. Nevertheless, you can convert 4:3 DV video to 16:9 in VirtualDub.

For NTSC video (anamorphic widescreen 740x480), you must first get the aspect ratio down to 720 x 360 by cropping a total of 120 lines from the top and bottom of the video. Usually it is 20 lines from the top and 100 lines from the bottom, but this depends largely on the way the original 4:3 frame was composed.

VirtualDub’s cropping tool does not engage unless you have a filter. Thus, use the Null Transform filter*, which is a dummy filter. Thereafter, do the following:

1. Go to Cropping and remove 20 from the top and 100 from the bottom (or any other combo that adds up to 120 lines removed).
2. Add the Resize filter and go back up to 720 x 480 with the Bicubic filter.


*If there are problems with interlacing lines, use a good deinterlace filter instead of Null Transform.

Always test on a short clip (quick rendering time) to see how it's going to look.

BEST ADVICE: Find a Century Products anamorphic 16:9 lens adapter for your camcorder. I retooled my home minidv cam with one. Works like a charm.