Converting 4x3 programs to 16x9 - I need something special

[NuclearNed]

I have lots of old home movies that are in 4x3 aspect ratio. I would like to find some software that would add "something" to the 4x3 video to extend it to 16x9 without clipping the video or distorting it in any way. Obviously I want to do this so I can encode the video as an animorphic widescreen mpeg that I can watch on my widescreen tv. I can envision a graphic or animation that would fill the space where the "black bars" would normally be on the sides of the 4x3 video. A real bonus would be for this "filler" material to be animated, so as to prevent burn-in on my projection tv.

Does anyone know of any software that will do this?

[NuclearNed]

Since nobody has posted a reply to this thread yet, maybe this feature doesn't exist and this would be a great addition for someone's software. For all you software developers, here is what I am imagining:

The software would add a repeating piece of animation to the 4x3 video, effectively creating a 16x9 video. What I think would be cool would be an image of red velvet theater curtains on either side of the 4x3 video. The curtains could be swaying/ruffling slightly just to help prevent burn-in on projection and lcd tv's.

If anyone ever decides to implement this feature, please feel free to send some royalties my way.

In the meanwhile, the question still stands: is there any software that will already do this?

[Cornucopia]

Here's the thing...

It's a cute idea, and I could probably create such a thing quite easily in After Effects (Red, Velvet texturemap, 3d lateral ripple warp-sine functions, lighting fx, that sort of thing) and I could do it on a larger canvas with an alpha channel hole in the middle. What would then be done would be to create a larger canvas, stick your video in the center on a lower layer, put the "curtains video" on the upper layer (looping it seamlessly). Render.

It can all be done...BUT...

You definitely don't want to waste your precious available bitrate on something as superfluous as "curtains". Plus, you will have to resize and re-encode anyway with that scenario, further compromising the quality.

If you really like the curtains idea, hang some up around your Monitor.

Scott

[NuclearNed]

Actually, it occurred to me after I made the first post that I would lose some resolution if I did this. You are right, I probably don't want to do that.

I guess I'm just hung up on not watching 4x3 videos on my projection hdtv in "normal" mode because my user manual states that it can eventually lead to burn-in. The alternative is to use one of the tv's stretch modes, which of course distorts the picture.

Ah well, one can dream.

[wwaag]

NuclearNed

I've got the same problem with a 65" Mitsubishi RPTV. Don't know about your TV, but mine displays "gray" side bars rather than black which is REALLY annoying to watch.

Although not perfect, my "easy" solution was to buy a Panasonic DVD-S47 player. For 4x3 material, it adds black side bars, so the gray is gone. More importantly, it has an incremental zoom so that you can crop just a small amount from top and bottom, thereby reducing the size of the side bars or zoom or alternatively zoom to reduce the side bars completely. I usually, select arount 110% as a good compromise. While not the "perfect" solution, it sure is simple. Bought the player at Walmart for less than $100. The TV itself has a number of "stretch" modes, but they really distort the scene, especially for home videos in which we usually pan too quickly.

Just a suggestion.

wwaag