aspect ratio not correct

[beesmyer]

When I record with my digital 8 camcorder I can record in widescreen and it will transfer to my computer just fine and I can view it in widescreen.

But I have a new JVC digital camera with hard drive and when I record in widescreen then I view it on my computer it appears squished in a non-widescreen version. Everything appears tall and skinny.
It always appears this way no matter what I try. If I view it throug my computer while the file is on the camera or if I transfer it to my computer. No matter what software I view it through.

What is wrong? Is there a way to view these with the correct aspect? Will I just not be able to use widescreen for some reason? Is there a way to correct all the videos I've already shot?

Please let me know if I can provide more information for someone to help with this.

THank you

William

[JohnnyMalaria]

Your Digital8 camcorder records DV and, on the computer, the media player is savvy enough to detect that the DV is widescreen. It adjusts the size of the window accordingly.

Your hard disk camcorder records in a different format (MPEG4?) - the media player cannot determine the aspect ratio so it assumes the default 4:3 ratio.

There are media players that let you stretch the video window (there was a recent post about this).

If you are going to create DVDs (for example), you simply need to tell the authoring program that you want widescreen.

Key point: there's nothing wrong with your recordings and there's nothing to correct. You just need a media player that can be forced to display widescreen.

[jagabo]

Media Player Classic lets you override the display aspect ratio.

[beesmyer]

Thanks for the help so far.
My real concern is that when I create a DVD the aspect ratio will not be correct. I tried a couple different authoring software and when I tell it I want a widescreen format the video appears squished and there are black strips down both the left and right sides where no video is. If I set it for standard format the black down each sides goes away and it frames the video well but it is still squished.

Maybe I will just try creating a small peice and burn a few DVD's with different settings and see how it turns out.

Anyone else know of anything?

[beesmyer]

I rendered video in a couple different formats and it always comes out exactly as it appears on my screen. Basically. I can render widescreen but all it does is makes the template wide but still squishes my video in the middle leaving black bars down each side.

[thecoalman]

The editing/authoring software is assuming you have 4:3 material and pillar boxing it (adding black to the left and the right). That's to maintain the correct aspect if your material is 4:3. Depending on your software the "fix" is simple, you should have an option to specify that the source is 16:9.

Listing what you are using to edit/author would help.