matching differents video formats

[Benedicte]

Hello, I am editing ( with Sony vegas pro) material filmed with two different video cameras. In one case the image is square (filmed with a still camera) and in the other (film in HD video) it is a long rectangle. I don't mind too much wether the end product is quare or rectangle. Are there any solutions to this besides cropping the image and loosing part of it?

[theewizard]

Yes .. Pad the sides of the square aka 4:3 std aspect so it 16:9
Then you don't have too crop the sides of the larger 16:9 format

[Benedicte]

Thank you for the suggestion. I would need a bit more info: Not sure what PAD THE SIDES means? How do I do that ?

[theewizard]

there is a command in video editors "pad"
put black bars on the sides or on the top and bottom
in your case on the sides to change the width
the picture part of the video frame stays the way it is, the black padding changes the size aka width of the final video frame
so that you edit / combine the newer wide screen video with the older format video
its the same thing TV stations do when show an old Tv show reruns or old movies

[_Al_]

Thank you for the suggestion. I would need a bit more info: Not sure what PAD THE SIDES means? How do I do that ?

Vegas would do it for you. Set your project properties to the same parameters as your 16:9 video. Then when you drop that 4:3 video on timeline you'd see black bars left and right - padding or pillarbox. Same thing.

Possible solutions, from preferable to most unlikely scenario:
1) pillarboxed solution, 4:3 video into 16:9 project, black bars on left and right - this you can even make less intrusive - something that you see on TV a lot, like ABC's funny videos, for example, they use phone videos shot up right and sometimes they even stretch it horizontally a bit (combination of both so video is not that narrow noodle) where as a background for that 4:3 you have same video blurred ,stretched to full frame (done by pan/crop in Vegas)
2) leterboxed solution, 16:9 video into 4:3 project (black bars on top and bottom)
3) cut off 4:3 video (top and bottom) so it fits into 16:9 project (done a lot in documentaries etc, if delivery format is 16:9 and they include old 4:3 videos)
4) cut off 16:9 video so it fits into 4:3 project (never seen this one)
5) You stretch 4:3 video to full frame into 16:9 project (4:3 video has wrong aspect ratio, intrusive, but if 4:3 is graphics, it does not matter)
6) you squeeze 16:9 video into 4:3 project, very unlikely , good only if 16:9 is graphics perhaps etc., so changing proportion is not intrusive

[Benedicte]

I'll try dropping the image into the timeline with properties set as mentioned. However if that doesn't work where do I go in the menu for the padding solution. I can only imagine you are talking about the function that allows cropping, zooming, turning the image whaterver way we want. If so, when I change the letterbox format into the square, seems to me I'll loose part of the image on both sides....