Small letterbox in widescreen mode.

[Niber]

Hi,
When I capture video from my Sony TR-V18E that has been recorded in widescreen I get a very small letterbox either above or below,
with that I mean like a 1 or 2 rows of black pixels.
I have ignored this in the past but this is getting kind of annoying, for example if I put a blur filter on it the computer thinks the blackrow is part of the fotage (which I guess it is) and blurs that with it.

Do anyone know why this happens?

Also, is there any reason for me to record in widescreen at all?
I do all my movies in widescreen, but can I just aswell cut the top and bottom off when editing it or does the 16x9 recording make better res than a 4:3 (where I manually cut away parts of it to fit 16x9)?

[BSR]

Also, is there any reason for me to record in widescreen at all?
I do all my movies in widescreen, but can I just aswell cut the top and bottom off when editing it or does the 16x9 recording make better res than a 4:3 (where I manually cut away parts of it to fit 16x9)?

I remember reading somewhere that if you use the widescreen function of the camera that your picture doesn't take true full 720x480 resolution, it's actually masking the top and bottom of the video(letterbox i think). It's doing what you would do manually if you captured at 4:3 and then cut away yourself.
You say you only have 1 or 2 pixels rows at the top and bottom, is your captured video 720x480?? Maybe what I said above is not the case with your camera. Or the cameras do some resizing to get it to 480 again?

Also remember reading from the same author that the only way to get true widescreen from these cameras is to buy a widescreen lens so that you can get the full true 720x480 resolution.

Again, I've never toyed with the widescreen on my videocam, always left it 4:3. Maybe I'll toy around this week to se what I get.
If I find those older postes, I'll be sure to link to them here.

Also, try cropping the black bars before doing your blur, and then add borders afterwards to get back to the original.

LINKS- added as I find.
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=218889
cool 16:9vs4:3demo on left side of page:
http://www.centuryoptics.com/products/dv/16x9/16x9.htm#

Excellent fact guide:
http://www.adamwilt.com/DV-FAQ-etc.html#widescreen

You can tell when a camera is capturing 16:9 the "right way" because when you throw the switch, whether the resultant image is letterboxed in the finder or squashed, a wider angle of view horizontally is shown, whereas the same vertical angle of view is present.

[Niber]

Wow, that guide explain everything I've been wondering about widescreen mode, it turns out my Sony DV camera is fake widescreen.
I will see if I can find a anamorphfic lens.

Thank you for a well written reply.

[BSR]

Yea, mine does fake also. DCR-PC101.
Post back if you buy an anamorphic lens or whatever you decide. I'd be interested in knowing how well they work and/or your findings.

[Niber]

The only ones I could find in the whole sweden is sites for proffesionals (commercial movie making) and they didn't even write prices they just said which companies they sell stuff from.
and those seems to go for 800$, but I'm affraid my budjet is no more than 100$

[BSR]

Looks like you found the same thing I did. Anamorphic lenses are very expensive. I didn't even find one compatible with the 30mm lense on my camera either.

I'm going to stick with 4:3 filming, minds well use the pixels while they are there.

[guns1inger]

They are aimed mainly at the prosumer and up market, and start at around US$700. A couple at the low end include

http://www.zgc.com/zgc.nsf/0/63b83c97fd349a1785256b82005afb3b?OpenDocument
http://www.centuryoptics.com/products/dv/16x9/16x9.htm