Problems with different aspect ratios

[Gugge]

Hi all!

I searched around this forums for hours (what a massive amount of knowladge!) but couldn't find out this:

I have a footage in DV-AVI, 16:9, and want to include a PIP (picture in picture) from a DV-AVI 4:3 source. I am using Pinnacle Studio 9+ and it refuses to include a non-widescreen video in a widescreen project.

I also found half a solution to my problem. I can import any widescreen footage to my widescreen project, then squeeze in to whatever proportions with the mouse. That means, if I could fool Pinnacle to believe the footage (for the PIP) is 16:9, I could include it and then manually squeeze in to (approximately) the right proportions. Even better would be if I could convert it to a - what is the opposite of letterbox? - footage with black bars that I could mask when doing the PIP. That way I wouldn't get any problems manually trying to get the correct aspect ratio with the mouse.

Since I have searched these forum... might AviSynth be the answer to all my prayers? In that case, could someone please help me with the script so I get it right.

The other way of attacking the problem is if there is a free or budget priced (<$99) nle software that allows working with different aspect ratios in the same project. Preferably I want to solve this using the software I already invested in. I might upgrade to Pinnacle Studio 10+ though.

[mats.hogberg]

Yes, AviSynth can do it. Look at the layer filter.
This thread might help: https://www.videohelp.com/forum/archive/t215321.html

/Mats

[Gugge]

If I understand correctly, one way to do in could be those steps:

1. Make a 16:9 DV-AVI from a black still image.

2. Add the 4:3 footage on a new layer, resulting in a movie with black borders on left and right.

I guess there is some pitfalls too since I understand that DV-AVI has the same number of pixels in either aspect ratio, with different "pixel aspect ratios". My guess is that there is a flag (per file or per frame???) that tells what aspect ratio to use.

Anyway, if I get the 4:3 footage in 16:9 with black borders, I could do the rest in Pinnacle Studio 9+. (Import as PIP, resize and trim.) Now I just plea for help with my first AviSynth script.

[Gugge]

Issue SOLVED!

After lots of trial-and-errors I finally found that Microsoft Movie Maker (bundeld with Windows XP) can stretch an AVI-movie from 4:3 to 16:9, but that was not the whole answer. When importing the stretched AVI-file my Pinnacle Studio application crashes, and it has never crashed for me. I have used it for more than a year - maybe two. Something in Windows Explorer or Media Player - i don't remember - tells me that this was once a 4:3 movie stretched to 16:9.

To get rid of that flag, I found out that after stretching in Windows Movie Maker, I had to export the movie to my camera via Firewire. Then i let Pinnacle Studio 9 Plus import it to my 16:9 project.

As strange as it sounds, when Pinnacle import a 16:9 footage in a 16:9 project, it still assumes that the Picture-in-picture is in 4:3 aspect ratio. Clearly a bug in Pinnacle Studio 9 Plus, but in my case two wrongs got right, so I got my originally 4:3 footage as a 4:3 PIP in a 16:9 project. Computers are wonderful, huh?

I just wonder if I ever will include a 16:9 PIP, and how exact I can make it, just stretching it with the mouse. That will be another day.