Creating 16:9 illusion from 4:3

[NotSoEasy]

If title confused, sorry.What I want to do is much like what you see ESPN-HD do.It is HD in that it displays the full 16:9 area, but is really 4:3 with fancy borders on left and right side to make it widescreen.You see this on games but most the time on something like Sports Center broadcast.

How can I do that.I have a many video clips I plan on joining together ( sons baseball season clips ) and they were shot in 4:3 but would like to mimic widescreen as discribed above.It doesnt have to be moving pictures, it can be just a nice design that is static ( unless it is easy enough to do moving pictures in the side bars )
Reason for doing this is to not have to crop as camera work was not the best.This way I just add to the width then resize I assume to actual DVD size in the end ?

Can this be done?

[drewzor]

deleted

[NotSoEasy]

Yeah, I tried the free trial of Vegas and I didnt like it much.I tried to do a few things and it seemed to always want me to register to get some plugin all the time.I could never input anything other than an AVI and even then could never get it to crop or anything.

Anyway, thanks for the reply.Hope there is some other way.Trying to look in tools section right now but have no idea what to really look for.

[guns1inger]

For NTSC material, you need to resize the frame to 544 x 480, and place this inside a standard 720 x 480 frame. Put whatever you like in the pillarboxes (vertical bands) - colours, patterns, etc.

This can be done very easily in virtualdub using the resize filter, so long as you are happy with a single colour in the pillarboxing.

Frameserve from this to an mpeg encoder and encode as 16:9. From here you can author as 16:9 and your done.

[Bjs]

For this type of work for free ...

1: Simplest = virtualdub + avisynth (mask) .. Png with alpha layer (the gimp) ...

2: Wax2 - straight forward , complicated , constant crash's ... save project OFTEN .

3: Blender - powerfull , even more complicated , stable ... mind blowing to newbies .

These side bar's can be both static or motion clip's .

I have a couple of guide's on these still in current progress ... should have them both completed soon ... the blender guide will not be completed for some time though .

[NotSoEasy]

Thanks for the replies!
I would love to see a guide on this so I can do it.
This will make for a nice output to my final video.
Thanks again!

[FulciLives]

Thanks for the replies!
I would love to see a guide on this so I can do it.
This will make for a nice output to my final video.
Thanks again!

What MPEG encoder do you use?

I ask because some can do this with their own built-in interface (at least if you are happy with a single color on either side ... like black) otherwise I would do it with AviSynth.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[NotSoEasy]

I have so many apps on this PC it aint funny.If I dont have it, I'll get it.Unless it costs way too much then I prefer freeware apps.
I would like to use a nice image rather than a solid color.I think it will give it a better look.I was thinking something with the team name and a logo which I can make in Photoshop no problem so long as I have the correct size.

[NotSoEasy]

Just wondering if anyone has done a tutorial on this yet