DVD camcorder to iMovie/iDVD what the #@?!%

[nic2k4]

First of I'm not a Mac user, but I manage. I'm just helping a friend to edit his home movies taken with a Sony DVD camcorder. Since it didn't have a firewire port he had to get an external DVD-ROM, then bought Visualhub to convert to DV.

So far so good, the movies import into both Mac programs no problem. Except, when he previews the projects the aspect ratio is wrong. The movies are 16:9, they get imported as such, but the preview is not. It looks like 4:3 with gray bars on both sides. Playing the DV files with Quicktime is the same. The original DVDs play in Mac DVD player as 16:9.

Tried forcing 16:9 in Visualhub with no change. Doing the work on a Windows box doesn't do that, so I have to think it's the Mac software (probably Quicktime) that has a problem. I read about QT Sync 0.3.1 and myDVDedit being able to change the AR flag, just don't think it would be that simple, since iMovie/iDVD both recognize the footage as 16:9.

So now I turn to your expertise, anybody got an idea what is going on here?

[dnix71]

I assume you mean the Sony dvd camcorder doesn't have a firewire port. Pretty much all macs do.
Can you copy the raw dv file over usb, even if it means borrowing a pc?

What do you mean that he had to get an external dvd-rom? Did he burn a mini disc on the camera and then load the file into VisualHub?

4:3 is common old style tv ntsc. 16:9 is anamorphic. Does this Sony camera shoot widescreen video, or are you trying to force it widescreen after the fact?

[rumplestiltskin]

mini-DVD discs can't be used in slot-loading drives; it's a sure-fire way to brick the drive. Hence (probably) the need for an external (drawer-loading) drive.

Can you play the mini-DVD's files directly in QT Player? If so, do they look okay?

[Herve]

Except, when he previews the projects the aspect ratio is wrong. The movies are 16:9, they get imported as such, but the preview is not. It looks like 4:3 with gray bars on both sides. Playing the DV files with Quicktime is the same. The original DVDs play in Mac DVD player as 16:9.

your input files are anamorphous, use a soft that manage these files: Mpegstreamclip (or the one in my sign)

myDVDedit being able to change the AR flag

it modifies your .IFO (so only for DVD - and not DV)
bye

[nic2k4]

Thanks for the replies. Think I found the problem, I opened the VOB his camera makes with VOBedit. Right there in the GOP video pack, the video "attributes" is set to 4:3 and can't be changed. Checking the IFO with IFOedit, the video "attributes" is properly set to 16:9.

Funny, forcing 16:9 in Visualhub didn't result in a 16:9 DV file.

Hi Herve, I tried Mpegstreamclip, but it's too complicated for my friend. I'll have to take a look at MovieConverter.

I can play the movie off the DVD with the Mac DVD player and it's fine, but it won't play in Quicktime, deosn't recognize the file format.

[dnix71]

Quicktime won't play an MP2 file unless you buy a codec from Apple. It all about licensing and money. If you want the file to be playable in QT by anyone, then use VLC or ffmpegX to recode to an mp4.