Cropping 4:3 letterbox video to 16:9

[mattr]

Hi. I have a video that I dubbed from a Mini-DV Camera and imported to iMovie. It was taped in 4:3 but was recorded in cinema mode. I want to get rid of the 'letterbox' bands on the top and bottom of the video. The crop feature in iMovie was no help as the crop size was fixed to the project's aspect ratio (4:3 project had a 4:3 crop area etc). What can I do to rectify this?

[guns1inger]

I'm sure you can do it in other tools, but I like AVI Demux. Crop 72 lines form the top and 72 form the bottom (assuming PAL source, based on location), then resize it back to 576 lines total. You now have a 16:9 anamorphic clip.

[Herve]

Crop 72 lines form the top and 72 form the bottom

no, DV is interlaced
you must preserve fields (and with a simple crop, you will mix both fields in one => ugly)
You must use a special soft: Avisynth (I suppose 'cause I don't use it) (PAL: crop 72 top and botom, NTSC: crop 60 top and bottom, use the bob filter), or Mpagstreamclip, or mine (see sign)

bye

Edit: I forgot JESDeinterlacer

[mattr]

Where do i find a mac version of it and how do i use it?

I'm not one for writing scripts to be honest

[mattr]

Crop 72 lines form the top and 72 form the bottom

no, DV is interlaced
you must preserve fields (and with a simple crop, you will mix both fields in one => ugly)
You must use a special soft: Avisynth (I suppose 'cause I don't use it) (PAL: crop 72 top and botom, NTSC: crop 60 top and bottom, use the bob filter), or Mpagstreamclip, or mine (see sign)

bye

Edit: I forgot JESDeinterlacer

Ironically the software at the link in your sig did the job. Thanks.

Although i don't understand why the video only lasted for three minutes.

[Herve]

Ironically the software at the link in your sig did the job.

I know (I still handle it, so it's the reason why I knew you did a mistake)

Although i don't understand why the video only lasted for three minutes.

MovieConverter is a shareware (you can encode only 3 minutes without registration). I gave you names of the few softwares that can do the job too (mine is not free but more "friendly"). Make your own choice and more important, avoid this mistake

bye

[mattr]

Ironically the software at the link in your sig did the job.

I know (I still handle it, so it's the reason why I knew you did a mistake)

Although i don't understand why the video only lasted for three minutes.

MovieConverter is a shareware (you can encode only 3 minutes without registration). I gave you names of the few softwares that can do the job too (mine is not free but more "friendly"). Make your own choice and more important, avoid this mistake

bye

Sure. One suggestion that i have is to get a native english speaker to fix the several gramattical mistakes on your site. I'm not taking a hit on you, but it would make it feel a bit more professional. And also it's hard for me to register anyway seeing that the form for it is in French...

I have a couple of questions for you:

1) What free programs on the mac use Avisynth scripts?
2) How do i write an Avisynth script?

From my searching avisynth is a windows only program. AviDemux on the mac is extremely buggy and unuseable.

[Herve]

And also it's hard for me to register anyway seeing that the form for it is in French...

I send you a private message

1) What free programs on the mac use Avisynth scripts?

I don't know (use it with X11 or with Wine, but you must first compile it), I just talked about it because I know it does correct conversions (I don't use it).

2) How do i write an Avisynth script?

http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/Main_Page

bye