Capturing widescreen video from Mini DV camera

[eisfeld]

I have a Panasonic NV-GS17 Mini DV camera, and I have recorded some videos in widescreen format. According to some info I have read, that means the video should be 720 x 480 pixels at 29.97 frames per second. Is this correct?

The problem I have now is that, no matter how I try to capture the video to my PC, it is always stretched to 720 x 576 pixels and recorded at 25 frames per second. I have tried Win DVD and Ulead Movie Factory, but it's always the same. I can't capture the video in its proper widescreen format, and I can't seem to find any options / preferences where I can change that.

Is there a way to capture widescreen Mini DV with one of the aforementioned programs? Should I get another program? I'm using Firewire capture, which seems to be working fine, the only problem is that I can't get the video in its original widescreen format.

Thanks for your help!

[yoda313]

You are capturing in PAL mode - that is where the 576 and 25 frames comes from.

What format is your country in? If your from Europe than you will need to capture in PAL. If your North America or Japan than NTSC is what you need. I believe Australia and many other Asian countries also use PAL though I am not certain of the country to country breakdown.

Let us know your country of origin and we can help you determine your capture need. Also - you may be using a camera that is for a different region. I don't know if that can be changed at all without reencoding after capturing.

[eisfeld]

I'm in Germany, so yes, we use PAL here. But all I want to do is capture some .avi files so I can edit them. Isn't there a way for me to simply capture NTSC? There must be a way to capture the widescreen movies from that damn camera...

[yoda313]

Ok I think you might be getting some terms mixed up. The resolution does not tell you much about the ASPECT RATIO. That is the dimesion of the video.

4:3 is square 16:9 is widescreen. 1.778 I believe is most common for home cameras unless they have superwide 2.35 modes available these days.

Why don't you post a still shot of the video you have been able to capture and we can help determine it?

Or better yet use a program like gspot or avicodec and it can analyze your recorded video. It will tell you the aspect ratio of the video itself. That will be your determining factor.

One more note - when shown on a normal square monitor or tv do you see black horizontal bars on the tops on and bottom of the screen? If you do then it is indeed widescreen.

[jagabo]

If your camera is PAL (and unless you bought it in the USA or Japan, it is) you should be capturing 720x576 25 fps. That's what's on the tape.

[eisfeld]

Silly me, the video is 4:3. I was confused by how it appeared on the display in the camera, but what I overlooked was that the camera display cuts off sections of the picture that appear in the actual captured file...

Sorry for taking up your time!

[yoda313]

Not at all! That is what the forum is for. Glad to help when we can.

[jagabo]

The camcorder display overscans the image like a TV would.