Capturing/Converting MiniDV in 5:4 format

[Hamilthon]

Hello,
I saw on a forum that MiniDV shoot, not in 4:3 neither in 16:9 but in 5:4, with the pixels having a variable rectangular shape and a preview resolution of 1024x576 (with 720 vertical lines).

The thing is, I captured my MiniDVs in 720x576 (PAL standard) with amarectv, and since they were shot in 16:9, at least that's what I thought, I converted them as 16:9 videos.

Do I need to recapture my tapes, or reconvert them ?

[dellsam34]

DV is 720x576 for PAL and 720x480 for NTSC non square pixel, It must be displayed in 4:3 or 16:9 if coded so. The 5:4 is just the raw aspect ratio not the display aspect ratio.

[Alwyn]

MiniDV shoot, not in 4:3 neither in 16:9 but in 5:4, with the pixels having a variable rectangular shape and a preview resolution of 1024x576 (with 720 vertical lines).

Mostly not true. PAL DV is always 720x576, with the 4:3 or 16:9 display aspect ratio flag applied. The won't be 720 lines in preview.

What is true is that the pixels are horizontally stretched. If you shot in 4:3 (normal SD format), the stretch will be to an effective width of 768. If you shot 16:9 (wide), the effective stretch is to 1024.

The 5:4 probably comes from the 720/576, which is what MediaInfo will report as the pixel aspect ratio for a analogue AVI, which is what you got when you captured with Amarectv, because there is not aspect ratio flag embedded in analogue AVIs.

All you need to do is work out whether your videos are supposed to be 4:3 or 16:9 and then encode them that way. Check the heads: you'll soon spot if they are tall and skinny (16:9 footage on a 4:3 screen) or short and fat (4:3 footage on a 16:9 screen).

The best method of digitising DV is to "transfer" it using WinDV or Scenalyser; that is a digital transfer and not a "capture". DV "transfer" generally entails using a Firewire cable, although there are other USB options. And, of course, you can do an analogue capture, as it appears you've done. The quality is pretty close to the DV transfer process.

I suggest you post a MediaInfo report on one of your captured files (View>Text, copy and paste the report here).

If you want, you could take a couple of screenshots and post them; we should be able to work out whether they're 4:3 or 16:9.

[Hamilthon]

What i'm sure is that all my tapes are shot in 16:9, like you said it's visible when i switch to 4:3.
I already thought about using DV Firewire cables, but for now my main PC is not usable, i'm on my laptop.

The main thing I was scared of was that i could have captured the wrong way and converted a bad quality version of my tapes.

Anyways, thank you for your answers, as always, instructives.