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Era
Guest
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 Posted:
Mon Nov 08, 2004 9:26 am Post subject:
Convert pal 16:9 to 4:3 |
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I have a mini DV tape which was shot with 16:9
Can someone please advise what software are available (preferably free)
to convert the format to a 4:3?
Many thanks in advance
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Ivan IV
Guest
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| Posted:
Wed Nov 10, 2004 9:07 pm Post subject:
Re: Convert pal 16:9 to 4:3 |
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It's best if you keep original ratio. If your target format is DVD, DVD
player can do conversion to 4:3 automatically if necessary - letterboxing
(black bars on top and bottom) or pan & scan (cutting from left & right). If
you insist on conversion of your sources, you can use, e.g., AviSynth to add
the bars or to cut to 4:3 and then re-encode the result. |
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PDTV
Guest
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| Posted:
Thu Nov 11, 2004 6:02 am Post subject:
Re: Convert pal 16:9 to 4:3 |
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| Quote: | player can do conversion to 4:3 automatically if necessary - letterboxing
(black bars on top and bottom) or pan & scan (cutting from left & right).
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Er, no it can't. Letterboxing sure, but pan & scan is something
you'll have to do in a video editing program. |
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Ivan IV
Guest
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| Posted:
Thu Nov 11, 2004 12:07 pm Post subject:
Re: Convert pal 16:9 to 4:3 |
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I have 3 options in my DVD setup for a type of a TV connected to it. Wide,
Normal-letterbox, Normal-pan&scan. I use Wide and I assume that the other 2
are doing what their names suggest. |
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Jon Purkey
Guest
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| Posted:
Fri Nov 12, 2004 12:27 am Post subject:
Re: Convert pal 16:9 to 4:3 |
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| Quote: | Er, no it can't. Letterboxing sure, but pan & scan is something
you'll have to do in a video editing program.
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One of my DVD players has a "screen fit" button that zooms in on the
center of a letterboxed movie so that it fills the screen and removes
the black bars. The results are not very good since it cuts things off
on the sides, sometimes right in the middle of a face. However, I
suppose if someone really hates letterboxed films and can't find the
P&S version then they might find it useful.
Other than to try it out I never used the feature myself since I
prefer to see movies the way the director intended them to be seen.
-
-Jon Purkey - <jonpurkey@aol.com)
For a quicker reply by email please use the
address found here: http://tinyurl.com/o8ka |
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Rob R
Guest
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| Posted:
Fri Nov 12, 2004 12:42 am Post subject:
Re: Convert pal 16:9 to 4:3 |
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| Quote: | I have 3 options in my DVD setup for a type of a TV connected to it. Wide,
Normal-letterbox, Normal-pan&scan. I use Wide and I assume that the other 2
are doing what their names suggest.
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It took me a little head scratching to make sure I understood this
correctly, but here goes:
Your DVD player always sends its output in 4:3 PAL. What makes these
selections different is the type of scaling that is applied to the 16:9
video signal in order to fit it into the output signal.
Normal - letterbox: The image is scaled both horizontally and vertically
so that the entire width of the image is viewable. This introduces black
bars at the top and bottom of the image.
Normal - pan & scan: The image is scaled both horizontally and vertically
so that the entire height of the image is viewable. This causes parts of
the image on the left and right to be clipped. The same percentage of the
image is clipped on the left side as on the right side.
Wide: The image is scaled both horizontally and vertically so that the
entire width and height of the image are viewable. The aspect ratio of the
image is changed in this mode.
If the source material is 4:3, no scaling occurs, regardless of the mode
selected. This applies to both letterboxed source video and normal 4:3 TV
video. As an aside, I can't think of any reason why any DVD would be
produced in a letterbox version.
What you will actually see depends on the type of TV connected to your
player. A 4:3 TV will show the image in a 4:3 aspect ratio. A 16:9 TV can
stretch the horizontal to the entire width of the screen, or it can
display the 4:3 image centered on the screen with black bars to the sides.
This function is selectable on the wide screen TV.
A 4:3 TV will show the letterbox and pan & scan images as described above.
If the output mode is wide, however, you will see horizontally squeezed
video - tall thin people, for example. A 4:3 video will look normal.
A 16:9 TV that stretches the horizontal across the entire screen will show
a normal-looking 16:9 image in wide mode. In pan & scan, the image will be
clipped on the sides and stretched horizontally (fat people). The
letterbox mode will be shrunk vertically, with bars on the top and bottom.
People will look short and fat. A 4:3 video will also show horizontal
stretching.
A 16:9 TV that centers the 4:3 image will show a centered, horizontally
squeezed image in wide mode. Letterbox mode will produce a small,
proportional image bordered on all sides by black. Pan and scan will
produce a proportional image in the center of the screen, with the sides
clipped. A 4:3 video will look normal, bordered on the sides by black.
Essentially, a 16:9 TV that centers a 4:3 image will look like it does on
a 4:3 TV, except that you will have black borders on both sides.
To get back to your original question, if you are authoring a DVD from
16:9 source material, you probably don't want to convert it to 4:3. Doing
so will cause you to lose parts of the image on the sides or lose
resolution by adding black bars on the top and bottom of the image. Let
the DVD player do that if necessary. You may not always want to show the
video on a 4:3 TV, so it's a good idea to retain the entire image.
If you are going to keep the video on DV, then perhaps the DV camera or
player has the same options as a DVD player. Make the choice of
letterboxing or horizontal clipping at the time you play the tape, rather
than losing parts of your image in a conversion. Again, you may wish to
play the tape on a wide screen TV in the future.
If you absolutely MUST convert to 4:3, "Ivan IV" has suggested the use of
AviSynth to reformat your video. I presume that this software would act
much like your DVD player in letterbox or pan & scan mode, adding top and
bottom bars or clipping equal parts of the picture from the left and right
sides.
When commercial movies are "panned and scanned", much more work is
required. Rather than clipping a fixed percentage of the film on the left
and right, an editor selects which portion of the wide screen video is
most meaningful to the viewer. That portion of the video is retained and
the rest is thrown away. This has to be done scene by scene and moment by
moment.
You can see this most clearly in scenes with conversations between two
people. In a wide screen video, both people may be visible on the screen
at the same time. In a pan & scan edit, the editor usually selects the
person that is speaking and selects that part of the image. When the other
person starts speaking, there is usually a cut to the other person -- in
this case, a change in which part of the wide screen image is selected.
I'm sure there is software out there that will do this. In the Linux
environment, Cinelerra is one program that comes to mind. However, before
you go down this route, make sure that you are prepared for the quantity
of work involved, and that the results you obtain will be worth the
effort. Otherwise, stick to the original aspect ratio of the material you
have.
Good luck.
--
Rob R
mail me at Enigma dash I at charter dot net |
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stevegreen
Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2
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| Posted:
Thu May 18, 2006 3:22 pm Post subject:
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Hello,
I made a free and simple plug-in for Windows Movie Maker 2 that does the letterboxing on 16:9 video - details and instructions for downloading at:
http://www.arcacy.com/letterboxer
Hope this helps!
Thanks,
Steve |
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