Aspect Ratio: XP vs Vista

[Guest]

Here is a nutty problem that is driving me up a wall. When I download video
clips some of them are not in the right aspect ratio. I am a recent Vista
converter and would usualy just pop them in MM for XP and it would
'automatically' correct the video into the 4:3 ratio. However with Vista MM I
cannot import the video and have it corrected. I have looked at the options
between both versions and the settings are the same NTCS and 4:3. I have used
the same video clip in my tests and the older XP verion works everytime. ...
any ideas other than calling a witch doctor and having my computer exorcised?

 

[PapaJohn]

Vista's Movie Maker has gotten smarter about aspect ratios, so you can now
mix standard and widescreen clips in the same project without having one of
them distorted. The price you pay for the improvement is a little learning
curve.

 

[Guest]

I am having exactly the same problem. Changing the aspect ratio of the same
footage on a XP machine works and "fixes" the image. Changing it in VISTA
makes no difference to how the image looks. What exactly do you mean PapaJohn
by VISTA having gotten smarter? If it doesn;'t change the aspect when I set
it, it seems like it has goitten dumber!

Cris, did you ever find a way around this? Did PapaJohn's website help. I've
read through most of it and there is no mention of how to resolve this issue.

Anyone. Please advise.

 

[PapaJohn]

I guess it depends on your perspective. When I put two clips into a movie
project in XP, one a standard aspect ratio clip and the other a widescreen
clip..... and I don't want it to distort one or the other, it'll distort one
of them.

I'll check my Vista's Movie Maker again when I get home in a couple hours.
If it doesn't distort either clip and they can co-exist in a project, I'll
add another Tip about it on my Vista Movie Maker website page.

If you're wanting the distortion, then it's an issue. As I don't want
distortion, it's good.

 

[Guest]

I think you are misunderstanding the issue. I am not using two clips with
differing aspect ratios. I have one bit of footage that I have shot in
"Cinema" mode on my digital video camera. This is a "fake" widescreen format
where the video is actually shot in 4:3 aspect ratio, but bars are added to
the top and bottom. When I import this footage to WMM 6 on my vista machine
it seems to force it into 16:9 ratio thereby squashing the image from top and
bottom. This is despite the fact that my aspect ratio is set to 4:3. When I
import the same footage to WMM 2.1 on my xp machine, it too seems to distort
it by setting it to 16:9, BUT I can change it back to 4:3 and it then plays
it correctly. Basically what seems to be happening is that changing the
aspect ratio on WMM 6 has no effect whatsoever on this bit of video footage.
The problem is that when I carry through and regardless of whenther I then
burn the DVD using Vista DVD maker or export the footage and bring into Sonic
myDVD it is already distorted on the Vista machine. I am forced to edit
footage on my xp machine, export it out, and then move it onto my vista
machine to burn in the correct aspect ratio. A real messy way of editing
video!

I am happy to email you a very small portion of the video in question to
perhaps demomnstrate the problem.

Help PapaJohn! I've been googling this one for days and cannot seem to find
a replicated mention of this issue.

 

[PapaJohn]

email a clip.... to papajohn..... at.... chartermi..... dot.....net

thanks

 

[Guest]

OK.... I emailed a 5 second segment to the below address.

Thank you for looking into this.... Now I hope you can replicate the
problem. Wouldn't it be a kicker if it played undistorted on your vista
machine?!

 

[PapaJohn]

not coming in yet.... I've been having problems getting emails from one
company in Israel, which my ISP is looking into... so there may be others

send one without an attachment and I'll return it with another email address
to use.

 

[Guest]

Hmm.... Ok I just sent you a blank email. My email is coming from Australia.
My address is

tdudek..... at..... iona.....dot.....wa....dot.....edu.....dot.....au

 

[PapaJohn]

Didn't get the other one either... just sent an email from my other address.
Respond to it with the sample.

I played with some of my own test files... from my perspective they get
distorted in XP to fill the shape of the selection in Tools > Options
(widescreen clips are re-shaped as standard, and standard as widescreen).
But in Vista they get 'letterboxed' to retain their shapes with black
borders.

My bias is showing through in my comments about it... as I'll switch my
camcorder setting between widescreen and standard... I prefer Movie Maker
not distorting what I took and displaying it letterboxed. I'll use other
software such as VirtualDub to change a clip's shape if needed.

I'll wait for your clip as it might be a different issue than my samples.

 

[Guest]

OK.. I have now sent you thie clip to your "other" address. Hope you get it

 

[PapaJohn]

Got it... studied it a bit, and sent you a collage of 10 frame snapshots of
what I see in your clip versus re-rendering 8 times, 4 in MM2.1 in XP to
standard and widescreen NTSC and PAL options, and another 4 times with the
same options in MM6 in Vista.

As your starting clip has two horizontal bands of 'letterboxing' I'm
wondering about that first.

 

[Guest]

Got your email... The bars you speak of were in fact aded by the camcorder.
This is as a result of using a "fake" cinema mode setting on the camera,
which results in the footage recording in 4:3 aspect ratio, but with the bars
added. Strictly speaking this is not "true" widescreen. Could the presence of
these bars be "fooling" WMM6 on the vista machine that this is widescreen
footage, but in fact it really is 4:3?

If it was that simple, then all I'd have to do is to "force" WMM to think
its 4:3 footage, however setting it to that still keeps the image distorted.
Why is it that WMM 2 on a xp machine seems to allow me to overide this, set
it to 4:3 and look normal?

 

[PapaJohn]

Movie Maker doesn't know black bars or borders from any other video content.
It knows that your video is standard 4:3 aspect ratio (counting the black
borders).

MM2.1 distorts the standard aspect ratio to widescreen when you select the
widescreen mode from the options.... Vista maintains it as standard aspect
ratio.

Once you understand what's happening, you'll need to adapt to the change
which is by design, and isn't a problem. Vista lets you mix widescreen clips
with standard ones without distorting either... that's what I consider
doing a smarter job than MM2.1.

 

[Guest]

That being the case why is my image then squashed on the Vista machine and
not on the xp one?

So what is the bottom line? How do I fix my footage? I cannot recapture it
as it has already been recorded over. How do I force and distort the image in
WMM6 as I seem to be able to do in WMM 2?

 

[PapaJohn]

your clip and the ones I made from it on my Vista system look right to me...

in the collage I sent, only the MM2 widescreen renderings look too wide and
flattened.... the other 6 look OK. Isn't that the case when you look at that
sheet of 10 pix?