Hello friends,

I am working on a project that's in DV25, and have some footage that was shot in HDV. Upon importing, the project is automatically cutting off the sides of the screen and converting the footage to a 4:3 aspect ratio.

Is there a way to import the footage in a 16:9 ratio (letterbox) while still keeping my project in DV25? I'm working on a Media Composer machine with a mojo and a Sony HVR-1500 deck.

Thank you,

Dylan

Check the settings on the deck. It is very likely that it can be set to output HD content as either 16x9, LTBX, or center cut, and it appears it is curently set to center cut.

This is an odd one.

I've captured HDV in DV projects many times and never had a problem.  So I doubt it's a Media Composer issue.  Just a couple of things you may want to check.

• Was your footage shot with the HDV setting switched-on on the camera. Rather than DVCam or DV 4:3

• Is your deck correctly set to down convert from HD to SD?

• Are you sure your pictures aren't just FHA (full height anamorphic) and you just haven't noticed?

 I'm looking around at the deck settings to see if that's the case. I can't seem to find the place in the deck settings that does this.

Thanks again for your fast response.

In response to jakeheat...

Yes,k the original footage is in HD 1080i. I think it may be a deck issue, and am trying to find the correct setting for that. For sure the footage is in widescreen. The blue HD even lights up on the deck.

Thank you for your help.

 Well, I am able to "sqeeze" the video with the deck, and see that it was taken in HD, but still haven't found a way to change it to letterbox. Strange. One would think it would import right into the AVID the correct way.

I think it is a setting in the deck, but I still can't find that setting.

Here we go.. Let me explain the 16:9 DV flag.

If you capture SD DV media (shot with proper anamorphic 16:9), then you will have the 16:9 DV flag set on the captured DV media.

If you capture SD DV media (shot with an old 4:3), then you won't have a 16:9 flag on the DV media.

If your viewers are set to 16:9 (in MediaComposer), then all SD DV Media you render will also have the 16:9 flag.

If your viewers are set to 4:3 (in MediaComposer), then all SD DV Media you render won't have the 16:9 flag set.

If you output any of the media with the 16:9 flag set to a DV camera/deck that reads the 16:9 flag, then it will be fine.

If you output any of the media with with no 16:9 flag to a DV camera/deck that reads the 16:9 flag, then it will be in 4:3.

(..this is how I think it works.)

...so in theory, if you have captured HDV, HD or any non 4:3 media.
Create a new test project, get some of the 16:9 media (from MediaTool?), create a test sequence, add some effects.
Set the project to SD PAL or NTSC, Set all tabs in MediaCreation to DV 420 or 411, Set the viewers to 16:9. Render everything, then output to tape/deck.

I hope it works..

Check page 81 in the HVS 1500 ops manual it discusses interface select, Then down converter and then conv mode.  A little tinkering with the various options may provide a satisfactory result.

 So far I've figured this out for the fix.

I 'm capturing my HD media using the "squeeze" feature on the HVR-1500 deck. It captures the entire screen, only it's squeezed into the 4:3 aspect ratio and slightly distorted.

Then in my sequence timeline, I bring in the media and apply the 16:9 reformat effect, which seems to bring it back to a widescreen letterbox within my DV25 project.

The only thing about this method is that it may be losing resolution. If only I could just capture it in the letterbox in the first place...

You're losing a lot of quality going through the down convertor on the deck anyway but the squeeze setting is the highest possible use of available pixels. With the squeeze setting on you're capturing anamorphic 16:9 SD. To work with this you just need to switch your avid monitors to 16:9, there's no need to add a letterbox effect unless you're trying to create an output to a DVD recorder or QT. (*edit. unless of course the rest of your footage is 4:3 in which case I can see why you'd want to capture letterboxed, I take it the deck doesn't allow that, but still, the squeeze option is going to be better quality)

How will this be delivered? ie what format and aspect ratio

 It will be finalized to standard DVD.