Produce 16:9 wmv files

Jefff

Newbie Joined: Jan 31, 2008 18:19 Messages: 30 Offline

Solved by

Sep 09, 2010 07:21

With PD7 I was able to get really nice results for posting to web sites using Zune High Quality. Now with PD8 I can't seem to get anything to output in 16:9 except HD Standard quality which is too big. Everything ends up 4:3. I've tried numerous settings, not sure what I'm doing wrong. My source video is shot in 16:9 hi def with a JVC cam.

as an example, this is a comparison of Zune High Quality wmv files produced with PD7 and PD8: (properties of file from Windows Media Player)

PD7:
Video size: 640x368
Aspect Ratio: 1:1 actual, 1.78:1 displayed
Codec: Windows Media Video 9

PD8:
Video size: 640x480
Aspect Ratio: 4:3 actual, 1.78:1 displayed
Codec: Windows Media Video 9 Professional

How can I produce moderate size wmv output and preserve my 16:9 aspect ratio?

Dafydd B

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 26, 2006 08:20 Messages: 11973 Offline

Sep 09, 2010 09:50

Have you tried making your own prx templates?

Guide info and even some timeplates:

http://seemyworldonvideo.com/view/218/creating-wmv-templates/

http://seemyworldonvideo.com/pages/extras-news-items.html

You'll need to join but there are some good progs as well to know about.

Dafydd

Jefff

Newbie Joined: Jan 31, 2008 18:19 Messages: 30 Offline

Sep 09, 2010 10:21

Thanks for the info, but the question begs, why was I able to do this with no customization on 7? Isn't 16:9 pretty much the preferred format these days? Why does V8 require mods just to do this?

Or am I using the wrong format? Is using wmv a mistake?

Just looking for the easiest way to get around this. Thanks

Carl312

Senior Contributor Location: Texas, USA Joined: Mar 16, 2010 20:11 Messages: 9090 Offline

Sep 09, 2010 18:27

Jefff, do you have your project ratio set to 16:9?

Found at Director's chair > Edit > Aspect Ratio: Choose 16:9 or 4:3

You must have the project set to 16:9 to get wide screen output. Just changing aspect ratio on the timeline won't work for final output.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Sep 09. 2010 18:28

Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

Jefff

Newbie Joined: Jan 31, 2008 18:19 Messages: 30 Offline

Sep 09, 2010 18:41

Thanks Carl, yes I do. Which is why its even more puzzling why I'm being forced into 4:3 output on almost all production choices for wmv. It just doesn't make sense and makes be think I'm doing something basically wrong.

Jefff

Newbie Joined: Jan 31, 2008 18:19 Messages: 30 Offline

Sep 09, 2010 21:04

I CANNOT BELIEVE I HAVE TO JUMP THROUGH THESE KIND OF HOOPS JUST TO OUTPUT IN 16:9 FORMAT!!!

I've looked at the videos on how to create my own prx templates, but I can't figure out how to get media player to open prx files. This is insanity. PD7 could output in 16x9 format OOTB. PD8 Cannot except for HD quality. Am I missing something here??????? It gotta be something I'm doing wrong.

Jefff

Newbie Joined: Jan 31, 2008 18:19 Messages: 30 Offline

Sep 09, 2010 21:44

OK, like I said I"m most likely doing something wrong here, just don't know what it is. I downloaded MS Expression Encoder, and when I import the wmv files that are playing as 4:3 in media player, they say 16:9 in Expression Encoder. Obviously I'm missing something. Not really sure what yet/.

James1

Senior Contributor Location: Surrey, B.C., Canada Joined: Jun 10, 2010 16:20 Messages: 1783 Offline

Sep 09, 2010 23:34

Hi,
when you select the WMV format are you selecting the correct profile from the drop down, there is one for DVD 1280X1080 widescreen the rest are for smaller screns?
JimM Intel i7-2600@3.4Gz Geforce 560ti-1GB Graphic accelerator, windows 7 Premium 12GB memory

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Jefff

Newbie Joined: Jan 31, 2008 18:19 Messages: 30 Offline

Sep 09, 2010 23:47

I'm actually trying to output for less than DVD quality since I'm posting to the web. WIth PD7 I used to use Zune High Quality which gave me what I was looking for at 16:9. Problem here is any format I choose other than DVD quality forces my output into 4:3 format even though the source is 16:9 and my settings are at 16:9. Currently to get around this I'm running the output video through Expression Encoder to switch to 16:9. But there's (seemingly) gotta be a way to do this directly from within PD8. Thats the issue I'm having.

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Online

Sep 10, 2010 04:18

Jeff -

I don't know much about Zune, except that only Zune HD models have a 16:9 screen. I suppose that's why PD's Zune profiles might be 4:3.

Attached are some WMV profiles that might suit your needs. These were made according to the instructions in the tutorials, which are pretty easy to follow. They're all 16:9.

Whoops

Forgot to let you know where to put them once they're extracted. Drop the .prx files - not the folder - into C:\Program Files (x86)\CyberLink\PowerDirector\Language\Enu\Profiles

Cheers - Tony

Filename	WMV_Low.zip	Download
Description
Filesize	12 Kbytes
Downloaded:	746 time(s)

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Sep 10. 2010 04:20

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Jefff

Newbie Joined: Jan 31, 2008 18:19 Messages: 30 Offline

Sep 10, 2010 07:19

Tony - thank you thank you thank you. I will try them as soon as I get home. Thats very nice of you.

1 additional question: How do you open those prx files? Supposedly WMP can open them but I couldn't figure out how. I see they're really just XML files and I tried manually editing the XML but that seemed to have no effect within PD8. I'm assuming some of the hex codes must be updated in addition to the "640x480" strings etc.

Again, thanks for all your help.

Jeff

Carl312

Senior Contributor Location: Texas, USA Joined: Mar 16, 2010 20:11 Messages: 9090 Offline

Sep 10, 2010 13:25

Jefff,
.prx are file profiles. You do not open them in Media Player. They are the profile files that Powerdirector uses to know what to output in the produce module.

Put the .prx files in the folder that Tony said;
C:\Program Files (x86)\CyberLink\PowerDirector\Language\Enu\Profiles

You don't have to do anything other than copy the .prx file to the above folder. Powerdirector will have them in the drop down for the WMV files.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Sep 10. 2010 13:26

Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Online

Sep 10, 2010 13:27

No problem Jefff -

Those .prx files (for PD) are just profile details/descriptors. Other programs do use files with a .prx extension, but they're unrelated (to my knowledge). PD's .prx files are not playable at all!

To open & edit .prx files, I use Windows Media Encoder http://www.videohelp.com/tools/Windows_Media_Encoder - it's not supported by Microsoft any more (superseded by Expression Encoder). They can also be opened & edited with Notepad, but that's not so friendly to use!

Dafydd's tutorial explains the process very well & so does this one from Cap'n Kevin http://www.youtube.com/user/PDtoots?feature=mhum#p/u/17/vw2RlzIt9EM - you should make some copies & try it yourself.

Cheers - Tony

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Jefff

Newbie Joined: Jan 31, 2008 18:19 Messages: 30 Offline

Sep 10, 2010 18:22

That did it! Thanks so much! I actually bumped up one of the 640x320 to 1.7Mbps which pretty much gets me where I wanted to be. The samples were very helpful.

AllanSmithee

Member Joined: Mar 13, 2015 19:16 Messages: 54 Offline

Jun 15, 2016 17:44

I agree wholeheartedly that PowerDirector should come with more native 16:9 formats. I am running PD13 and I still don't see 16:9 output with most of the formats unless I want HD or full HD (which I don't).

Could someone please make .PRX files of the top 8 or so resolutions here?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16:9#Common_resolutions
The link above to the tutorial is no longer working.

Also how do we get 16:9 output on H.264 or H.265? Again I am looking for lower resolution (i.e. less than 720p).

Thanks!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jun 15. 2016 17:46

AllanSmithee

Member Joined: Mar 13, 2015 19:16 Messages: 54 Offline

Jun 15, 2016 17:57

I would also like a 24p version of 1280x720 if possible. Thanks!

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Online

Jun 15, 2016 20:18

Hi AllanSmithee -

There's a zip file attached containing the WMV profiles you linked on Wiki, with slight modifications because even numbers are preferred over odd. I just guessed at the video/audio bitrates.

Also included is a 1280x720/24p profile, but there's already one in PDR's WMV profiles.

After unzipping, add the profiles (not the containing folder) to C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDirectorxx\Language\Enu\Profiles - xx is the version your're using.

I'm not sure which of the links above wasn't working for you, but this shows exactly what I did to generate those profiles - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIFemK-akHY

Cheers - Tony

Filename	WikiProfiles+WMV.zip	Download
Description
Filesize	22 Kbytes
Downloaded:	363 time(s)

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AllanSmithee

Member Joined: Mar 13, 2015 19:16 Messages: 54 Offline

Jun 15, 2016 20:24

Awesome thanks Tony.

To be honest I'm not even sure what video bitrate means. Maybe you could enlighten me?

There were some links to tutorials that evidently explained how to make the .PRX files although they are not working for me:

Quote: http://seemyworldonvideo.com/view/218/creating-wmv-templates/

http://seemyworldonvideo.com/pages/extras-news-items.html

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Online

Jun 18, 2016 18:14

I'm not even sure what video bitrate means

► Higher video bitrate = Higher video quality & file size

► Lower video bitrate = Lower video quality & file size

Best to let the experts explain...

Cheers - Tony

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jun 18. 2016 18:14

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AllanSmithee

Member Joined: Mar 13, 2015 19:16 Messages: 54 Offline

Jun 21, 2016 16:34

Hey ynotfish, I just watched your video link. What program did you use to open the profiles?

I've been using Notepad which works but I don't know what a lot of the values are stored as.

Also can we modify MP4 profiles the same way?

Thanks

EDIT: I'd like to make more 16:9 MP4 profiles such as 540p output, which is currently not available even if I try to create a custom profile.

Possibly similar to this method:
http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/17939.page
but when I tried that and changed the resolution (i.e. to 540x960), PD crashed

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at Jun 21. 2016 17:00