Dealing with aspect ratios

RossTaylor

Newbie Joined: Sep 13, 2017 10:54 Messages: 39 Offline

Solved by

Oct 04, 2019 08:03

Regardless of the buggy nature of PD18, I'm perservering but I am getting myself confused.... I wonder if anyone could help?

I'm copying old VHS tapes to DVD but the aspect ratio is confusing me. Here's what I've done:-

1) The original tapes are 4:3.
2) I've captured the tapes in 16:9 (a limitation of my USB recorder)
3) I've imported the clips into PD18 to a 16:9 project (as they'll be going to a DVD which will be played on a 16:9 TV)

The clips fill the screen but are stretched with no black borders either on the side or top or bottom.

How do I make them 4:3 with black borders either side?

I've tried the power tools -> crop/zoom/pan option but it doesn't seem to alter the size of the video, only the viewing frame. I know I can do it in the PIP designer but there's no definite size to work to and at the moment I'm kind of guessing what size to make the video.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Oct 04. 2019 08:04

StevenG

Contributor Joined: Jan 14, 2014 14:04 Messages: 513 Offline

Oct 04, 2019 09:55

What happens if you select the clip on the Timeline, select Tools/Power Tools and open Clip Attributes. Uncheck the option to Maintain Aspect Ratio and set the Horizontal size to 0.66 (give or take)?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Oct 04. 2019 09:57

RossTaylor

Newbie Joined: Sep 13, 2017 10:54 Messages: 39 Offline

Oct 04, 2019 10:14

Quote What happens if you select the clip on the Timeline, select Tools/Power Tools and open Clip Attributes. Uncheck the option to Maintain Aspect Ratio and set the Horizontal size to 0.66 (give or take)?

Sorry but I can't see the 'clip attributes' you've mentioned there. Under power tools, I have the usual video speed, crop/pan/zoom, video in reverse etc.

tomasc

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 25, 2011 12:33 Messages: 6464 Offline

Oct 04, 2019 10:26

StevenG means Highlight the clip. Right mouse click/Set Clip Attributes/Set Aspect ratio..

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Oct 04. 2019 10:31

RossTaylor

Newbie Joined: Sep 13, 2017 10:54 Messages: 39 Offline

Oct 04, 2019 10:39

I looked at that but there's no option to squash a video to 4:3 from 16:9. It all seems to go the other way...

But...

All is not lost though as I think I've figured it out.

I've selected the clip and then gone into the 'keyframe' option. From here I can untick the 'maintain aspect ratio' box and change the width. I've changed it to 0.800 and it looks about right.

Incidentally, what units are those figures in? I've never been able to figure that out.

Carl312

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

Oct 04, 2019 17:10

4:3 aspect ratio = 1.33
3:4 ratio = 0.75

16:9 ratio = 1.78
9:19 ratio = 0.5625

Other ratios, divide horizontal by Vertical. 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.

deklerkt

Newbie Joined: Jan 13, 2011 06:34 Messages: 47 Offline

Aug 23, 2020 09:04

I found that you can change the aspect ratio from anything to anything using "Designer Tools".
In my case I needed to change a 4:3 video that was pillar boxed to show a 5:4 movie into a new 4:3 movie stretching the 5:4 image back to 4:3.

This is how it worked (PD16 at least)

Repeat this for each clip, perform additional editing and produce the final result.

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at Aug 23. 2020 09:08