What concerns me here is the video might not be recognised by PD6 - you MUST contact tech Support and give full details of your camera.

Check the display Aspect settings in PD6:
Edit/Aspect Ratio and have 16:9 ticked

Altering a video to 16:9 from 4:3 is easy in PD6 - click to view the video.

Visit SeeMyWorldOnVideo.com

Dafydd

Hi, Thanks for you prompt response.
Below is a reply I have just sent back to Cyberlink after they told me to set my project to 16:9. It has already been set to 16:9, but the imported files show up as 4:3. I have tried to change the aspect ratio by changing the clip in the time line, as you have suggested, but I get black borders, top and bottom, or all round, depending on which combination of settings I use. Please read the reply below, hope it makes sense. I think there must be a bug in the program. I have no such trouble in Sony Vegas, the clips all show up as 16:9, but I want to use PD6 for simple projects as I find the the program is much easier to use, and also has 5.1 sound features that my version of Vegas does not. Incidently, I also had the same problems with PD5, and bought the upgrade to ver 6 in the hope that it had been fixed.
Thanks again.

============================================
I am still having problems with aspect ratio.
I have opened a new project and selected 16:9 aspect ratio in Edit>aspect ratio, as you have suggested.
The 16:9 files that I have imported show up as 4:3 in the imported files box. When I drag some clips onto the time line they play with a black border around them. If I click on the Preview Produced Movie button in the viewer, the selected clip in the time line will play as a 16:9 without the black border, in the new preview window. When I close this window, the viewer plays the clip as 16:9 without the black border also. If I click on the Preview Produced Movie button in the viewer again, the clip plays again in the new preview window, but now has a black border again. Every time I open the preview window it changes from black border to no black border, and visa versa. At this stage the clip in the imported files box still shows as a 4:3 clip, but after I have corrected the viewer by opening up the preview window to remove the black border, if I save the project, close PD6, and then restart PD6, the clip that showed up as 4:3 now shows as 16:9 and behaves correctly.
There must be something faulty in the program causing this. Thanks for your comments.
===============================================

Hey Chopperman,

Is there any possible way you could edit a sample of the video down to about 2MB (the max file size for the form) in that Sony program and send to me in a Private Message.

That way I can see if it is something with the program, the file format, etc. I can then send it to customer support myself.

Let me know

thanks

Yes, I will send you a small sample of a video from my Sony video camera. I am assuming you want to check it in your PD program to see how it reacts, I will edit it to 2 mb using Sony Vegas, and send it to you in a couple of days.
Thanks, Tony.

Quote: Yes, I will send you a small sample of a video from my Sony video camera. I am assuming you want to check it in your PD program to see how it reacts, I will edit it to 2 mb using Sony Vegas, and send it to you in a couple of days.
Thanks, Tony.

It is "raw" footage that should be sent or assessed - never one that has been processed (especially not through a different program!). Capture in PD a blip or a couple of seconds and then make that available.

CLD - you'd better check with "L" but this forum has a file size limitation of 100kb on attachments to postings and the PM's can not be used to attach a file to. You'll need to give Chopperman either an ftp upload site or your email address.

Dafydd

Thanks Dafydd...

Chopperman, I have sent you a PM.

thanks

David

I continue to have problems with widescreen aspect.
a) set project to 16:9
b) place photos and video in timeline.
c) change aspect by using crop option.
d) my viewer seems to display widescreen movie.
e) burn disc
result... movie shows as 4:3 on widescreen plasma tv.
also try producing video to mpeg2, which plays on computer as 16:9.
Widescreen is the future, any ideas? Join/SignUp to SeeMyWorldOnVideo. We're PowerDirector Video Editors. Are you a member? - JOIN TODAY!

Hi Barry,

I've referred this.... very interesting problem to CL.

Dafydd

Hi, Chopperman,
What kind of Sony video camera do you use?
Is it a DV camcorder or DVD Cam?

I assume you're using DVDCam then I recommend you go to PD6's capture page. Choose DVDCam capture, instead of VOB import directly.

Barry,
What's the playback result on computer with the same disc?

The disc plays in my laptop as 16:9, i am beginning to think it's my dvd player or tv, but they both play retail/rental videos in widescreen. I am going to try the disc in another modern widescreen tv and see what happens. Join/SignUp to SeeMyWorldOnVideo. We're PowerDirector Video Editors. Are you a member? - JOIN TODAY!

Yep - exactly the point I've asked CL to look at.

Dafydd

Mea culpa, which is Latin for "I'm losing my mind"...sort of.
I stand corrected. Discs are playing in 16:9, in several tv's and computers!
Now I am thinking I was expecting a black border of some sort, then I could hit zoom. which is just nonsense. I need sleep now, bye bye. Join/SignUp to SeeMyWorldOnVideo. We're PowerDirector Video Editors. Are you a member? - JOIN TODAY!

Hi everyone

To answer your question DDYY, my video camera is a Sony DCR-DVD803E. It is a digital video camera recording directly onto mini DVDs.

The aspect ration problem I had was caused by two things.

1 - The viewer had top and bottom borders that would alternately appear and disappear each time I opened up the preview player. This was caused by codec problems in my computer. I have now corrected that by installing standard codec’s, instead of a universal codec list that I had to overcome some streaming video problems - there was no sound. Now that is OK as well.

2 - The problem of PDR6 not recognizing the 16:9 aspect ratio correctly, was because I was importing my video clips using a program that came with my camera called Sony Picture Package. The thing that really confused me was that PDR6 was importing the clips into the library as 16:9 sometimes, but most of the time it was importing then as 4:3, when the clips were recorded in the camera as 16:9, play on the TV from the camera as 16:9, and also import into the computer through the Picture Package program as 16:9.

After many hours of testing, and working with a very helpful cyberlink person, over a week, I found that the real cause was that the format of the DVDs from my video camera had changed. I had decided to change the formatting of the DVDs in my video camera from video to VR mode. VR format allows me to delete and/or edit old clips in the camera, video format only allows me to delete the last clip taken, and I can’t edit, so to me VR is preferred.
The clips that PDR6 recognized as 16:9, had been imported from my camera, through Picture Package, from the camera DVD formatted in video format. The clips that PDR6 incorrectly recognized as 4:3, had come off the camera disks that were formatted in VR format.

A work around for this is to import all the clips I want to use into the PDR6 library box. They are recognized as 4:3, so drag them all into the timeline and set the aspect ration of one of them to 16:9, but tick the box that says to apply to all video clips. They will now be recognized as 16:9 from now on, even if removed from the time line, and the library box. If they are kept in the library box, the thumbnails still show as 4:3, but when dragged into the time line, they will be 16:9. If PDR6 is closed and reopened, the thumbnails will now show as 16:9.

If I use the capture mode in PDR6, from the camera DVDs in my DVD drive in the computer, all the clips are now recognized as 16:9, no matter which format is used on the video camera DVD. The capture does not work with my camera connected using USB, so I have to put the DVDs in the DVD drive in the computer.

Hope this helps anyone having the same issue, as it is very frustrating not knowing what causes these things at times.

If I use the capture mode in PDR6, from the camera DVDs in my DVD drive in the computer, all the clips are now recognized as 16:9, no matter which format is used on the video camera DVD.

This meets my imagination. As far as I know, most people use to edit video of DVDCam by importing vob files as other regular file types. However, most DVDCam implementation 16:9 in cost-effective way. How?

DVDCam comprises mainly codec chip and system chip. The former handles MPEG2 spec (video and audio) and the later handles DVD spec (IFO, navigation, etc). The most interesting thing is DVD spec allows aspect ratio setting in navigation pack, IFO and MPEG2 video pack (in priority order). However, most codec chip only writes 4:3 and manufacturers let system chip do the setting overide in IFO. So, preventing codec chip replacement can save cost. That's why editing software usually treats such vob file as 4:3 because only MPEG2 video pack will be handled in this scenario.

Similar issues had been posted in this forum for PD3~PD5. Although PD provided workaround with aspect ratio setting dialog, CyberLink tried to provide more user-friendly (treat DVDCam as any other camcorder), and more robust (needless to set 16:9 manually) way.

> The capture does not work with my camera connected using
> USB, so I have to put the DVDs in the DVD drive in the computer.

Chopperman,
I have DCR-DVD805E in hand and it works ok w/ my PD6. I once had trouble connecting it to my PC. After browsing the menus in camcorder, I found there is an option "USB connect" in its setting options. Inside the option, you can find an icon implying to connect PC with DVD drive. After choosing it, a DVD drive will be added.
Maybe you can check it out.

Btw, I found DVDCam as a DVD drive in PC doesn't have good performance. Now, I'd rather put my recorded disc in my PC's DVD drive.