Hey Glotzo -

Is your project 4:3 or 16:9? Your camera is set to record in 16:9 by default.

Go to Director's Chair > Edit > Aspect Ratio & make sure you've selected 16:9.

I won't get into definitions of "rectangular" and "quadratic" 'cos I know what you mean.

Another thing, when one of your clips are in the media library (not the timeline) does it look like 4:3 or 16:9?

Cheers - Tony
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Thanks Tony for your quick answer ... here some details:

1.: I have set Aspect Ratio in the Edit-Menu to 16:9; this does not change anything with the problem of recognizing the AR of the clip.

2. When importing a Video (MOV001.MOD - please note that the file comes as quite exotic and rare .mod-File-Type that I so far only found CL-PD to support it), that was recorded with SDR-H20 with camera set to 16:9 for recording, even just the thumbnail is imported and recognized as 4:3.

3. When asking for Properties of the thumbnail, I am told that it is in 4:3 Aspect Ratio.

4. The preview shows a filled 4:3 picture that is visibly stretched in height, but does neither show black edges on top nor on the sides.

5. When dragging the Thumbnail down into the workspace, I am warned that the Project Setting is set to 16:9 and that I am dragging a video of the Aspect Ratio of 4:3 into the 16:9-Workspace. I am suggested to set the AR-Setting to 4:3 - what I won't do.

6. Having said NO, the preview-window changes to 16:9-AR and shows the video (still stretched in height) with black edges on the sides.

7. I then use the right mouse button to set the aspect ratio manually; selecting to detect AR automatically, I am told that it is 4:3 - I have to manually set it to 16:9 - in different ways:
- Clip Aspect Ratio Settings are set to "detect automatically" by default.
- when clicking on "detect and suggest", AR is set to 4:3 using letterbox (with black edges and streched in height what is obviously wrong)

8. So I have to set it manually to either "AR is 16:9 (syncronized with Project-AR)" - or leave the AR set to 4:3 and stretch it to 16:9.
- Using CLPV for stretching or Crop does not give a correct AR.

I just found another strange behaviour: after installing the program and not touching the "Aspect Ratio" setting in the Edit-Menu under the Directors Chair, the workspace is set to 16:9 - even when that Menu-Point shows 4:3 to be selected. I did not change the AR in the Directors Chair Menu and always had the warning that the project's AR is in 16:9 and the clip in 4:3 - but as you told me, I changed it to 16:9; it showed to be set to 4:3 in the menu, but the workspace was in 16:9.

Another thing: I don't want to select "Apply to all video clips" in the "Clip Aspect Ratio Settings" as I have other sources that are in 4:3; I don't want to have a similar "vice-versa"-problem with 4:3-clips when (of course) editing in 4:3-workspace.

Thank you for further suggestions.

This won't help but it was flagged up before :-
http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/3945.page

Don't know if there was ever a full solution but from memory it's a known 'complication' with Panasonic clips???

Cheers
Adrian Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. (see below)
Confucius
AMD Phenom IIX6 1055T, win10, 5 internal drives, 7 usb drives, struggling power supply.

Maybe check out these :-

http://www.camcorderinfo.co.uk//bbs/showthread.php?t=132937

http://wapedia.mobi/en/MOD_and_TOD_(video_format)

http://zyvid.com/smf/index.php?PHPSESSID=018c9dad209ce2b52b8a6537b43e5654&topic=219.0

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-7594_102-0.html?threadID=334692


I've no experience so.......

Cheers
Adrian Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. (see below)
Confucius
AMD Phenom IIX6 1055T, win10, 5 internal drives, 7 usb drives, struggling power supply.

OK, thanks a lot for the link to the same problem with previous versions of PD ...

As written before,

Quote: Another thing: I don't want to select "Apply to all video clips" in the "Clip Aspect Ratio Settings" as I have other sources that are in 4:3; I don't want to have a similar "vice-versa"-problem with 4:3-clips when (of course) editing in 4:3-workspace.

I would suggest to the editors of PC at CL to add to the option "apply to all video clips" the words "currently in the workspace" (or a similar explanation of that sense); then it is clear that selecting that option only applies to the clips currently in the workspace and is not set as a future default preference. It might also be done with a small help text popping up when moving the mouse over it in the style of a balloon-help.

And I also suggest to mention that problem as a known issue in the revision level list on the download-page. As there is a practicable workaround, it is better to be aware of that problem than to spent too much time with a strange looking behaviour. Or did I miss that?

Thank you so far.

... edit ...
@vn800rider: sorry, I began writing even before your second reply and saw it just after submitting ... your first link is containing a practicable solution; but I'll have a look at the other links later on.

Hi Glotzo

I have struggled with exactly the same aspect ratio problem with my Panasonic SD camcorder, but luckily there is a solution.

Go to http://zyvid.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=280.0;id=221

and install the sdcopy program (no installation as such, just unzip and copy the folder to your hard drive. Open the program, select source and destination folders, rename MOD to MPG, check the "set wide screen Flag (16:9)" and Start.

The renamed files can now be opened in 16:9 format. J. O.

Good on you Jorgen -

That seems to be a fairly common practice - using sdcopy. Glotzo may have found it when he checked out Adrian's links above.

It also appears that PD is not alone here... http://www.moviecodec.com/file-types/how-to-convert-mod-file-into-anything-acceptable-by-adobe-premier-9735/38

Cheers - Tony
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@Jorgen (and all others): thanks for the link - it just took some time to find the most recent version of the tool ... I hope that one seems to be the latest one (look at the date of the post) as your link directs to an outdated version: http://zyvid.com/smf/index.php?topic=280.new#new

I'll write to Sektionschef to make a fixed public site with the version history and always the latest version as this is quite stupid to first search for the latest version (that was not 1.9994beta, but 19998beta ...)

@Tony: I really wonder and cannot understand why CyberLink does not seem to be willing of implementing a correct recognition of the 16:9-flag of .MOD-clips in PowerDirector! Adobe Premiere has another "problem": it just ignores .MOD-clips as to be in an "unknown and unopenable format" - that's even worse!

Sorry for the outdated link - yes, I also use the 1.9998 beta version.

The problem with the Panasonic output data is the separate *.MOI files, which contain the aspect marker. The Video Cam Suite 2.0 program that came with the camera is not very useable, but at least it can also read the MOI files, so it should not be too hard to do in PD8. J. O.

Hey Jorgen, I tried to contact "Sektionschef" by registering at the zyvid-forum; but it seems to be dead as registration is possible, but no account-confirmation-mail is sent out, and without that, writing is not possible. So I then searched further and asked Sektionschef in the http://digitalvideoschnitt.de-forum where usually the latest version can be found ... here is the thread: http://digitalvideoschnitt.de/forum/sonstige-software/53744-download-sd-copy.html

Thanks for the link Glotzo!

I had previously found the 1.9998 beta version on another site - by intensive googleing, and don't ask me how - but it looks like this thread is the one to check for new updates from Sektionschef, and I have added it to my addressbook. J. O.