Cropping aspect ratios in Pinnacle Studio 8 at DVinfo.net

Charles Lyndon · July 10th, 2004, 07:37 AM

Good day!

I'm new here, and this is my first post. I've been reading the site for about a week now. There is tons of useful info on here that has helped me already, and for that, I'd like to thank every member of this board! :)

My first question has possibly been answered many times before, but please, bear with me.

I currently have a home editing set up with Pinnacle Studio 8. I've been wondering if there's a way to take footage shot in 4:3 and to crop it to 16:9, 1.85:1 or 2.35:1. I keep reading about not using aspect masks in camera and to crop in post. If anyone could tell me if Pinnacle has this ability and how to do it, I would be in your debt.

Thanks for your time. Cheers.

Rob Lohman · July 11th, 2004, 07:04 AM

Whether you can "crop" it depends on your output format. For
example if you want to go to DVD you cannot crop the footage
since it requires the full resolution. You *can* add black bars
(letterboxing) to any of the 3 formats you mentioned.

For guides and masks see my letterbox page

Now if you output to the Web for example you can definitely
crop to a lower resolution (ie widescreen, as we've done with
our Lady X project [see link in signature]). You can use my
calculator that I linked to above to calculate how many pixels
you would need to crap (ie, the amount of vertical resolution
that should remain).

George Ellis · July 11th, 2004, 12:29 PM

Studio 8 really only supports 4:3 input and output. Studio 9 adds 16:9 support. I do not know of any support for 2.35:1 from Studio and it is not in the current versions of Liquid Edition. Otherwise, it is very problematic to try changing formats in Studio.

You might find something at Mike Shaw's page http://www.mikeshaw.co.uk/

Charles Lyndon · July 13th, 2004, 08:16 PM

So if I film something on a Canon GL2 in 16:9 mode, put it into Pinnacle 8, edit and then burn to DVD, the image on the DVD will still be squished?

Thanks for the responses! :)

Rob Lohman · July 14th, 2004, 03:16 AM

DVD is a unique format. What they did when they created the
spec is put the power at the player instead of the creation stage
(like video).

What this means is the following. You can encode video for DVD
both in 4:3 and 16:9 (even mix it on a DVD, but not in the same
movie). The player then decides on playback to do:

1) send the anamorphic 16:9 footage to the TV

*OR*

2) unsquash the footage and add letterboxes before sending it to the TV

How does it know when to do which? This is done in the setup
of your DVD player. You can tell each DVD player whether you
have an anamorphic 16:9 capable display device at the other
end. If you indicate this it will send the signal, otherwise it will
letterbox it.

4:3 encoded video is always send as is.

Now when you encode to MPEG2 you should indicate to the MPEG2
encoder your footage is in anamorphic widescreen 16:9 format.
Then when you author your DVD with an authoring program you
will also need to tell it that this is the format you want.

If you do not do this the player will think it is 4:3 and it will look
very weird. Not all MPEG encoding and DVD authoring software
support this, however.

I hope this explains it.

George Ellis · July 14th, 2004, 05:09 AM

<<<-- Originally posted by Charles Lyndon : So if I film something on a Canon GL2 in 16:9 mode, put it into Pinnacle 8, edit and then burn to DVD, the image on the DVD will still be squished?

Thanks for the responses! :) -->>>

Yes, I believe this is true. I was able to fix a piece of 16:9 video in S8 once, but only trimming it shorter and saving the AVI. "I think" that worked without changing the format. But if I tried anything else, it was squished.

S9 has been a cheap upgrade at Best Buy and Fry's. hint, hint. :)

July 10th, 2004, 07:37 AM	#1
Charles Lyndon Tourist Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Waterloo, Canada Posts: 2	Cropping aspect ratios in Pinnacle Studio 8 Good day! I'm new here, and this is my first post. I've been reading the site for about a week now. There is tons of useful info on here that has helped me already, and for that, I'd like to thank every member of this board! :) My first question has possibly been answered many times before, but please, bear with me. I currently have a home editing set up with Pinnacle Studio 8. I've been wondering if there's a way to take footage shot in 4:3 and to crop it to 16:9, 1.85:1 or 2.35:1. I keep reading about not using aspect masks in camera and to crop in post. If anyone could tell me if Pinnacle has this ability and how to do it, I would be in your debt. Thanks for your time. Cheers. __________________ "The fact is, you don't know what directing is until the sun is setting and you've got to get five shots and you're only going to get two." - David Fincher

July 11th, 2004, 07:04 AM	#2
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	Whether you can "crop" it depends on your output format. For example if you want to go to DVD you cannot crop the footage since it requires the full resolution. You can add black bars (letterboxing) to any of the 3 formats you mentioned. For guides and masks see my letterbox page Now if you output to the Web for example you can definitely crop to a lower resolution (ie widescreen, as we've done with our Lady X project [see link in signature]). You can use my calculator that I linked to above to calculate how many pixels you would need to crap (ie, the amount of vertical resolution that should remain). __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

July 13th, 2004, 08:16 PM	#4
Charles Lyndon Tourist Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Waterloo, Canada Posts: 2	So if I film something on a Canon GL2 in 16:9 mode, put it into Pinnacle 8, edit and then burn to DVD, the image on the DVD will still be squished? Thanks for the responses! :) __________________ "The fact is, you don't know what directing is until the sun is setting and you've got to get five shots and you're only going to get two." - David Fincher

July 14th, 2004, 03:16 AM	#5
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	DVD is a unique format. What they did when they created the spec is put the power at the player instead of the creation stage (like video). What this means is the following. You can encode video for DVD both in 4:3 and 16:9 (even mix it on a DVD, but not in the same movie). The player then decides on playback to do: 1) send the anamorphic 16:9 footage to the TV OR 2) unsquash the footage and add letterboxes before sending it to the TV How does it know when to do which? This is done in the setup of your DVD player. You can tell each DVD player whether you have an anamorphic 16:9 capable display device at the other end. If you indicate this it will send the signal, otherwise it will letterbox it. 4:3 encoded video is always send as is. Now when you encode to MPEG2 you should indicate to the MPEG2 encoder your footage is in anamorphic widescreen 16:9 format. Then when you author your DVD with an authoring program you will also need to tell it that this is the format you want. If you do not do this the player will think it is 4:3 and it will look very weird. Not all MPEG encoding and DVD authoring software support this, however. I hope this explains it. __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

July 11th, 2004, 12:29 PM	#3
George Ellis Trustee Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Suwanee, GA Posts: 1,241	Studio 8 really only supports 4:3 input and output. Studio 9 adds 16:9 support. I do not know of any support for 2.35:1 from Studio and it is not in the current versions of Liquid Edition. Otherwise, it is very problematic to try changing formats in Studio. You might find something at Mike Shaw's page http://www.mikeshaw.co.uk/

July 14th, 2004, 05:09 AM	#6
George Ellis Trustee Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Suwanee, GA Posts: 1,241	<<<-- Originally posted by Charles Lyndon : So if I film something on a Canon GL2 in 16:9 mode, put it into Pinnacle 8, edit and then burn to DVD, the image on the DVD will still be squished? Thanks for the responses! :) -->>> Yes, I believe this is true. I was able to fix a piece of 16:9 video in S8 once, but only trimming it shorter and saving the AVI. "I think" that worked without changing the format. But if I tried anything else, it was squished. S9 has been a cheap upgrade at Best Buy and Fry's. hint, hint. :)