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widescreen problems

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I have some footage of my vacation in New York and Florida in April. When we got home, my Dad copied it onto his PC using Adobe Premiere 6.5.

He saved it as a DV AVI. It plays in perfect widescreen on our PC, but, when we copied it over to my new iMac, it becomes 4:3 non-widescreen for no apparent reason.

I know that the video IS widescreen, as we can watch it perfectly on any Windows computer, but as soon as it gets at my Mac, BOOM! its non widescreen. I've played it on VLC and iMovie and they both do it.

I've even tried playing it off my PC without physically copying it, but that doesn't work either.

The only solution I know of would be to recapture all of my video on my iMac. Although that is a totally viable option, I have literally hours of footage and I need to at least try alternative solutions.

Can anyone help me?

The video was also turned into interlaced footage by Premiere, so I guess recapturing it in iMovie would turn out alot better in the long run.

By the way, the footage is changed into 4:3 by squashing it - not cropping or letterboxing.

P.S. We've only copied over a bit of film so far, so having to recopy that isn't a big deal. I DO NOT want to stretch out the non-widescreen video, I want it like it should be - true widescreen.
 
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please? should i just recapture it then?
 
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If you don't already have it, download and install flip4mac which may recognize the file as wide screen.

Another solution might be to use one of the several conversion programs out there such as ffmpegX to convert the content to a DV file or a QuickTime file. Try a very short clip to figure our the right settings.

If iMovie can read the file, create a 16:9 project and drag the file into it.

In VLC under the Video menu item is a selection for aspect ratio where there are several to choose from. This should at least allow you to play it back properly.

If you know of any software available that can verify the AVI file is setup correctly, I'd run it. I don't have personal experience with this, but it sounds like perhaps the file is missing a hint regarding its layout and the software on the Mac is expecting that, or simply doesn't understand it. I for one will be interested to know what the technical problem is.
 
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If you don't already have it, download and install flip4mac which may recognize the file as wide screen.

Another solution might be to use one of the several conversion programs out there such as ffmpegX to convert the content to a DV file or a QuickTime file. Try a very short clip to figure our the right settings.

If iMovie can read the file, create a 16:9 project and drag the file into it.

In VLC under the Video menu item is a selection for aspect ratio where there are several to choose from. This should at least allow you to play it back properly.

If you know of any software available that can verify the AVI file is setup correctly, I'd run it. I don't have personal experience with this, but it sounds like perhaps the file is missing a hint regarding its layout and the software on the Mac is expecting that, or simply doesn't understand it. I for one will be interested to know what the technical problem is.

aha!

the video actually IS widescreen. its being stretched out to 4:3, cause i guess AVI isnt the best format to use on a Mac. I'll have to convert it.
 
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I did understand that the video IS widescreen. Try the VLC trick for viewing. If you're trying to futher edit it, then yes, you likely have to convert it.

I am curious what the problem is because I would expect that anything that can play it, should recognize the layout.
 
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is there any iMovie alternative to the VLC trick?
 
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I already made a suggestion above for iMovie. I don't know if it will work but if you haven't even tried it you shouldn't be asking more questions. What have you done so far beyond your first post?

When people post answers here they expect you to report your success or failure. If failure, then you should described what occurred and perhaps add to the question. If you tried something not discussed, then consider adding that information too. You as the requester are better off giving too much detail rather than too little detail. That includes your follow up responses.

Some information that might help is the verson of iMovie you are using, the Mac model, and the OS X version. Perhaps you are not using iMovie HD. I don't know and assumed you are.

Personally I don't have any other suggestions from what I first posted. Perhaps someone else will have a better idea.
 
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well i converted it to MOV but it didnt really do anything, its just a different format now.

Yeah, I'm using all the latest stuff, I got this machine in April. Mac OS X 10.4.9, iMac 5,1, spiffy new iMovie HD 6.

If I can't find a solution soon I'll just recapture the video. My vids aren't timestamped now, so they're all 'one scene', so I guess recapturing is probably the best option.
 
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What tool did you use to convert the video? What format did the video camera record in? Was it 1080i, 720p, or plain DV with a widescreen option?

Have you tried my suggestion of creating a new iMovie project as a DV Widescreen format and dragging in the video? I also notice there are HDV 1080i and HDV 720p formats so depending on the source, perhaps one of those will work.

If the camera is not one of these new hi-def cameras, then I believe you'll find that DV cameras that claim to record widescreen are technically squishing the picture within their 4:3 format and expect the user to setup their video application to recognize that fact. That selection is DV Widescreen on iMovie I think.

Recapturing will also likely split the video between the start & stop points of your tape. I've found that a handy feature for managing all those little scenes I've taken.

Recapturing into iMovie may also force you to figure out the problem you are having. If you do, please post the answer here so others can learn the solution.
 
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smurfy
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What tool did you use to convert the video? What format did the video camera record in? Was it 1080i, 720p, or plain DV with a widescreen option?

Have you tried my suggestion of creating a new iMovie project as a DV Widescreen format and dragging in the video? I also notice there are HDV 1080i and HDV 720p formats so depending on the source, perhaps one of those will work.

If the camera is not one of these new hi-def cameras, then I believe you'll find that DV cameras that claim to record widescreen are technically squishing the picture within their 4:3 format and expect the user to setup their video application to recognize that fact. That selection is DV Widescreen on iMovie I think.

Recapturing will also likely split the video between the start & stop points of your tape. I've found that a handy feature for managing all those little scenes I've taken.

Recapturing into iMovie may also force you to figure out the problem you are having. If you do, please post the answer here so others can learn the solution.

its a true widescreen camcorder at standard def. Yeah, ive used a widescreen iMovie project the whole time, and nothing.

I think im gonna go ahead and just recapture, seeing as it is the easiest solution.
 

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