Rendering 16:9 aspect ratio footage

[Danny Hays]

When watching the finished videoon a 3 by 4 tv, you need the letter box, black bars, in order for the visable video to be 16 by 9. open the finished video in media player and what do you see? Danny

[Pete Fischer]

Thanks much for your quick response, Danny!

I realize that one does need the bars when wanting to watch a higher-aspect ratio footage on a 4:3 TV. Yet my TV is 16:9 …

When I open the rendered MPEG file in either Windows Media Player or VLC Media Player, I get … a 4:3 picture with thick black bars at the top and bottom.

I found one way to avoid this: When rendering the edited video using Make Movie, I can select another template, namely “DVD Architect NTSC Widescreen video stream”. In that case, I get a 16:9 video … but without any audio. But that’s unacceptable to me. So how can I get that 16:9 picture AND audio at the same time?

Any further advice?

Thanks much,

Pete

[Danny Hays]

I just made a 16 x 9 mpeg 2. I set my project properties to NTSC DV Wide screen. Then selected the render preset Main Concept mpeg 2, Custom, video tab, select aspect ratio = 16 x 9. My video is 16 x 9 without black bars. Let me know if this works for you. Danny

[Pete Fischer]

Thanks much, once more, Danny!

Well, I had accomplished – though via a slightly different path (Match Media Settings button) – the NTSC DV Widescreen setting in Project Properties.

But I had never before been to “Render As” on the File pull-down menu. So I went there and selected “Main Concept MPEG-2” type but … the Custom button is ‘under-highlighted’, i.e. nothing happens when I click on it.

I got Version 7.0a (Build 52) of Vegas.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Pete

[Danny Hays]

I’ve never seen the custom button unavailable. Maybe it’s because you selected match media settings, it’s now not letting you customize the settings. Try it without the match media settings. Just put a clip in the time line and see if you can select custom. Danny

[Pete Fischer]

Thanks for sticking with me, Danny!

Well, I did a couple of tests without using the Match Media Settings button but selecting the Pixel Aspect Ratio directly on the File + Properties + Video tab menu.

When, then, trying to render the footage, the Options button on the File + Render As menu remained unavailable.

Could this be due to the Version of Vegas I got? Again, it’s 7.0a (Build 52).

Thanks, again,

Pete

[Mike Kujbida]

Pete, I stand to be corrected but I don’t think that Movie Studio (what I’m assuming you have since you mentioned “make movie”) has a “Custom” option 🙁

[Danny Hays]

No I don’t believe, as long as it’s Sony Vegas, I’ve been using Vegas since it was just ausio, Vegas 1 and 2. I use the custom button all the time and have never had it not work. I have 7A at work and it works fine there. Maybe you should try un-installing and re-installing it again. back up your .veg files amd media if their in your Sony Directory. Danny

[Mike Kujbida]

Danny, in Pete’s second post here, he said “When rendering the edited video using Make Movie…”.
AFAIK, “Make Movie” means that it’s Movie Studio and not the full version of Vegas which is why I brought the issue up.

[Danny Hays]

Yes I saw that and your previous post, it’s just he’s specificly says Vegas 7A with the build # so I wasn’t sure. Danny