wrong aspect ratio in timeline of premiere pro cs4

[Danny Winn]

When you initially set up your project are you sure you selected the widesceen (16/9) option under the sequence settings? If you accidently clicked Standard or 4.3 then that’s the problem.

[Jon Barrie]

Yep it sounds like the Standard DV project timeline was selected, if the program monitor is 4×3 or more square than wide you’ll need to make a new sequence with the widescreen setting. Go back to the oringal edit and select all clips that have been edited. Go into the new widescreen timeline and paste. All the edits will come in correct.
If the shape of the clips is not widescreen, select the clips in the project panel and right click. select from the list “interpret footage”. In here make sure the pixel aspect ratio is set to the correct widescreen setting. Then select OK. This will correct the edited clips that may have looked 4×3 and will now be 16×9.
I think that will cover all options to help you get back on track. 🙂
– JB

Jon Barrie
aJBprods
http://www.jonbarrie.net

[Chris Moore]

Hi John, Thanks for your quick response. The clips are definately showing as 16:9 under “interpret footage” so the problem is definately in the timeline. I will try copying and pasting into a new widescreen timeline. How do I create a new widescreen timeline though? I am sure once I have done this your solution will have solved the problem.
Chris