[Pete Fischer]

Thanks, Mike!

To be honest, I havent’ burnt a DVD yet with DVD Architect. So I’ll take your advice to heart.

As for the “snapping back”. Here’s my experience:

When I import a 16:9 video into Vegas Movie Studio, by default Vegas makes 4:3 footage (with black bars on top and bottom) out of it as indicated in the video preview window. I can change this – either before or after importing the video – by using File + Properties, Video tab and either the Match Media Settings button or choosing the 1.2121 Pixel Aspect Ratio and/or the “NTSC DV Widescreen (720×480, 29.970 fps)” Template as I now now. If I do that, I see 16:9 footage in the video preview window (without any bars).

I can then edit the footage to my heart’s content and everything looks fine (in the video preview window). And one would think that I have set the properties for this project once and for all. But not so:

When I, once content with the results of my editing, want to render the project – via Make Movie or File + Render As – at the very moment that the rendering starts, the footage in the preview window ‘snaps’ from 16:9 without bars to 4:3 with bars. And when I, once the rendering is done, view the result in either Windows Media Player or the VLC Media Player, I also see 4:3 footage with black bars on the top and bottom.

So that’s what I meant by ‘snapping’ (back) to 4:3.

Many thanks, again,

Pete

[Pete Fischer]

Mike,

Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions.

Yes, in “Render As”, I have a Template called “DVD Architect NTSC Widescreen video stream” … which gets me a ‘silent movie’ … but with the aspect ratio I want.

Yes, in “Render As”, under “Save as type”, I can choose “Dolby DigitalAC-3 Studio (*.ac3)”

Wow. So are you saying that – if I want to end up with 16:9 footage – I should, first, render a silent video stream and, then, render an AC3 audio stream and, later on, in DVD Architect somehow combine them?

If doable, that sure is better than not being able to maintain 16:9 aspect ratio – for sure! Yet, isn’t it odd that, if I go for 4:3 footage, the process is much more user-friendly? (Just thinking out loud… )

What do you think?

Regarding your last remark (“Lastly, you mentioned using the “Match Media Settings” option in your first post.In the full version, you can set this option (NTSC DV Widescreen (720×480, 29.970 fps) in the Properties” (File – Properties) template box.Once again, I’m not sure if Movie Studio gives you this option.”):

Yes, in my Movie Studio version I can choose the “(NTSC DV Widescreen (720×480, 29.970 fps)” template … in addition to setting the Pixel ratio to “1.2121 (NTSC DV Widescreen)”. The puzzling/frustrating thing is that I have learned how to make 16:9 footage show up as 16:9 – while editing it within Movie Studio. But when I am done editing and everything looks perfect and I want to render the thing, it ‘snaps’ back to 4:3 with those black bars on top and bottom.

Many thanks, as always,

Pete

[Pete Fischer]

Danny and Mike: Thanks for all your thoughts and help!

I got Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 7.0a (Build 52). When I ‘go to’ Render As on the File pull-down menu, there IS an Custom … button on the window that pops up. (Between the Cancel and the About … button.) It’s just that it is ‘under-highlighted’/not available.

Other items that are ‘under-highlighted’/unavailable in that window are “Save project as path reference in rendered media” and “Copy and trim media with project.”

But, let’s say Sony had de-activated this functionality for the Movie Studio version: Should we really believe that Movie Studio wasn’t capable of rendering 16:9 footage?

Another astonishing fact is that I CAN render a 16:9 DVD NTSC video stream (by going the Make Movie route and chosing the DVD NTSC video stream template)… but the result doesn’t have audio/is a ‘silent movie’. I still hope that there is a path to success.

I’ll wait for your feedback before uninstalling and re-installing Vegas.

Thanks, again,

Pete

[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

[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

[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