Posted by Teeafit on 03/12/06 09:45

Can anyone explain what happened here? A colleague prepared a 16:9 PAL
feature, and brought it to me on DVCam for burning to a simple DVD
(using Edition 6.1). I opened a new 16:9 project, but the Capture Tool
refused to recognise the content coming down the FireWire as 16:9.

In order to meet the client's deadline we imported instead through
S-Video (Y-C) analogue, where the format WAS recognised. However, the
picture quality was obviously not so good, with more fringing round
verticals than I would have expected.

I've subsequently explored further, and realised that it was possible
to import through FireWire as 4:3, but then use the Clip Properties
setting to force the Pixel Aspect into 16:9 (CCIR PAL). The feature
now looks perfect, and we're re-burning the DVDs.

Any thoughts as to why DVCam footage should appear in one aspect ratio
in digital, and another in analogue? I put one of my own 16:9 tapes in
the player, and the Capture Tool would recognise its format with no
trouble, so it's not a machine/editor problem. My colleague's not had
a chance yet to investigate the output settings of his (Media 100)
editor to see if anything's 'slipped', but we've never had these
problems with his tapes before.

GRAEME ALDOUS
Yorkshire

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