convert 4X3 to 16X9

I shot a documentary in 4X3 but now I want to crop the video to 16X9. NOT letterbox, just crop it to 16X9. Ialready made sure the cropping didn't cut anything important out by shifting the video. I can see the cropped video in the 4X3 timeline. I checked by placing a 4X3 clip behind it and I saw the clip where the letterbox bars would go. however, I want it to be full screen on a 16X9 TV or a PSP.

This is not an easy thing to do.

See this link.

[www.mediacollege.com]

Mark

I think he's asking something a little different from the three options you were suggesting, Mark -- he's not asking to make the image anamorphic. He's already cropping the image (16:9 letterbox matte), and now he wants a QuickTime movie without the black bars top and bottom.

My guess would be to create a new timeline whose frame-size dimensions are 16:9. Let's see...if your original picture was 720x480, then you'll need to make your new timeline 720x405, I believe. You're trying to maintain your horizontal pixel count while shrinking the vertical, so if you have a different frame size to begin with, you should use (Horizontal Size/16) x 9.

Use the same codec settings, frame rates etc. The new timeline should be able to crop out the unnecessary parts of the picture and your resulting movie file should be 16:9 in aspect ratio but without the black bars. Can't go to tape with that, though.

This isn't a process I ever do, so if anybody has a dissenting opinion to offer, I'd be happy to stand corrected.

Hmm, just did a test. Mathematically 720x405 works out, but I just tried one of my 16:9 letterboxed movie files and the only timeline frame size that can get rid of the black bars at 100 per cent clip size is 720x360. Anybody know why that is?

I dunno if he wants a quicktime output. He said fullscreen on a tv or psp.

The problem here is that 4x3 is SMALLER than 16x9. So what you are trying to do is take a square, crop a small rectangle out of the middle of it and then blow that up to a larger rectangle than your original square.

It's not going to look at all good. It will be very blurry.

16x9 and 4x3 are the same height. 16x9 is just wider.

Have you thought about working in a 16x9 timeline and using multiple 4x3 images? There's a reason there's so much picture in picture on tv these days. Here in Oz we have to deliver in 16x9 all the time, with archival 4x3 interspersed all over the joint. It's a pain, but for many programs PIP is the most professional looking way out.