Windows Movie Maker Fill Screen

whs said:

Thanks Mitch. I will be on the lookout for the PM - did not se it yet.

No I type slow and the cat wanted her dinner!!!
Have done it now!

Hi Mitch, I did send you an answer but I am not sure whether you'll get it since I accidently had lost your initial PM.

Yes got the message fine.

Spottedfeather said:

whs said:

Actually it works very well with Windows Live Movie Maker. All you do is set the aspect ratio correctly before you save the movie,

If I do that, and set the aspect to 4:3, will the square picture go from top to bottom with the black bars on the sides of a widescreen ? And will it fill a normal 4:3 tv ?

That will depend on the aspect ratio of your TV.

Spottedfeather said:

So, if I set the aspect in Windows DVD Maker to 4:3, the file will fill the screen ? What about if I burn a dvd with the aspect to 16:9 ?

1.Setting to 4:3 should fill the screen, but try it to make sure!
2.Then you will get black bars at the top and bottom of a 4:3 screen!

Spottedfeather said:

Maybe I should straighten this out. The files are 4:3 tv shows. In the info, it says they're 352x240. That's not 4:3, is it ?
Don't worry about that, there is a facility called "Unsquare pixel rendering" that takes care of the difference. That's why PAL standard is 720x576 but NTSC which is your area is 720x476
On one set of files, the 4:3 square goes from top to bottom. On the other set of files, the same 352x240 square has a slight bar on top and bottom and larger bars on the sides.
WHat format are they files?
This second set of files appears to be a 4:3 image that's been pillarboxed. This is when they are played in Windows Media Player. If I play the second set of files on Divxplayer, the 4:3 image goes from top to bottom slightly more, but it also a little squished in on the sides.

I just checked in Windows DVD Maker, and the preview window is widescreen.
What have you got the Options set to?
When I play the files in the preview window, the video appears to go from top to bottom. I think that maybe the files appear wonky because of the programs they're played in.
Remember that is a Preview it does not signify what the final DVD will look like
Do you think that if I burn a dvd with them that they'll appear like they do in the preview window in Windows DVD Maker ?
Best answer to that is get some DVD R+W discs and test everything. Be aware though that these files are small, they will not produce a good quality DVD that you can view on a TV. "You can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear" as they say!
Also if the originals are 4:3 they will not make widescreen videos!

Thought it easier to answer each bit! Hpe this helps.
Finally the best advice I can give is Trial and Errror!

Hi Spottedfeather
Have just re-read your previous thread headed "Video Editor" and that remains unresolved really as you do not have any DVD's to try. I really think that unless you have a couple of DVD R+W discs we will keep going round and round in circles here. If you would like to shorten one of your clips again, host it as you did before and send me the link to download it I will happily have a look at it and report back. Then you will have an easy to follow workflow that will achieve the best you can get from your clips. BTW did you download the trial version of the Video Editor I suggested to you?