Movie Maker — problems with burning in 4:3 aspect ratio

Hi Bruuuce and welcolm to the Forum
First off it sounds like you are getting the "letterbox effect"
Can you post the full properties of your video clips, particularly the pixel size. You mention Panasonic, does this mean the clips come from a panasonic Camcorder? If so what model. Please post as much detail as you can.

Helolo BRUUUUCE, I'll try to help you.

Couple Questions:

What exactly is your goal with your video clips?
Just getting them straight to a DVD or Author a complete video with special effects, text etc?

Are you using a codec pack of any kind? I/E Shark 007s?
(Movie Maker will use use FFDshow)

You have set it to use 4:3 resolution in the View Tab, correct?


When you have finished are you saving your movie with this option?

**Edit** Mitchell beat mer to the post. And as suggested, the more info you can give about the camcorders file the better. :)

Hi!
yes, it looks like letterbox, but there are also bars on the sides, too. kinda odd if you aske me

No, I don't remember seeing a screen like that. How do I get to it? When do I save the movie? I only selected the 4:3 tab using the button at the top.

yes it is a panasonic camcorder. PV-GS320. it's a dv, not high-def.

how do i give you the properties of the file? where do i find that info? sorry for being dumb with this stuff

yes, i just want to transfer the footage from the camcorder to a dvd that will play in my player. i don't need anything fancy. though i may want to cut out some footage at some (do some elementary editing) down the road.

thanks in advance for your time and patience

john

EDIT: also, i'm not sure about the codec. i have some kind of codec pack installed

when i got the dell, i downloaded a codec pack that i read was recommended in an article on CNET i believe. I don't know more than that. How would i determine this? Should I download a different one?

BRUUUUCE said:

Hi!
No, I don't remember seeing a screen like that. How do I get to it? When do I save the movie? I only selected the 4:3 tab using the button at the top.

It is in the top left corner of Movie Maker. See my little snip.
Little Pull Down Tab, just left of the HOME tab.

when during the process do i do that?

EDIT:

actually, i may have done that. i was up to 2 last night trying to figure it out, so I'm sorry that I'm a little fuzzy on the details. i remember those icons ... but i thought they were clustered somewhere near the top of the page, and I selected the standard 4:3 option.

To find the properties of a clip, right click the file in the folder where it is stored and click "Properties" then click the "Details" tab. There you will see the size etc.
As far as codecs are concerned, dont download just for the sake of it as they cause more problems with video editing that almost anything else. You shouldn't need to download any. Best left until you really must have a special codec then just install the one you need not the whole pack!
I've been video editing using standard and high def footage for a number of years. Admittedly I use third party editing software as I need a timeline for most of my work and for some unknown reason Microsoft have not included a timeline in the latest version of WMM but I never needed to download any extra codecs!

Hi Bruuuce
Have just had a quick look at your camcorder and would say that you have a very good one here capable of high quality video work.
I presume you download the clips to your PC via a Firewire connection?
For this quality of camcorder, I would consider investing in a good third party software package especially as your Panasonic software is not compatible with Win 7. What was the software by the way?
EDIT
Have just read up a bit more and here's an interesting quote from Panasonic on their supplied software:
"Neither of these software packages can take you from DV on tape to MPEG2 on DVD. If you want to edit the video and make a DVD, you will have to purchase one of the many video editing and DVD authoring applications on the market."
Also I see that your camera records to either 4:3 or 19:9 widescreen. If you have a widescreen monitor or a widescreen TV why not record in 16:9?

I understand many like Movie Maker.

But for authoring a dvd from home video clips, I have Nero Vision to be a very good, although there are a few others.