Aspect Ratio Help

[tehlime.livejournal.com]

I am completely tone deaf when it comes to aspect ratio issues, but my beta has been kind enough to point out that mine are wrong, and after some research I have run out of ideas for how to fix it. I'm using Vegas 9, and when I export my videos, they are all a little bit stretched vertically. My beta discovered you can fix this manually after the fact (once the video has been rendered) in VLC by going to "Video", "Aspect Ratio", and selecting 16:9. Here are two screen caps to demonstrate the difference:

The initial video.

And a shot after I manually set it to 16:9...

I have the project set to NTSC DV Widescreen, and I have the "maintain aspect ratio" switch unchecked. I've tried exporting it as different file types, but none of them seem to help. The pictures above are from when I export it as a .wmv file. Does anyone know why this is happening, and what I can do to fix it? Help!

Comments

[killabeez.livejournal.com]

Afraid I don't know anything about Sony Vegas in particular, but it looks like this thread might answer your question?

http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/24/873936

[tehlime.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'll check it out and see. :)

[theanonsisters.livejournal.com]

why do you need the maintain aspect ratio unchecked?
what do you have the pixel aspect ratio set to?

I think the link above will probably answer your questions. If the source is anamorphic (is it dvd rip?) & your pixel apect ratio is set to 1.0 it may explain why the wmv is square looking.

I'd also look here (http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/avtech/video1.htm#4) formore info.

[tehlime.livejournal.com]

Honestly? I don't. With the project settings set the same as the source material, it doesn't matter, but the aspect ratio switch is the cause of most of Vegas's aspect ratio issues, and I didn't want anyone to waste their time thinking that it was the problem.

...OH! I think that solved it! The pixel was set correctly for the project, but not for the render, which is why it was fine when I was editing it, but not after. I MAY HUG YOU NOW. :D Thank you so much for your help.

[littleheaven70.livejournal.com]

I find that the best way to ensure the aspect ratio remains correct is to set my project properties to match the source. Go File -> Properties and the project properties box should come up. It has several tabs - make sure you're on the Video one. At the top there's a drop-down box called Template. To the right of that there's a Save icon, a Delete icon, and a folder. Click on the folder. Browse to the folder on your computer where your source clips are. Click on one of them and then click the Open button. That will change your template settings to exactly whatever your source is. Then click the OK button at the bottom of the properties box.

When you export your video, make sure your export settings are set to whatever your project properties template settings became when you did the above step. What this means is that not only will you get the correct aspect ratio, but you'll get a better quality render because Vegas only has to concentrate on your transitions and effects, and not on converting your source to a different size or bitrate or compression. You may end up with a very large file, but that's okay. If you want .wmv files, the best thing to do is then take the large vid file that you've rendered, and import that into Windows Movie Maker (it has the best range of compression options) and choose a bitrate to convert your vid to. 512kbps will give you around a 15MB vid, and you can go higher from there. 1mbps or 3mbps give you pretty good quality results.

Hope that helps!

[tehlime.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that isn't the issue. I've fiddled with the project settings, though not quite the way you mentioned. But they're fine. I think it has something to do with the rendered footage. Like I said, I've fiddled around with the program settings, but nothing is working. Thank you for your suggestions though! I really appreciate it. :)