Aspect ratio problems with Premiere

[sabrina-il.livejournal.com]

Hi!

I use VirtualDub Mod to clip my sources and then vid with Adobe Premiere Pro. As per this post I usually add a black "frame" to my video files to make them 720x480 so Premiere can work with them.

Unfortunately I've now got a source that's only available as a VHS rip and the frame size is 560x304. When I try to resize the video to make the frame larger (so I can only add a black frame on top/bottom or left/right instead of on all four sides) it comes out sort of blurry and unclear (since I've essentially zoomed in and it's already a VHS rip).

So, is there anything I can do to make the aspect ratio OK for Premiere without zooming in? Or should I just suck it up and add a black frame on all 4 sides?

Help very, very much appreciated! <3

Comments

[thatyourefuse.livejournal.com]

(gak, sorry, ignore previous comment, failed to absorb contents of post, having absolutely exhausting day.)

[sabrina-il.livejournal.com]

No worries, thank you for taking the time!

[obsessive24.livejournal.com]

Just collating data - I'm curious why you need to make it 720x? IIRC, premiere will let you set your project frame size whatever you want, so why not just make a 560x304 vid? Or is this in consideration for exporting to DVD compatible formats? :)

[sabrina-il.livejournal.com]

No, I just don't know how to make Premiere set the parameters at anything other than 720x480! When I try to clip the source as is and drop it into Premiere the program just adds a think black frame on sides on its own, and shows/exports it as 720x480.

[obsessive24.livejournal.com]

I don't have premiere in front of me so can't do a proper walkthru, but if you go to the File menu and open a new project, it should pop up with project settings that you can play around with. :) you should always set up a project file before you drag and drop source into premiere; it gives you a lot more control over the project settings.

[sabrina-il.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for the advice! ♥

Unfortunately, I've changed the settings to the desired frame size, but I could only do it by changing the "Editing Mode" to "Video for Windows", otherwise it wouldn't let me edit the text boxes with the frame size. Now when I export the video the size is right but the quality is all wonky and grainy, worse than in the original clips. :(

[obsessive24.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I only have Pro CS3, so may have something different in front of me, but do you see an option for Editing Mode for "desktop"? That should be the best option for making vids to distribute online.

There are probably a few reasons why export quality would be wonky and grainy, but my first guess would be that your project field order is different to your source field order. Try choosing No Fields (Progressive Scan) in the Fields dropdown.

And also make sure the project timebase is the same as the source timebase. It'll be either 23.976 frames per second, 25 frames per second or 29.97 frames per second - try checking the Properties of your source file to find out. It should be in the Details tab.

Hope that's helpful. If not, I'm happy to help further (or at least point you to people who are more tech savvy than me), but we're going to need more information like what source file format you're using, your operating system, what version of Premiere Pro, etc. :)

[some-stars.livejournal.com]

What I always do is just crop that frame off in the final encoding process after I finish and export the vid, and this always seems to work for me. (Of course, if you can get Premiere to do a project in the right parameters in the first place, that's probably better, but I know nothing of that. *g*)

[sabrina-il.livejournal.com]

Oooh, how do you crop it off? Do you do it with VDub?

[some-stars.livejournal.com]

Yeah, when I'm running it through Vdub to convert it to a divx avi, I use the null filter and crop it, or if I'm going to resize it anyway I add a cropping...thing to the resize filter. (I still vid the way I learned to do it like...five years ago, and I haven't really changed anything since. So there may be better ways, IDK, I fear change. *g*)