Capture problem with 480p?

[Mysteriouskk]

I captured some 480p footage using the Monster X, but for some reason when I play it back in windows media player or try to edit it in sony vegas, the video seems squished horizontally. I played around with MPC and made the aspect ratio correct. Here are two pictures comparing how it should look and how windows media player or vegas is squishing my video:

http://www.cgaming.com/Images/test_01.jpg

http://www.cgaming.com/Images/test_02.jpg

[JohnnyMalaria]

What project settings are you using in Vegas?

I notice that it states 720x480x29.97i so are you using the NTSC DV settings?

If so, you need to change it - specifically change the pixel aspect ratio to square (1:1).

[Mysteriouskk]

What project settings are you using in Vegas?

I notice that it states 720x480x29.97i so are you using the NTSC DV settings?

If so, you need to change it - specifically change the pixel aspect ratio to square (1:1).

I tried changing to progressive, and NTSC widescreen. Nothing works. The video seems to be squished no matter what. The only way I can get it right is by using mpc, and I still need to adjust some settings to make it right.

[easy2Bcheesy]

It's the pixel aspect ratio. Don't worry about Vegas. Instead, make sure your final deliverable asset has the correct PAR. This can be set up in all the decent encoders and ensures that your final video plays back correctly.

16:9 games video in my experience usually looks best with a 1.777:1 PAR.

[Mysteriouskk]

How come when I capture at 480p on the Wii, there are black bars on the left and right sides? When I play using regular component cables and not the d-terminals, the screen fills up the entire space.

Is there something with d-terminal I have to change, or is it because 720x480 is a weird resolution?

[easy2Bcheesy]

Assuming your component cables are being plugged into a TV and not the capture card, you can assume that the overscan area of the TV includes the black bars - you're just not seeing it.

The black borders on left and right are perfectly normal for Wii.

[Mysteriouskk]

Assuming your component cables are being plugged into a TV and not the capture card, you can assume that the overscan area of the TV includes the black bars - you're just not seeing it.

The black borders on left and right are perfectly normal for Wii.

How come sites like IGN and gamespot.com who capture 480p from the wii, don't have black bars on the sides? I tried comparing the video, and it doesn't look like its stretching it or anything. It just looks normal.

http://media.wii.ign.com/media/748/748545/vids_1.html

[easy2Bcheesy]

Because they're cropping the image. I can assure you it's there, and not just on the sides either.

I found this grab of the Wii channel system. It's been resized to 848x480 but otherwise it's untouched.

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/5324/wii000ho7.th.jpg (http://img177.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wii000ho7.jpg)

My Intensity Pro at 480i shows a similar effect too. Different capture cards may handle the overscan area in different ways but the fact is it's there and that's the phenomenum you're seeing.

[ajp_anton]

When you capture 480p (from the Wii), how many pixels of actual picture is there? Looks like there are black bars on all sides, which would mean it's not really "480"p?

[easy2Bcheesy]

Does it really matter? The signal itself is the best you're gonna get from the Wii, and on every TV I've used that black border is hidden in the overscan area.

[JohnnyMalaria]

WMP11 can be misleading w.r.t. borders. It often adds extra borders beyond those in the actual video frame.

On Vista you can find out just how much the frame really occupies by doing this:

1. Disable Aero
2. Play a video
3. Press Print Screen
4. Paste into a graphics editor (including Vista's own)

Instead of the video frame, you will see a very faint purplish rectangle. This is the region occupied by the video (actually the hardware overlay). The rest is added by WMP.

In XP, just start at Step 2.

HTH.