Widescreen DV playback as 4:3?

[noel63]

When i playback old Widescreen DV tape (no HDV) on my HV40, seems like picture is in fact displayed as 4:3 with letterbox (widescreen viewer lcd screen of cam is not properly filled).
And when i import this video (iMovie06) as Widescreen DV, i get widescreen picture, but still with letterbox!! I expected regular widescreen picture without letterbox bars.
Workaround: import the video as 4:3 DV and export afterwords to 16:9 format to get rid of the letterbox bars.
Is this the correct workflow?

[drapeama]

Hi there!
Quick question: what was the camcorder that originally recorded those tapes?
I remember that one Sony cam that I used once was recording "widescreen" but in fact it was simply adding black bars to a standard 4x3 video. You're problem might be the same here.
The only thing you could do to get rid of that would be to "crop" your footage to "remove" the black bars, but you'll get a slight quality loss by doing such. But as it's regular DV, it won't show much degradation.

[Almohada]

Yes Drapeama is exactly right. Many of these older handycams were just 4:3 with letterbox to dpict "widescreen". It stretches when you import because its still 4:3 with black bars.

[drapeama]

Yes Drapeama is exactly right.

Unfortunately...I think it was a cool feature like 12-15 years ago...black bars! Looked more "pro" at the time...

[noel63]

it was indeed somebody's elses cam, don't know what type.
Indeed, can be what you suggest Draeama, THX!

So, my tric for workaround is import as 4:3 and then export with upscale to 16:9 with cropping for the letterbox bars to disappear.

[drapeama]

So, my tric for workaround is import as 4:3 and then export with upscale to 16:9 with cropping for the letterbox bars to disappear.

Depending with which NLE you're working, start a new widescreen project, import your video "as is" (don't change the properties = let it 4x3) and then, use the pan/crop function (Vegas) or simply use the Zoom function to get rid of the black bars. Not the best, but it will do and you'll get a 16x9 video. Then render using the project settings and you'll be done!