How to convert 4:3 to 16:9 without cropping or loss of resolution - video conversion
You guys may think that this is the old 4:3 to 16:9 stretch trick... I assure you it is not... I use this technique to...
-Convert footage from my Hero GoPro 960 without any cropping (1280x960 to 1280x720)
-Update my old 4:3 footage to 16:9 with no pixel information loss & reduced distortion.
Here is part one...
There are forces beyond your senses...www.lancecampeau.com
No, you're just distorting the edges proportionally more than the center. (BTW: It certainly doesn't work for all subjects, and it looks horrible if you have a sideways camera movement, i.e. a pan...)Originally Posted by Lance Campeau
"Your method" is well known
I made this video for my YouTube subscribers, the majority of which are unfamiliar with video editing techniques."Your method" is well known
Another clip...
There are forces beyond your senses...www.lancecampeau.com
too much distortion
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What would you suggest then...?
There are forces beyond your senses...www.lancecampeau.com
Here is the tutorial...
There are forces beyond your senses...www.lancecampeau.com
You can live with 2 things: Distortion or Pillarbox.
I think my fellow canadian member did a pretty nice job, considering the few times you'll have to use 4:3 footage.
I think it's a great tutorial! Well done.
Lance, wouldn't you be better off using Photoshop's content aware scaling?
Good news: It's a viable alternative to cropping; but perhaps one that would have been more recognized had the tutorial used a photograph with more significant information in the crop regions.
Bad news: Ever video conversion results in a loss of quality.
The problem with this (as with many TV sets' 4:3 to 16:9 conversion) is that it looks horrible on scenes with camera moves, or with people at the edges of the frame.
Here is a familiar scene, converted in that way - I think the people left & right do look a bit sick... and just wait until the camera pans, then they (and you) will be quite sea-sick!
Not that I would do something like this but..............you don't need PhotoShop for this. There are lot's of ways to correct barrel distortion........
Emiliano Ferrari has a nice "Barrel Distortion" filter for Virtualdub that will do the same thing that you are doing in PhotoShop without the need to transcode.......
I tested it out with some old VHS footage and got results similar to yours. I'll stick to Letterbox or crop however.......
There is no such thing as "Idiot-Proof".........a good Idiot will get around that every time.
I'm watching an old TV show with a friend of mine these days (3 seasons) before we'll go to watch the movie in theatre this summer. It's a 4x3 show on a 16x9 TV and I don't find it annoying because it's been done in that format, so having it in another ratio would make it annoying.
Personally I'm fine with pillarboxing.
Since no-one noticed last time, I'll mention it again: Adobe's Content Aware Scaling has pretty much made non-crop or distort methods of converting 4:3 to 16:9 and vice versa archaic. I thought most film makers knew about this, but I guess there's been a problem with making people aware of content aware scaling, which I think has been around since CS3.
The image on that page makes no sense at all - you could do all that manually, just stretch it more or less.
Content Aware Scaling is not foolproof; and does not work for every occasion. The OP offers one solution that may work well for some, but not for others, since there is no one solution that can work perfectly in every circumstance.
Personally, I prefer my content unaltered, so I'm oblivious to letterbox and pillarbox. Either way, I can enjoy the movie.
No kidding? WTF??
I hate watching any video that was created 16:9 or wider that's been cropped or "pan & scanned" to 4:3, or 4:3 material that's been stretched linearly or warped like the OP's tutorial. I had to teach my wife to never buy a "Full Screen" edition of a DVD movie and always look for "Anamorphic Widescreen". I watch a lot of the DIY and HGTV network shows in HD and I cringe when I see 4:3 shows warped to 16:9. It's just so unnatural looking.
1) I remember ~10 years back when people were still saying that anamorphic widescreen movies were "cropped" version where the top and half is missing and hidden by black bars! My mom thought so a long time...
2) It's never as worst as watching a non HD channel, with 4:3 video displaying a "16:9-respected-ratio" video in it...that way it's pillarboxed & letterboxed.
It just shows a picture that is stretched in two ways - more or less. Looking closely, it cuts away one person - is that the original intention?
Also, it made a gothic arch out of a round one - how's that for awareness? Totally idiotic, I'd say...
"Content aware" would keep the proportions of buildings, and not fatten people, and not remove some, but still make a 16:9 image from a 4:3 one.
But - that would be true magic...
They ran Disney's "Enchanted" on Finnish TV a couple of days ago. A total failure, letter+pillarboxed, and no concern for the varying aspect ratios in the original movie (it changes, see here...)
From what I can see, "Content Aware Filter" is a filter designed for dummies. As far as I'm concerned, If you don't maintain pixel aspect ratio during resizing, then your video/image becomes a billboard for ignorance and/or laziness......
There is a reason for letterboxing and cropping, it's the right thing to do.......
That's my 2 cents anyway............
There is no such thing as "Idiot-Proof".........a good Idiot will get around that every time.
++
I'll even up that, to 4 eurocents!
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