Correct non-square pixel settings for DV 4:3

[DarrenD]

(part 1...)
I am going nuts trying to tie this problem down and hope you can help me.

I have a PAL DV camcorder and MSPro7 VE DVD

I am trying to load a DV clip into MSP along with a 768x576 .BMP file (it is a red circle [on a white background] 150 pixel radius centred at 384x288 with a black line going from the centre straight up to the top of the circle, i.e. like a 12 o'clock hand). I am putting the .BMP into V1 and setting its overlay options to Color Key with white at both start and end keyframe controllers. I am also setting a 2D Advanced moving path with start keyframe size 720x576 at 384x288 with 360 degree rotation and end keyframe size 720x576 at 384x288 with 0 degree rotation. The idea is to rotate the 12 o'clock hand anti-clockwise on the red circle over the top of the DV clip.

If I get all the settings correct then the rotation will be a perfect circle on my TV.

[DarrenD]

(...part 2)

I had it with the supplied PAL DV 4:3 project template plus ticking the non-square pixel and using the PAL DVD template for MPEG creation. However, I want to use the ADVANCE option to get better encoding. To use ADVANCE I found that I needed to change the media type from PAL DVD to MPEG-2 in the Compression tab of the MPEG creation. As soon as I do that the "Display aspect ratio" in the General tab of the MPEG creation changes from 4:3 to "Source frame size". If I then encode I get black bars at the bottom and my red circle becomes a wobbling oval.

Surely this has to be a common situation with a common solution or does everyone just put up with this? What am I doing wrong? I have e-mail Ulead tech support but have had no reply so far although reading other posts that is all I'll probably get from Ulead. Note to Ulead - please prove me wrong.

Thanks for anyone with the correct info posting a reply.

[Jerry Jones]

I just did a test.

1. I inserted a 768 x 576 frame size .TGA file into the timeline;

2. I clicked FILE > CREATE > VIDEO FILE;

3. After the CREATE VIDEO FILE pop-up menu appeared, I chose MPEG FILES in the SAVE AS TYPE drop-down list;

4. I clicked the OPTIONS button;

5. After the VIDEO SAVE OPTIONS pop-up menu appeared, I clicked the COMPRESSION tab and chose MPEG-2 in the MEDIA TYPE drop-down list;

6. I clicked the ADVANCE button;

7. I chose my settings;

8. I observed the setting under the GENERAL tab for the image remain at 4:3 DISPLAY ASPECT RATIO.

I am unable to reproduce the issue you described.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[DarrenD]

I just tried your test steps except that I inserted a 768x576 BMP file. I still got the Source Frame Size option grayed out and not 4:3.

There is obviously something different in my settings to yours. I installed DVDWS 1.3 SE then DVDPictureShow 2.0 LE + patches and then finally MSP7VE DVD (and hence DVDMF2 LE) + 7.01 patch. I made the ADVANCE=1 setting change to MSP.INI plus others and also some changes to AC3 encoding/decoding. Can't rightly remember the names in MSP.INI

Could it be that you have DVDWS 2.01 installed or some ordering issue? I think I will need to create a new Win2K partition and do a clean install of MSP only to track this down.

Thanks for taking the time to try and help.

[Jerry Jones]

Yes - I have Ulead DVD Workshop 2.0 installed, but I can't imagine that would make any difference.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[DarrenD]

I don't know whether it is because I have the MSP VE edition instead of the full one (ADS Pyro ProDVD firewire card + DVDWS 1.3 SE, DVDPS 2.0 LE, MSP 7 VE DVD)

It'll take me a few days to get time to build:
create new partition
install Win2K
install SP4
install MSP
install MSP 7.01 patch
and nothing else

That should give me as clean as possible, i.e. standard 640x480 VGA driver, nothing else interfering, not even ADVANCE=1.

I'll post back my results.

[DarrenD]

I got time quicker than I thought! Here goes with my results...

I installed Win2K+SP3 in one go (a slip-streamed CD [Win2K+SP3])
I installed MSP 7 VE DVD ( + DX9 + media encoder9 + DVDMF2)
I ran MSP 7 VE DVD - got an error message saying I needed more than 4-bit colour depth, i.e. more than 16 colours
I installed ATI Catalyst drivers
I ran MSP 7 VE DVD
- used a default template (presentation, 25fps)
- added a BMP to the timeline
- Create->Video File
- changed to MPEG-2 setting and then checked the aspect ratio, it was "Source frame size"

Aagh, I guess this is a feature of the VE version of MSP. What annoys me most is all the time I've spent investigating the advance settings etc. It looks like I am forced to use the standard PAL DVD template.

I notice that the templates are stored in a file called "savetemp.dat" in <...>\Application Data\Ulead Systems\Ulead MediaStudio Pro\7.0

Jerry, could you e-mail me your template file to see if that makes a difference? I will contact Ulead to further confirm my findings.

Thanks

I

[DarrenD]

Somehow I managed to get the Advanced button to highlight when I had PAL-DVD option ticked. This allowed me to adjust the advanced settings for PAL-DVD and save it as my own template. I exited and then loaded my template and checked its settings to ensure that they had stuck at my settings. They had! I now have my own PAL-DVD media type template with 4:3 ratio.

I still get "Source frame size" when I choose MPEG-2 media type but now I don't care. Previously I could only get the advanced button to highlight when I selected MPEG-2 but now I have got it (somehow) with PAL-DVD.

Curious. But I think I got there!

Thanks for your help Jerry. I hope others have found this useful.