Can I change a movie from widescreen to standard?

[rudympohl]

Hi There:

It's been a while since I've been here. Hope all is well with the team.

I captured some 4:3 footage into a widescreen PE7 video file. I need to get this file into 4:3 format. Is there anyway to do that or do I have to start over and capture into new a 4:3 PE7 file?

Thanks,
Rudy

[tiny]

Someone probably might be able to directly answer your question, but if you want a more immediate response, you could try exporting a few second clip from your project in 4:3 and see if it comes out correctly.

[Steve Grisetti]

Officially, you can't do it.

However, the project files for Premiere Elements can be "hacked" into. They're essentially XML files.

Here's Paul LS's solution. Open the file in a text editor, like WordPad:

To convert a 4:3 NTSC project to widescreen, in WordPad do a search and replace:
<PixelAspectRatio>648,720</PixelAspectRatio>
to
<PixelAspectRatio>864,720</PixelAspectRatio>

For widescreen to 4:3 just swap the numbers above. You also have to clear the rendered files afterwards (from the menu select Timeline>Delete Render Files)
Good idea to make a backup of your .prel project file first.

[rudympohl]

Wow Steve! Thanks for that wild solution... (unofficially speaking, of course).

Rudy

[Adam Adamowicz]

Wow great.
So maby this is the unofitial way to copy between projects some elements like titles or even whole other project. Could be very usefull!
Anyone tried!?!

[Steve Grisetti]

Hi, Adam. Welcome to the Muvipix community!

About the best solution anyone here has found for cutting segments from one project and pasting them into another is a program called ClipMate -- sort of an advanced version of the Windows clipboard that allows you to cut from a program like Premiere Elements and then maintains those elements in its memory until you open a new project and paste.

[Adam Adamowicz]

My jaw is all way down! WOW, i was typing all timecode to notepad and pasting it one by one in other project.
Steve You have a beautiful mind. Do you have all answers?
I will try this in first free time. Now need to run with some projects.

[Steve Grisetti]

Don't know if I have all the answers by any means. Almost everything I know I learned on these forums!

But I do write my share of books. You can find them on Amazon.com and in our Muvipix store.
http://astore.amazon.com/chuckengelsco-20/

[oscarackerman]

Steve,
What about a site in UK.
Oscar

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[Steve Grisetti]

Hi, Oscar. Welcome to Muvipix!

If the books aren't available through Amazon in the UK, we can certainly have one or more drop-shipped to you. Unfortunately, I'm finding that the shipping costs almost as much as the books themselves! (About US$23 to ship -- or around 14.5 British Pounds!)

But if you're interested, just drop me a private message or e-mail at my first name at Muvipix.com. I'll do my best to cut you a good price.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

OT - nothing to do with changing widescreen to standard. You have been warned

Some of the books are listed on Amazon UK as used. Downside - the US$ price has almost become UK£ which, at the present exchange rates of about US$1.50+ to the pound, makes that "buy in the US and take the shipping cost" option quite reasonable. This is likely to be especially the case if more than one book is ordered as I suspect that the shipping cost doesn't increase significantly.

In the past I have very often found it more economical to buy IT technical and (software) reference books from Amazon US rather than Amazon UK and pay the shipping costs. Bear in mind that there are no taxes on books in the UK which makes one even more curious as to why the price difference. Don't get me started on 'rip-off Britain' again.