Hi

And on Windows Vista,  7 and 8 the file is located at:

C:\ProgramData\MAGIX\Movie_Edit_Pro_16_XXXXX\_TV Anti Cropping

where XXXXX = program version.

John

Thanks Terry and John. With your help I was able to find the video but after following the instructions it did not do what I wanted.

I finally found how to do what I wanted by going into Edit mode and then into Effects>Movement Effects>Section/Zoom and then increasing the size of the recorded video to fill the preview screen which also fills my TV screen. I can then save the movie and burn a DVD. However, I don't see any way of saving the changes I make so now I have to edit every video I want to burn and that is a bother. Can you tell me if I can save my changes to make a Default?

Thanks again for your help.

Gregg

Hi Gregg,

It sounds like the TV sizing issue was irrelevant. That's about keeping the important content of your video within the overscan margins. In contrast, from your description, your video isn't filling the preview monitor, presumably because it's incorrectly sized.

Rather than our guessing, can you provide more specific details please. Have you successfully used MEP 16 to make videos previously? Which would imply this is a fresh problem, arising on this particular project?

What are the dimensions of your imports and what are your project settings, which ideally should be similar  Are you using the setting I've shown below?

High res: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4019461/MEP16-Sizing-1.jpg

High res: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4019461/MEP16-Sizing-2.jpg

Note that I've also shown the thin white rectangle indicating the TV overscan margins I've set.

Terry,

Thanks for your quick response.

I have been recording mpg videos from my TV for many years using various versions of MEP without problems so you are correct in your assumption that something has changed. Until last month I was using a satellite TV service but now I've switched to getting my TV signal through my home telephone line. With the satellite TV signal the video always filled the preview screen and also my TV when I played the DVD. Now while I'm recording the video it's not filling the Recording screen. I'm recording at 720x480 (I don't have a 1080i TV) and an aspect ratio of 16:9.

I've never had to adjust the size of the video before so when I look at the examples you sent it is new to me and seems complicated. I'll have to take some time to try and figure out how to do that. If I can make some settings and save them as a default for all my videos that would be great.

It would be even better if I could record the video with settings that would fill the recording screen, just like when I had the satellite signal. Then I wouldn't have to make any Import adjustments. Is there a way to do that? Thanks.

Hi,

I'm not really following what you're doing. Can you show us clearly readable screenshots of your timeline and monitor, and your project settings?

You say you're importing files of size 720 x 480. Those have an AR of 3:2, not 16:9, which confuses me further. What file size and project settings did you use for your satellite recordings? Have you made videos from other more familiar sources, such as cameras?

Did you try the right-click setting I suggested?

Terry, you probably won't believe this but I have never created a Project in all the years I have used the software. When I start the program I always cancel the opening Welcome screen asking for a Project name, etc, and I then click on the Record icon. The only thing I've ever done is record TV programs, first from my satellite box and now from my receiver getting the TV signal through my phone line. I have a USB connection to my computer from the receiver using some Pinnacle hardware. In MEP I set the Record options such as a file name, what folder to store it in, and then I set the various recording quality settings such as aspect ratio, video bit rate, resolution, etc.

When I had my satellite connection the video ALWAYS filled the Recording and Preview windows no matter what settings I used. Now with my telephone connection the Recording and Preview windows are NEVER filled:

Is there a way to get the recorded image to fill the screen like it used to? Then I wouldn't have to do any editing. I'm sure the solution is to get the video image to fill the Record window during recording (capture). Are there settings in MEP to do that or is the problem caused by the phone connection? Evidently there is a difference between the satellite signal and phone signal. I think I may have to try another video capture program.

By the way, when I tried using the settings you sent me on a previously recorded mpg, the image in the preview window was HUGE and only a small portion of the video showed in the preview screen so I don't think that helps any.

Thanks for any suggestions.

When I had my satellite connection the video ALWAYS filled the Recording and Preview windows no matter what settings I used.

Please clarify what settings do you mean? I'm puzzled what project settings you could have changed that made no difference to the result?

--------------------

Although I'm floundering a bit as I've never recorded directly from a TV transmisssion to MEP, it sounds to me like you just need to match your project settings to the size of your recorded material. I did ask what your settings were but you still haven't told us.

Q1

Nor have you clarified the apparent contradiction about AR that I raised. Call that Q2. ('Don't know' or 'Don't follow' are OK answers!)

Q3: When you start recording, do you get  a message alerting you to a difference between your project setting and your imported video? Like this:

Q4. If so what are the details? 

Q5. Is the screenshot after making any changes or accepting any adustments offered by MEP, or do you get that display as soon as you start recording?

Anyway, from your screenshot your material looks to have an AR of 1.6. Oddly, not  the 1.5 (3:2) that I'd expect from your video input of  720x480.
Q6. Are you sure about that size?

Your preview monitor looks like an AR of 16:9 (about 1.778). It's easy to check.
Q7. Right click the monitor and tell us what resolution you're using.

From the above (plus perhaps some reading of Help or the PDF manual) you should now be able to experiment with either the monitor resolution settings (right click and choose Other resolution) or the Project settings (press the E key or use File >Settings > Movie) to fill the preview as you say you want.

Those settings should be retained for subsequent sessions in MEP.

But I'm puzzled, because that seems to be only about viewing the TV channel in MEP.

Q8: What do you do next? Do you edit and export the video? Make a DVD? The project settings will be important for such additional activities. Or maybe, from your opening comments about never creating a project, viewing is all you do? How about buying one of those TV sets?

Q9. Right click the video in the timeline, choose Object properties and show or tell us the details.

Q10: As a matter of curiosity, does that relatively low res of 720 x 480 look OK in practice?

P.S: Re my suggestion about using 'Cut automatically to fit screen'. That was irrelevant, sorry. It applies only to still images. I don't know what settings you tried, but it can't have been that one because it doesn't appear for video objects!

Wow, Terry. This is much too complicated for me. I'm 70 years old and don't have much technical abilitiy or patience anymore. You asked what my Project settings were before with the satellite connection but I told you I never created any Projects so I don't think I ever made any Project settings. Something must have been set automaticlally for whatever I was doing. All I know is that for many years I was recording from my TV and everything looked fine.

You also wrote: "What I suggested you should try was to right click the video clip on the timeline and enable (checkmark) 'Cut automatically to fit screen'. Is that what you did?" Unfortunately, I don't have the option to 'Cut automatically to fit screen' like you do. Perhaps our software is different.

Anyway, doesn't this involve editing after the video is made? I don't want to do any complicated editing after I make the video. The only tiny bit of editing I've ever needed to do was to crop a few seconds from the front and end of the video (before and after the beginning and end of the program I recorded) and sometimes I increased the audio level but this took about 15 seconds and then I saved the edited video and burned the DVD. That's very quick and simple and that's what I want to get back to if possible.

I just found what my settings have been. I clicked on File>Settings>movie and the "Project/Film settings" window popped up. In the Movie settings tab the boxes for "Use settings as presets for new movies" and "Automatically adjust new images to fill screen (borders are faded out)" are checked. "Number of tracks" shows 16 tracks. "Audio sample rate" is 48000 Hz, "Video setting" shows NTSC 16:9 (720x480; 29.97fps), Width: 720, Height 480, Ratio 16:9 and Frames 29.97.
These are the settings I made in the Recording quality configuration area of the Video recording area. Since the box is checked for "Automatically adjust new images to fill screen (borders are faded out)" I'm surpised the video doen't fill the Record and Preview windows. Don't you think that's strange?

I'm sorry I don't understand all your technical questions but I do appreciate your efforts. Since you never recorded from a TV signal perhaps I need someone to help me who has done that before. Thanks again.

Hi Cato,

I edited my post a few times and I think yours must have been a reply to an earlier version.

Read it all again, try out my suggestions (pressing the E key while in Edit mode isn't rocket science) and come back with as many answers as you can.

I can't really help confidently without more details.

Your motivation is that if  we get this sorted you can go back to just plugging in the USB and clicking Record, and that will be OK for another few years!

At the very least try changing those two numbers in the Other resolutions window. You can't break anything.

--------------------

But you're right, ideally one of my friends with TV recording experience can now hopefully pick up from here. Good luck!

I just found what my settings have been. I clicked on File>Settings>movie and the "Project/Film settings" window popped up. In the Movie settings tab the boxes for "Use settings as presets for new movies" and "Automatically adjust new images to fill screen (borders are faded out)" are checked. "Number of tracks" shows 16 tracks. "Audio sample rate" is 48000 Hz, "Video setting" shows NTSC 16:9 (720x480; 29.97fps), Width: 720, Height 480, Ratio 16:9 and Frames 29.97.
These are the settings I made in the Recording quality configuration area of the Video recording area. Since the box is checked for "Automatically adjust new images to fill screen (borders are faded out)" I'm surpised the video doen't fill the Record and Preview windows. Don't you think that's strange?

Don't you think that's strange?

No, for the reason I gave.

@Cato,

I haven't done anything like this for quite a while and not with version 16.

1. We presume that you are in North America, correct? And thus using NTSC.

2. In the image that you show where you right-clicked on the object on the timeline, I see an image on the preview monitor that seems to go beyond the frame. This is different from the first screen shot where you showed the image being well inside the frame. Can you click on the timeline a little further along where there is content and not the yellow screen that starts with TV PG. Give us a screen shot there as well. Now right-click on the object and select object properties (last on the list) and give us a screen shot.

It almost looks like the signal is giving you a wider screen to start and then the image being sent is smaller. If this is the case, then you are getting full screen and there is a problem coming from the source.

3. Next, press on E to get the project settings again. On the line Video settings, pop it open and look at the choices for NTSC. What happens if you select the same setting except 4:3?

Go back and reset it to 16:9.

4. Now go to your recording options. Give us a screen shot of your setup for recording. What parameter choices are there? There may be something there that could be adjusted.

5. Another thought, when you record, a file is being created somewhere and is just being reproduced on the timeline, is it not? On my video recording screen, I see a button under recording quality for Advanced. I can't see the parameters because I have nothing connected. Click on it and give us a screen shot. There should be something beside Format. What are the options?

As I said,the problem is likely upstream of the recording that you see on the timeline.

The file location and type are shown on the first screen. What you are actually doing, as far as I can tell, is editing after recording, which is why the file shows up on the timeline. Even just to burn to a DVD is part of the process.

Just so you know, you are actually doing a project, just not saving it. The source file is not saved in the project; it is already saved on your hard disk. If you save the project, it only saves the instructions as to what to do in the editor; it does not touch the original file. The project file itself will always (almost) be quite small.

Thus you probably have all of your source videos saved on your hard disk unless you deleted them.

The screenshots might give us more clues.

At the end, if all else fails, you will need to resize the video (under effects), save the parameters to a file and then make the adjustment using the effects file every time you record the image, and then export or burn.

Hello John. Thanks for trying to help.

I have spent many days and hours trying to solve the problem before I came here for help and the more I think about it I'm convinced the problem is because I'm getting a different signal now through my phoneline than I've been getting for the last several years through my old satellite feed. It was so easy before. Once I set my default recording parameters of 16:9 aspect ratio and 720x480 size I just would need to make sure my video bitrate was set correctly for the length of the program. All I did was click the Record button and then the Stop button, make a couple trims in the Edit mode, save the edited file and then burn to DVD. Nice and simple.

I only want to use MEP if I can get back to my old, easy way. My question to you is whether you think it's possible using MEP16 to get the video to fill the Record/Preview windows while capturing like in the past? I don't think that is possible since the videos show with borders on my 32" HDTV when I watch HD channels. Some of my non-HD channels almost fill the entire screen, with only a very small border at the top and bottom. I'm not sure why. Does that information seem significant to you? I think I will call my phone company and ask them why the HD channels don't fill my screen. Maybe they can explain if or why their signal is different from my old satellite signal.

Thanks for attempting to help. I'm close to giving up after spending so much time on it already. At my age (70), if my biggest problem in life is not being able to see movies in full screen mode then I'll consider myself lucky.

I may or may not try to answer all the questions you asked me, at least, not immediately. Right now I'm burned out on this subject. I have been ignoring other things to work on this. Maybe in a day or two. Thanks again.

Well, I think I have the problem solved. It will require two steps. First, I was correct in thinking that it was my new TV phoneline signal. I went online and checked the support page for picture problems and they described how to watch SD programs on a HDTV. There is a Zoom feature on the remote that has 5 settings for watching SD programming and I found one setting that fills the screen so now when I record something, especially old SD movies which were recorded at 4:3, the Record window in MEP16 should be full and I will be able to go back to my old, simple ways. Secondly, the TV that I have connected to my computer is an old non-HD set in my bedroom that doesn't have the Zoom capability so I have to connect my computer to the HDTV in the next room. I hope I have a long enough cable and I think I do. I will post my results. Cross your fingers.

Success!!! I attached my computer to the HDTV in the next room and used the Zoom feature and now the video almost fills the Record/Preview windows in MEP16 and I successfully recorded a video and burned a CD just like I used to.

So, thanks Terry and John for your assistance. Perhaps this problem will be posted again and you might have the answer. Keep up the good work.

Gregg