Hi Terry,

Thank you for asking.  I figure it's best to just show you.
Here's the original video, created with Snagit.

http://www.screencast.com/t/akpmNrlpP

Here's the export, with the voice over

http://www.screencast.com/t/1Gen8mee

and lastly, here's the dialog I get when I perform the export.

http://www.screencast.com/t/CCUnKODA

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

I didn't make any adjustments to the original video from
within Movie Edit Pro. But you can see that it's both taller
and wider, has extra left-right margins, and because of
it's increased size, is fuzzier.  I've tried this with content
that is more detailed and the difference in appearance is
even more pronounced.

Is there a way to simply add the voiceover as a track
without having Movie Edit Pro change the video in
any way?

- Bal

 I figure it's best to just show you.
 

I figure it's best if you just answer the list of questions I raised.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

LOL - OK - here you go.

What size is the Snagit capture?  318 x 350 - 24.10 KB, 8 seconds

What size is your project setting?  NTSC HDTV 1080i 16:9 (1920x1080, 29.97fps), 1920 x 1080, 

What message did you get when importing, if any?  No message on import

What was your response, if any? Nothing to respond to

What size is your Export setting? Just the do I want to customize anything as shown here:
http://www.screencast.com/t/CCUnKODA

Your questioning gave me a clue to look at the movie settings, and I found that using the
HDTV settings seems a big part of the problem. Changing to a non-HDTV setting and
customizing the size to more nearly match the original (which I didn't see how to set till
you provided the clue) helps a lot.  The export still has a largish border/margin on the
let and right of the video image. But at least the content is much better.

Thank you!
- Bal

Your questioning gave me a clue to look at the movie settings...

That was my intention.

I suspect it now looks as good as it's going to get. Unless the aspect ratio of source and export are identical, then there are bound to be empy black areas on the sides. And that's a pretty low resolution source.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

I suspect it now looks as good as it's going to get.

OK - So there really is no way for me to instruct the program
to leave the video unchanged while I add a voice-over?

Thanks again.

- Bal

I suspect it now looks as good as it's going to get.

OK - So there really is no way for me to instruct the program
to leave the video unchanged while I add a voice-over?

Thanks again.

- Bal

I'm not sure I follow. If you now have an acceptable video clip on the MEP timeline, what's the obstacle to adding your voice in another track?

BTW,  re your best export, what was the file type, the size, the frame rate and the bit rate?

I captured a short video clip with Snagit, as close to yours in size as possible, imported it without changing my normal project settings, added some audo narrative, and exported it to give a correctly proportioned display as shown:

Or for better quality: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4019461/Bal-Import.jpg

Or for better quality: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4019461/Bal-Exported-MP4.jpg

Result: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4019461/1.mp4

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Here's the information

original imported-from-snagit dimensions

318 x 350
frame rate 9.7 fps
time: 9s
aspect ratio: 0.908571
format: mp4

best export
316 x 348
frame rate: 29.97 fps
time: 9s
aspect ratio: 1.320794
format: mp4

I have tried everything I can see to do to get the final dimensions to remain 318 x 350 and to keep the aspect ratio 318/350 = 0.908571 (in other words totally unchanged.  MEP doesn't seem to have a way to enable me to do this.

To make what I'm talking about clearer, I created a snagit screen recording of the two videos playing in the GOM video player.  

http://www.screencast.com/t/YkTJzkKkY

The file names of the two videos appear at the top of the GOM player window. As can be seen, MEP changes the original. I had no problem adding the voiceover.

I'm not a professional videographer, My needs are somewhat modest and I can live with this if I have to, without any negative professional consequences. It just seems to me that MEP should deault to not changing the video at in any way, and that any changes arise solely as a function of my manipulations. 

I do appreciate your patience, Terry. Sometimes, like now, I feel very dense.

- Bal

Well, as you saw from my last reply, I don't seem able to reproduce your result - i.e. with significant unwanted greyish bars either side.

Some trivial difference in file size can arise because certain values are invalid, depending on file type. For example, width and/or height may need to be diivisible by 4 - sometimes even by 16. Presumably MEP adjusts these to the nearest valid combination.

Did you try using Input > Fixed Region > Input Properties on your Snagit profile for the capture to set say 316 x 348 or 320 x 352 instead of 318 x 350?

If you upload your source file, I'll try it.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Hey Terry,

I redid the video per your suggestion, making the dimensions 316 x 348.

Could my problem be that my computer is a laptop with a wider screen footprint?

You can download the zipped video file here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/v7o41tibow08c6b/frame1-frame2-2014-06-03.zip

- Bal