VHS Line on iMovie

cubs23 · February 3, 2003 8:26PM

I was wondering if there was a way to get rid of the fuzzy line I have on my iMovie video after importing from a vhs tape. It is a constant line at the bottom of the picture. Anyone know how to get rid of this? Can you put a black bar on the bottom and top? ( a modified 16x9 look)

suggestions welcome

applenut · February 3, 2003 8:30PM

i get that too...

dont understand it.... errrr

elric · February 4, 2003 4:30AM

Ok to do this you will need quicktime pro and either photoshop or photoshop elements. Ok first export your movie for quicktime in full quality. Now open up photoshop and create a new image 720x480 (quicktime size) with a transparent background and draw your black boxes at the top and bottom. small letterbox for NTSC is like 60 pixels and 72 pixels for PAL of course you can make them whatever you want. Save the image to a file then open the file with quicktime. Edit->Select All, Edit->Copy then close that window. Now open your video in quicktime, Edit->select all then edit->add scaled. Now open the movie properties (Movie->Get Movie Properties) in the left pull down menu choose 'video track 2' and in the right pull down menu choose 'Graphics Mode' now in the box below choose 'straight alpha' and close the properties window. Save your video then import it back into imovie <img src="graemlins/cancer.gif" border="0" alt="[cancer]" />

elric · February 4, 2003 4:31AM

Oh, hmm there is an easier way. In iMovie 3.0.1 there is a letterbox option in effects. Just noticed it so I havent used it yet.

myahmac · February 4, 2003 2:47PM

hey if you dont want to morph or clip your image, what i do is usualy just increase the size a bit so that the bottom is off.

defiant · February 5, 2003 1:44PM

[quote]Originally posted by Elric:

Oh, hmm there is an easier way. In iMovie 3.0.1 there is a letterbox option in effects. Just noticed it so I havent used it yet.<hr></blockquote>

exactly. It will cut off a lot though. <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />

the pie man · February 5, 2003 9:17PM

[quote]Originally posted by cubs23:

after importing from a vhs tape. <hr></blockquote>

How do you get VHS into your computer in the first place? I was just looking at a stack of VHS tapes today and wishing I could make some Quicktimes out of them...

ghost_user_name · February 6, 2003 12:20AM

That line you are seeing, if I understand the description correctly, is typically not shown on a TV screen because it contains addition information such as the closed captioning data. When you bridge the video signal to the computer, you are usually grabbing the *full* frame which is actually slightly larger than what the TV screen displays and includes this line of data.

You should only be concerned about getting rid of the line if you are publishing the video to the web or to be displayed on computers only. If this is going back out to a TV, then you won't see that line when you watch it on the TV.

Oh yeah, and iLife threads belong in Digital Hub. Moving now...

[ 02-06-2003: Message edited by: Brad ]

cosmonut · February 6, 2003 7:38AM

[quote]Originally posted by Brad:

When you bridge the video signal to the computer, you are usually grabbing the *full* frame which is actually slightly larger than what the TV screen displays and includes this line of data.<hr></blockquote>

To elaborate on that, standard video has what's called the "safe title area," which is the limitations of where you can put things on the screen before it gets cut off by the television. When video is viewed on a TV, there is a good portion of the edges that are cut off...just because. If that video is broadcast over the air, the transmitter cuts a bit of the image off, too. Ever noticed text on a video or story that runs off the edge of the screen? The producer didn't take that into account.

There's all sorts of stuff at the edge of the picture, too, including vital sync signals to keep your picture from rolling when the transmission isn't strong enough (off an antenna). That's what the black line is in the "rolling" picture.

Here's a hint: If you have a TV hooked up to a VCR and antenna, and the signal on the TV starts rolling because of a poor transmission, turn on the VCR and use it to change channels. The VCR has specific hardware that syncs the signal and stops it from rolling.

ebby · February 6, 2003 9:09AM

The line of noise is also closed captioning and sometimes (rarely) a Dolby surround sound signal. Bugs me too because I have an old TV that shows the line. (Or whatever other digital signal needs to be broadcast)

[ 02-06-2003: Message edited by: Ebby ]

cubs23 · February 6, 2003 10:24AM

But the line only goes away if you transfer the video back to vhs, right? Because I put one on dvd, and the line was still there. (95% sure. I will check it to be sure) So then, do you have to increase the size of the video, or put the black bars over the video to get rid of it?

ghost_user_name · February 6, 2003 12:07PM

The line doesn't just "go away" when you go back to TV. It should still be there like it was before, but it will just be out of frame. Just like when you didn't see it before on the TV, you won't see it when you output it back to TV.

gordy · February 6, 2003 2:02PM

Oooooooooooooooooh, okay. That's why a recording I videotaped some time ago had closed captioning showing when I muted the TV during playback.

I was starting to think my TV was possesed. <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />

myahmac · February 7, 2003 1:03AM

yes the line shows up when you put it back on tv. thats why we used final cut pro to trim the line by zooming in a bit. and didnt see if it was said, but if you get a digital to analog converter you can hook the vcr up to imovie. i think the dazzle is down to 250 now.

gordy · February 7, 2003 11:12AM

I can think of instances where keeping the CC info would be beneficial. Is it possible for a TV signal to be captured, burned to DVD, and played back on a TV with the CC info still in tact? Or, does the A/D conversion screw it up somehow?

If so, it seems like the "poor mans" subtitles to me.

Furthermore, is it possible to extract that info to a text file?

cosmonut · February 7, 2003 3:20PM

[quote]Originally posted by gordy:

Is it possible for a TV signal to be captured, burned to DVD, and played back on a TV with the CC info still in tact? Or, does the A/D conversion screw it up somehow?<hr></blockquote>

That's pretty much it. If you were to tape a show on VHS and then transfer it into the computer, the A/D conversion would probably (I'm not totally sure) kill the CC signal.

NOW...If you were to record the TV program on digital 8, miniDV, or some other digital format, and then dump that through firewire into the computer, it SHOULD stay, since the native capture of the program was digital and it's never left that domain.

Make sense? Just my theory, don't hold me to it.

EDIT: ...because I won't hold myself to it. Stupid me just realized that the A/D conversion from the TV signal to miniDV/Digital 8 would be essentially the same thing as VHS to computer. same processes, different media. It's all one or the other. Which of them...I am now confused about. <img src="embarrassed.gif" border="0">

[ 02-07-2003: Message edited by: CosmoNut ]

ghost_user_name · February 8, 2003 2:02AM

[quote]Originally posted by gordy:

Furthermore, is it possible to extract that info to a text file?<hr></blockquote>Actually, some of the *old* video capture software from ATI (I believe, maybe someone else) could do precisely this when receiving a TV stream. It couldn't extract text from a saved file, though, probably because the signal would be lost under the video compression.

I am not aware of any software to do this on Mac OS X, though.

VHS Line on iMovie

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