Why does the Sony PD150 record in a small dimension?

Question

Hello, recently I bought a Sony PD150 and I record some test footage and imported it onto my computer using Sony Vegas 7. I did a little bit of editing and went to export it. I wanted to export it in 720x480 but when I tried to export it the video was to small. When I exported it and played it the video was in the middle of the canvas and black was surrounding it. I am not sure why it does this, is there a setting I can change on the camera to allow me to record in 720x480. Right now it is recording in 320x420 which is the dimensions for taking pictures, I want to record a video not take pictures. If anyone can help me out that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Answer 1

Standard definition camcorders always record in 720x480. There's no way to change it, that's just how they roll (pun intended). So, it's almost certainly NOT a camera issue but a Sony Vegas issue.



My guess is that the settings were incorrect when capturing. Make sure when you open up the capture window, you want to capture in highest quality (720x480). For you, it was probably set on a Youtube preset or something useless like that. Then when you go to export, always export in an .avi file if you are editing on a PC, or Quicktime Movie (.mov) for Macs. If you export in MPEG or anything else, that's compressing it. So, your finished product should always be 720x480, unless you tell it to compress for whatever reason.

Make sure you play it back in "actual size" in Media Player or Quicktime or whatever-- that always helps :)

So, I hope that solves your problems. Feel free to contact me if you are still having problems. Anyways, good luck!!!