How to set 16:9 Wide Ratio

I have a Sony HDR-HC1 Handycam and for the life of me, I can't find in the menu where I can set the ratio to 16:9. I'm trying to get my video as good a quality as I can for youtube (without the black bars).

Any help would be MUCH appreciated.

Google your manual and find the wide screen feature.

Some older cameras don't have a wide screen format. My Sony Handycam offers it but it's a "Fake" format as it only adds bars to the top and bottom of the screen. Either way, exporting out of the editing program at 1280x720 gives you YouTubes "HD" feature.

BTW I am moving this to the camera section of the forums.

I tried finding the manual on google but couldn't. Can I film in DV 4:3 and render it in 1280 x 720? Can you do this in movie maker?

I have not used windows movie maker in ages...but I think you can set it as a 16:9 project and then set the resolution as you export to your computer.
A better way to go would be with new editing software such as Sony Movie Studio 9. This low priced software does quite a bit and is well worth the price if you ask me. I use Vegas Pro along with other programs myself and am quite happy with the Sony editor.

If you film in 4:3 it's best to export at 4:3 as you may get warping or cutoff going the other way around. Simply export at 640x480 and youtube will give you their "High Quality" setting, (one step down from the HD quality but not as low as standard quality).

I'll look around to see if I cant find a manual online.


Edit, first link on google
http://www.sonyhdvinfo.com/images/upload/hc1/HDR-HC1.pdf
(Right-click and save link as)

See pages 56 and 57.
You will want to set it to either 4:3 or 16:9 and then set whether you want to shoot in "HD" or Standard DV.

I never liked Sony's consumer line. They always put things in menus on the touch screen making them hard to get at. they also put the tape door at the bottom meaning you have to take the tripod foot off the cam to change tapes....gets quite annoying while filming shows...
I have used their Sony HDR-FX1 prosumer camera many times though and I love the layout, they could have made it so you could mount different lenses though...

Thanks Dave! I did find the manual, but thanks for the exact page reference.

So if I set it to 16:9, what should I export it in?

What about Camtasia Studio for editing?

I use Camtasia Studio for my software tutorials but the problem is it doesn't work well with YouTube as the frame rate isn't 29.97...I counter this by recording in AVI format and jumping those though Sony Vegas which I can export as a MOV file and upload to YouTube.

I have not tried importing stock footage from my video cam and editing it in Camtasia so I am not sure how that would work, you may want to try that for yourself with a short 5 second clip recorded in 16:9.

If you run into problems I suggest looking into other editing software such as Sony Movie Studio...


Export at 1280x720 and record at 16:9 in standard MiniDV to get the "HD" feature on youtube. Be aware that you have to give the upload a few hours before the HD link will show up. You could film it in HD mode on your camera but once it goes on the net, most computers dont even see that level of quality...and the file size will be large.

but hey, the HC1 is natively HD 1080??

This should mean it shoots 16:9 without having to make any changes in the menu??

Kind of funny. I reset it and it is in the 16:9

some companies will turn it to the 4:3 mode before boxing it up...just testing functions on the factory floor to see if it works.

Even if a cam shoots in HD it can still have a 4:3 format. The Sony HDR-FX1 even offers this and that's a higher end HD cam.