Best way to transfer Mini DV 4:3 and "16:9" mixed on same tape
 

I very stupidly recorded 4:3 and what I'm guessing is the fake zoomed in 16:9 mixed on the same tape on my Sony mini DV cam 20ish years ago. I am using WinDV to transfer the DV tapes to HDD.

What is the best way to deal with this? Should I create separate DV transfers (multiple files) for each aspect ratio?

Or use the same DV transfer for both aspect ratios (1 file) and cut the different A/R scenes apart in an editor?

Also when re-encoding the 16:9 what do I choose for the correct resolution? I've been reading about the square pixel/rectangular pixel issues with the pseudo 16:9 and how they could degrade the footage if wrong.

Thanks.

Depends on how the 16:9 feature is handeled in your camcorder, Some camcorders always recorded 720x480 (576 PAL land) and flag each segement with a different AR flag, Some did actually crop the 4:3 frame on top and bottom by adding black bands, You're going to have to post a sample of both to give you some advice.

Ok, now that you say that, I think it may be flagged for 16:9. During the transfer it showed as squeezed down 4:3 in the preview window of WinDV.

Capture the whole thing with sclive and use an editor like vdub2 to output separate segments based on the AR flag, it is better to output to lossless AVI stripping away the DV codec in the process, Then resize the 16:9 segements to 1920x1080, In the other hand add black pillars or frosty sides to the 4:3 segments to make a 16:9 frame and resize to 1920x1080. Now you can combine all segments back together using vdub2 and then encode the resulting lossless file to a modern codec such as h.264.

Ok, thanks for the info.

So if I wanted to process a 16:9 flagged DV file in Hybrid what would my PAR settings be? Would they be the same or different then 4:3 DV?

They should be the same, because at that point both files are 1920x1080 rec.709 for HD.