Aspect ratio and format for future

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Guest

I am transfering home movies from my Sony TRV19E Mini DV camera to DVD-R.
I want to "future proof" my video files as much as possible and have some
questions. I am capturing from camera to PC using Windows Movie Maker.

ASPECT RATIO
To avoid image distortion I take it I must capture to the PC in the same
aspect ratio that was selected in the camera when the tape was shot. Is this
true? For example if I shoot with the camera set to 4:3 and then capture to
the PC as 16:9, will I get a distorted image on any DVD created from the
resulting PC file?

Which ratio should I be shooting and capturing in? Will all TV sets in the
near future be 16:9, or will 4:3 sets remain? What if I create a DVD from
footage shot and captured at 16:9 and play it on a 4:3 TV, will it work
without distortion? What about the reverse situation (shot and captured in
4:3 and played on a 16:9 TV)?

Do I get less picture area in 16:9 than in 4:3?

FILE FORMAT
Should I archive my raw files captured from the camera in avi format to
retain the most original data from the tape, and then create media from these
avi files in whatever format is popular at that point in time? I want to
archive my home videos so that in 100 years they are still usable. Is avi the
way to go?
 
If your camcorders videochip is tuned to 4:3 then you will get best quality
using this format (theoretically it should be possible to make a lence which
makes 16:9 video with a 4:3 chip but I don't know if anyone is doing this).
On a 16:9 TV a 16:9 video will fill the whole screen and, depending on the
size and resolution of the TV, will demand good quality. A 4:3 video on a
16:9 TV will only use a portion of the screen and might therefore look better
(the smaller the picture the better the quality seems). Similarily with a 4:3
TV a 16:9 video will only fill part of the screen. You should simply test
what quality you get when you set you camcorder to capture in 16:9.
Both formats should work fine. Either a 4:3 TV will make a black box top and
bottom with a 16:9 movie or it will expand the picture to fill the screen
which might look funny. This is usually something you can decide on the TV.

If you have a 4:3 TV and do not plan to buy a 16:9 TV in the near future
then you are probably better off using 4:3. If you plan to buy a 16:9 TV or
give away your videos to people haveing 16:9 then you should test the quality
you get with 16:9 on both types of TV.

Hope this was to some help.
 
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