I've set TV cropping to 0% but my video still has a frame around it... I would like to get a video that fills the screen ( or a widescreen format ) without that frame.. The help file and the manual are totally useless.
TV cropping does not do what require. The TV cropping is for correcting the visible image to take in to account the 'lost' edges of the viewed image due to the TV's overscan. Reset these back to their original settings.
You cannot fit 4:3 into 16:9 without losing some of the top/bottom of the image.
One way to do this is to select the clip then from the Effects tab select Movement, Size and Position.
Change the width setting to match the movie width setting in your case 1280, then change the left and top settings to position the image in the visible area as you need.
NOTE - upsizing as you are doing is going to reduce the quality of the video.
Great.. super thanks.. On another note.. I've got other codec's installed on my computer and would really like to be able to use them.. H264 for example.. Is there any way to get M.E.P. to see them so I could use them??
MEP will use the correct codecs depending on the source video/sound you add to the timeline and when you export the video or burn to disc.
For example you would not use the H.264 codec if you were exporting the video as a mpg video file or burning a standard DVD - both use the mpeg codec.
For a HD video burned as a Blu-ray disc or exported to a mp4 file, then you can use the H.264 codec.
If you intend to burn a project, with standard DVD video on the timeline, to play on a HD TV then it is often better to let the DVD/BD player do the upscaling as this gives better quality then trying to do it in MEP.