Can I adjust the aspect ratio when using VCR mode to transfer footage from a DVR?

I am a commercial actress and am updating my reel. I am having trouble capturing footage from both DVDs and my DVR in non-squished form.

I know that my Sony DCR-TVR38 can "record" in 16:9, but it doesn't seem to be able to just take footage off of a DVD or DVR in that form. It always squishes this.

I hook my camera up directly to the back of my HD-DVR or my DVD player to "record" the footage onto my camera so I can then import that footage to i-movie and cut and paste it. (I don't have a DVD ripper which is why I'm doing this for some things, and other things are things I've only gotten copies of because I've recorded them while they were playing on TV).

How can I bring this footage in so that it isn't squished. With bars is great. But it just ignores the bars and squishes the images.

Any input is appreciated.

Thanks,
J

How can I bring this footage in so that it isn't squished. With bars is great. But it just ignores the bars and squishes the images.
I’m not familiar with i-movie for Mac. If I understood your question, you are trying to copy a segment of your video by using your camcorder as a pass through device from your DVD player.

In that case I would not do what you’re doing because you will be introducing lossy quality to the original video by reencoding. I would rip the DVD as DVD Decrypter (freeware) and extract portion of the video with a software like Avidemux (freeware) very easily. Your display aspect ratio should be intact then. The display aspect ratio is the result of stored aspect ratio and pixel aspect ratio. (DAR= SAR * PAR) Otherwise the display aspect ratio must be rerendered to be played correctly for the whatever the media player.

TS