WMV problems

[jwsample]

I'm having some odd problems with WMV that I hope someone else has previously run in to (and hopefully solved).

I'm using the default "Near VHS" recording settings, only changing the WMV codec from 7 to 9 to try to eliminate the problem with no luck.

Any attempt to edit a btv WMV file results in a stretched video, however, I can edit non btv WMV files with good results.

The problem starts like this:

When I open a btv WMV, the player incorrectly identifies the window size need to display the video (see the picture below). Large black borders appear above and below. These bars however are not part of the video, and go away if you change the size of the view area as they do not change the aspect ratio.

I mention this because after any attempt to edit, the video is skewed/stretched to fit the exact same size as the original files misinterpreted aspect ratio.
Its almost like a 16:9 flipped on its side.

I'm guessing these 2 things are related.

Its almost like there is something in the way btv does the encoding that makes the players think the video is larger than it is. During viewing, the players seem to auto correct for this and you get good video playback, however the editors seem to want to fill the entire original video size.

Does this make sense to anyone?

The attached images try to demonstrate what I'm talking about.
The white boxes are the video since print screen wouldn't pick up the image:

[silverscorp83]

I had that same problem when i would play the wmv files outside BTV. Kind of looked like it was squeezed horizontally so everyone had long faces. This was before any kind of editing, and the files would be fine in BTV, just not if I played them with WMP9. I upped the default quality setting and that seemed to fix it, but I'm not sure why.