LOL natas, take a breath when ya post mate I was worn out just reading it!
It would be a right pain in the backside if people were to send raw footage, the files are too large (some of my clips are 500 megs each shot, and I may only end up using 5 seconds of that).
To get a letterbox effect you can either render it in widescreen using Auto Gordian Knot, or, do what I do and place black bars at top and bottom as a "Title". Handy for hiding any on screen writing like 'brakes' etc if you haven't disabled them. I sometimes use a modified language.dll file but find I need the messages to know when I am in skew etc.
Here's what I do - it's ULead Video Studio:
Raw Footage, red Parking Brakes sign

If I add a title with a black background I can hide the FS onscreen red messages. The title here (top / bottom) is white to illustrate what I mean. Change the font colour to black and you have two black bars.
