16 x 9 Digital Cut

[Jon Zanone]

If your source is true 16:9, and your product is going to tape, AND your customer uses 4:3, you can put a reformat FX (found in the effects pallette under reformat) on a top layer of your sequence (I’d duplicate the sequence first and work off the copy).

If you are delivering via MPEG, and your customer uses 16:9, make sure you check your export options and the 16:9 button is checked. I use Sorenson, and you can tell it to keep it in 16:9 (a .wmv will play a 16:9 video just fine). You’ll probably need to do a video mixdown to get the sequence to export.

Bottom line – if your 16:9 sequence is going to 4:3, put a reformat on it.

Jon

“The Almighty tells me He can get me out of this mess. But He’s pretty sure you’re F%$#*D!”

[Jake Martin]

Hi

Depends whether it’s 16:9 letterbox or 16:9 Anamorphic. I presume it’s anamorphic as you are using the 16:9 settings in the composer window. This squeezes your stretched image to a true 16:9 image.

If your film is for broadcast check their delivery requirements. Broadcasters in the UK require that programs are delivered in the anamorphic format and they are then squeezed for transmission so if that’s where it’s going you don’t have anything to worry about.

If however your film is not for broadcast you will need to reformat it so that it is 16:9 letterboxed – there is an effect that does this in the REFORMAT section of the effect palette which squeezes your image and you can then put you composer settings back to 4:3.

I wouldn’t advise reformatting your image 4:3 as this cause you to lose a lot of picture information on either side.

Hope this helps

Jake Martin