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16:9 vs. 4:3 letterboxed for broadcast
I just began editing a weekly show for local cable w/FCP. It’s originally shot in SD 16:9 on the Z1U’s. Because the channel the show is being broadcast on is not HD, it’s confusing to me how to output the program so it is displayed widescreen on widescreen TV’s, and letterboxed (not squished) on 4:3 TV’s. Until recently, I was outputting to Beta SP directly from the timeline, yet when the show was broadcast it was squished (although on my monitor, it was letterboxed). I have contacted the cable representative but haven’t heard back. Is there some sort of setting that a) I need to set on my Beta deck (UV1-1700G), b) something I need to set in the print to tape mode in FCP, or c) something that the cable company needs to be doing? Thanks for any help!
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15 Replies
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Basically 16:9 Tvs simply zoom into the image a bit and chop off the letterboxing giving you a full 16:9 frame. 4:3 TVs display the entire frame including the letterbox.
what kind of timeline are you using? If you have 16:9 anamorphic checeked in the properties it should automatically unsqueeze the image and produce a letterboxed 4:3 image.
In any case I would strongly suggest contacting someone in the techncial deptartment of the station and find out what kind of output they prefer. Also be sure to always properly label your tapes before you submit them. if the techs don’t know what your tape is they won’t know how to boradcast it correctly.
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Thank you so much for the reply. Great help! More than I’m getting from the cable company! 🙂
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BetaSP and SD video don’t really do anamorphic programming very well. Digital formats such as DigiBeta do, but, that is because in the digital signal sent to tape, there is a flag telling the machine or broadcast facility that this footage is anamorphic. Now, keep in mind, the broadcast facility has to be able to accept anamorphic footage for this to work. Most don’t.
So….. To eleviate your issue, it is best to edit in letterbox. What I mean is, all of you footage is captured anamorphic (anamorphic flagged checked in your bins) and then you timeline is a standard timeline without anamorphic checked in the sequence properties. This will give you a timeline that has letterboxed footage in it so that you have the correct aspect ratio for SD TV.
Or, here’s another route that you can take. You can capture all of your footage anamorphic, edit anamorphic with anamorphic graphics, and then drop your completed program into a standard timeline that is not anamorphic so that you can Print to Video on your BetaSP in letterbox.
Both work fine. Its just up to whatever workflow is best for you.
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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
http://www.schazamproductions.com -
Hi Wayne,
Thx for your help! The later of your suggestions is what I have been doing the last few weeks (editing anamorphic then dropping it into a 4:3 sequence, re-rendering, and outputting so it is letterboxed). The only problem with this is that when viewed on a widescreen TV, the show is being stretched AND is obviously letterboxed on top of that. Urgh. 🙁
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“when viewed on a widescreen TV, the show is being stretched AND is obviously letterboxed on top of that. Urgh”
scalvidgal, u cant control the way a person’s widescreen tv will display your sd programming…
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That could simply be a problem with the TV settings. Have you verfied this problem with more than one set?
A 4:3 Letterboxed output should be able to display fine on regular Tvs or widescreen models without much trouble. Lots of people set thier Tvs wrong and leave them on 16:9 or zoom mode all the time.
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I have a 16 X 9 plasma HD TV at home. It has a dozen different ways to “stretch” 4 x 3 programming to fill out the screen. When I first bought it, I spent days experimenting with the settings. My conclusion is that they all SUCK! However, I hate the black “pillars” even more. So, I’ve resigned myself to either: A) watching only HD channels in true 16 x 9 or B) living with the slightly “stretched” look of expanded 4 x 3 that fills the screen. Nothing is more annoying to me than a picture that doesn’t fill the entire screen.
This aspect ratio issue will be with us for MANY YEARS as the population switches over to 16 X 9. There is NO EASY ANSWER. It’s either black bars or stretched picture.
mark
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Nope, there isn’t a flag or signal saying a tape is 16:9 on a digibeta
Peter
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Correct.
The other thing about most broadcasters not accepting 16:9 Full Height programming also needs addressing. I work for a major broadcaster, all our commercials, promo spots, newly aqquired dramas and the like are all full height. I do however work in England, so it may be different elsewhere.
The original problem of ‘squished’ pictures could be any number of things, the most likely is, as has been stated, the television reciever is displaying the picture incorrectly, it could also be that the cable company has an ARC on it’s output which has been set-up incorrectly, but it’s more than likely the telly. -
That’s weird. BetaSP has a widescreen flag available.
And of course the signal going out over the air and presumably over satellite and cable does – when the content is 16:9. Exactly what the chain is that sets it up that way (or doesn’t) will depend on the individual transmission system.
If I were doing this program and the system didn’t support flagging, I’d switch the program to SD production. That way, both 4:3 and 16:9 viewers will get better resolution than they’re getting now.
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