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Convert 16:9 to 4:3 letterbox
I have a 56 minute sequence for a corporate marketing presentation created in Final Cut Studio Pro with a 1280×720 HDTV 720p 16:9 format that I need to put on a DVD for play on standard television sets. After much trial & error (I’m kind of new) I exported through QT Conversion using H.264 with the output set to NTSC 720×480 4:3 and checked to preserve the aspect ratio using letterbox. Result was great EXCEPT the file did not contain any chapter markers and when I tried to import into DVD Studio Pro I got an error message that file type wasn’t recognized. Aaargh! Tried the same method using the format DV/DVCPRO NTSC and got a similar output, but the video quality wasn’t as good as the H.264 try. I’ve spend a couple hours trying to figure out how to use Compressor to achieve the 4:3 letterbox result and am getting nowhere. Now I’m back to square one and haven’t gotten much sleep! Can anyone help?
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3 Replies
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You need to take at least one look at your manual, it’s all there. H.264 isn’t part of the SD DVD spec, nor is DV. You export to QT using current settings, or directly to Compressor, and use one of the presets for MPEG-2 (the only format for SD DVDs), then bring that into DVDSP (and make sure you set it for letterbox). Read man, read!
Ed -
If you export using Compressor it has presets for DVDs – it’s pretty straightforward.
You can force a DVD to play either in 16:9 (which you edited in, so why not) or force to 4:3 letterbox. It’s under the disk options on DVDSP. As long as you don’t let it do pan and scan, which is actually a centre crop, you’re good.
Just use the presets (use the highest quality one unless you have over 90 mins video) and you will have no problems at all.
Ben
Edit Out Ltd
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FCP Editor/Trainer/System Consultant
EVS/VT Supervisor for live broadcast
RED camera transfer/post
Independent Director/Producer -
Thanks to you and Ben with the other post. I’ve been using iDVD so DVDSP is totally new. Sometimes the answers are right in front of me and I still don’t see it!
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