How? – 1:66:1 Standard Def DVD – Letterbox on standard and pillarbox on widescreen tvs?

[Michael Gissing]

[Devon Powell] “Will someone please give me instructions on how to create footage and make a dvd that will play the footage properly no matter what television set it is viewed on??? I really need help. Thanks.”

You can’t control how other people will set up their DVD player and TV. SD is a cheat in 16:9 because it is using anamorphic squeeze. A 16:9 TV, properly setup will stretch the 4:3 anamorphic image back to 16:9. If someone is viewing on a 4:3 TV, then the DVD player needs to be set to letterbox. If you create a 4:3 letterbox to fit a 16:9 image, then on a widescreen TV it will display both letterbox and pillarboxed.

If you are dealing with 16:9 material, then anamorphic is best. You always have to hope the viewer can setup their system based on the type of TV they have.

[Devon Powell]

Actually, this footage is not anamorphic. It is shot the regular way in the camera. I have letterboxed the footage to an aspect ratio of 1:66:1 (I have my reasons). I was told that I can crop this footage for dvd and that there is a way to make the footage letterboxed on standard television sets and pillarboxed for widescreen television sets (without the letterbox). For example, most dvds you buy play letterboxed on a standard tv and fill the frame or fill most of the frame (depending on the aspect ratio) on widescreen televisions. This is what I want to do.

My footage is not squeezed. It is regular standard def footage that has been made 1:66:1.

How do I do this?

[Devon Powell]

Basically, I am simply asking how to make a DVD using the software mentioned above, that is “Enhanced for 16:9 TVs.” The footage was not shot using the Anamorphic 16:9 setting of the camera. I intend to crop the video for 1.66 okay?

Now, how do I create a dvd that is “Enhanced for 16:9 TVs?”

[Chris Tompkins]

You can fake it with odd sizes by putting black behind your video track.
Choose a standard size to edit.
Shrink/crop video.

Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC

[Chris Tompkins]

Well, DVD files are ONE size for SD-DVD’s

~ 720X480

Then there is anamorphic or not.

Encode your files with Compressor. WideScreen.

You my end up with distorted images.

You are best to create a 720X480 sequence and manipulate your images within that.

Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC

[Jeff Greenberg]

Devon,

You won’t be able to get exactly what you want without putting two copies on the DVD.

DVD media can be flagged as widescreen (16×9) and will automatically be blown up/letter boxed depending on how they’re individually set up.

You have some odd cropping – 1.66:1 which doesn’t match 16×9 and would have slight black bars on a 16×9 set.

I’d take your video, regardless of what sort of cropping you’ve done, toss it into a 16×9 SD uncompressed sequence, change it’s scale so you’re happy, send to compressor which will generate a 16×9 MPEG2 file. In DVDSP, you’ll have to throw the flag that says ’16×9′

On a 4:3 tv, it will automatically be letterboxed (unless the person has changed their dvd player to blow it up).

On a 16×9, it will be displayed normally.

Best,

Jeff G

Apple Master Trainer | Avid Cert. Instructor DS/MC | Adobe Cert. Instructor
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