No bars for 16:9 footage shots using XL2

if you're using a proper dvd authoring app then the correct thing is to create an anamorphic export from fcp. if you open this in qt it will be a 4:3 frame with the 16:9 image stretched vertically (or squeezed horizontally, depending on how you perceive it). You then tell your dvd app to flag it as anamorphic. A dvd player that is correctly set up will then either display the anamorphic footage, allowing a 16:9 monitor to squeeze it down to the right shape, or if connected to a 4:3 (and correctly set up) it will output a 4:3 letterboxed image.
This is how proper dvds work (ie the ones you buy in shops)

If you're going to play the timeline output to a dvd recorder then you will usually need to letterbox by copying your anamorphic sequence into a 4:3 one. I only know of a few dvd recorders (sony) that allow you to set the anamorphic flag on recordings, and they seem to have discontinued the feature.

This method loses some overall resloution (because you're throwing away a quarter (roughly) of the available resolution for the sake of black bars) but it's the only way to guarantee that the video will display at the correct aspect ratio on monitors which have no aspect ratio control. On a 16:9 monitor you need to select the zoom setting, which zooms in on the 4:3 image so that the image fills the screen left to right and the top to bottom, with the bars being above and below the visible screen.

dvdsp has a preview function which you can set to emulate a number of setups. The most useful I've found is to have it set for letterboxing. This shows you what will happen when a correctly set up dvd player plays the disc while connected to a 4:3 monitor.

Hi Roy,
Thank you for finally posting adequate information on what your problem actually is. 🙂

It is so much easier to get an answer quickly and concisely when you ask the question in an informative way. If you had given all of this info in your first post I'm sure you would have been answered straight away 😉

I believe JS Langham has gotten there ahead of me and answered your question for you. I hope you feel the question is now finally answered.

I would only like to add, that if your using DVD Studio Pro as I think you are, you should use the display settings there to solve the problem as JS Langham explained. This is a better method than trying to do it in FCP as DVDSP has the ability to author disks that communicate such information as aspect ratio to set-top DVD players. So this should create a disk that will play correctly both in 4:3 and 16:9.

Best Regards,
Jim

Hi
Why did you use 1024x576?

1024x576 should only be used for widescreen footage that has a square pixel aspect ratio such as Still images or graphics prepared in an application such as photoshop for inclusion in a video project.

NB it is not a native video aspect ratio... stick to what we have discussed and it should work for you.

your video's native pixel aspect ratio as recorded by your XL2 is 1.42. Your native frame aspect is 720x576.

Why are you exporting in QT? we never mentioned this!

Export using compressor as a 16:9 anamorphic MPEG2 for use as an asset in DVDSP.
Then set the display properties in DVDSP to correctly display your footage by compensating for the settings it detects in the set-top DVD player.

The ways to do this are all described above.

Regards.

Santu Roy wrote:> So you are suggesting me to just keeping my Sequence and Footage in Anamorphic use Compressor to export as MPEG2 (but which option if I remember it asks for either 80mins, 90mins etc, probably there is one as MPEG2 only let me try).

all the dvd options in compressor create a mpeg2 video file (m2v extension) an aiff audio file and a dolby ac3 audio file (although you don't have to use all three, the ac3 audio gives a smaller file size and doesn't affect the overall bitrate as much, but takes a lot longer to export)


And make sure your dvd project is set up as 16:9, and the relevant video track within the project is also 16:9 with letterboxing turned on. you can check this from the inspector in dvdsp.

And don't burn the disc! just use the preview function in dvdsp to fiddle with the settings until you're getting the display you want. There's no point wasting time and discs burning if the preview shows that it's going to look wrong.

Yes that is how it should work. If your simulator (sorry forgot the correct term for it) is set up for letterboxing then it should give you the same display as a correctly set up dvd player. Do you see bars on your dvd player with shop bought dvds. It sounds like your dvd player is set up for a 16:9 monitor. What happens if you put the dvd into your computer and watch it with dvd player/vlc? Again it depends on what aspect ratio your computer monitor is, but apple's dvd player has no aspect ratio adjustment so it'll show the video in the aspect ratio the disc is configured as. If you have a widescreen computer monitor then when you go full screen it should fill the screen, if the disc is 4:3 then you'll get black bars on either side of a vertically stretched image.

I'm not really in the business of providing telephone tech support, and I'm doing all this from memory, I don't have my suite set up where I am now. Let's see if we can get this figured out for you before trying to arrange a phone date. If it comes to that I would need to be in front of a suite to be able to properly mirror your actions or vice versa.

YEAH!

Burn baby Burn!!

I give up!!

Regards to all.