Letterbox or Pan & Scan?

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Level 3

630 points

Letterbox or Pan & Scan?

I feel really silly even asking this question, but I have a 16:9 video in a SD DVD project and I want the video to be letterboxed when being played on a 4:3 TV but to be full widescreen on a 16:9 TV. I have both where I am producing the DVD, and I've tried three separate copies, and they all come out 4:3 on the LCD TV I have and scrunched on the CRT TV I have. What I'm confused on is what settings do I want to be 4:3 (the menus?) and what do I want to be 16:9 (the video track?) This sounds like a question that one of you knows just off the top of your head, but I am completely confused by it.

Also, there's three settings for 16:9 (Pan-Scan, Letterbox, and Pan-Scan & Letterbox), which one do I want for whatever part of the project is 16:9? I'm almost done with this dang DVD and just want to finish it and be done with it forever.

Thanks much,
-Brian

1.2 Ghz G4 Cube with Dual Layer DVD Superdrive and 1.2Gb of RAM, Mac OS X (10.4.6), 23" Cinema Display, isight, 6Gb mini, G-tech 400Gb FW800 Drive, and Lacie 250Gb

Posted on Jun 24, 2006 12:45 PM

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Answer 1

Drew13

Level 6

12,387 points

Jun 24, 2006 1:21 PM in response to Brian Kaempen

It is a bear the 16:9. The best way (for the most part) is make the movie 16:9, then set track to Letterbox. On a 4:3 tv it will be letterboxed and 16:9, 16:9. Sometimes settings can be overirdden by pplayers/people. Also take a quick look in the PDF and search for vector, in the section discussing the 16:9 aspect, there is a good explaination of which to use (and why pan & scan may not bee the best move)

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Answer 2

Brian Kaempen Author

Level 3

630 points

Jun 24, 2006 3:36 PM in response to Drew13

OK, so basically your saying that the track should be 16:9, which it is. But my menus are set in 4:3, and I only read the section of the manual that said that you should leave 16:9 menus and tracks the same, and same with 4:3 menus and tracks and I really don't wanna rebuild the ,emus again, this would be the third time. I have the track set to play in 16:9 under it's inspector settings, but because the opening menus were in 4:3 do you think the DVD player is reading the 4:3 do the menu and not changing to read the 16:9 of the track itself? The more I think about it, the more I feel that that is what it's doing, meaning that I'll need to redo the menus again.

Thanks,
-Brian

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Answer 3

Drew13

Level 6

12,387 points

Jun 24, 2006 3:51 PM in response to Brian Kaempen

It is okay to leave them as 4:3 and the tracks as 16:9, some people with 16:9 players/settings may strecth the 4:3 menus, but you can have 4:3 menus and 16:9 tracks in the same project. (If you take a look at some DVD rentals you have had that are widescreen, often things like like FBI warning and the Menus are 4:3 while the movie itself appears letterboxed.)

You just have to make sure the track settings and menu settings are what you want.

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Answer 4

Aug 10, 2006 9:36 AM in response to Drew13

I'd like to do the same thing, Drew; play an anamorphic project in 16:9 on a widescreen player, and letterboxed on a 4:3 player. You say that setting "track to letterbox" should do this; my question is how do you set the track to letterbox?
I just finished my first DVDSP project (a daunting task after making the leap from iDVD) and worked my way through producing an anamorphic project that plays 16:9 on a widescreen, but is squeezed on 4:3; I thought setting the display mode to "16:9 letterbox" would set it to play widescreen on a 16:9 player, and letterboxed on a 4:3 player.
Thanks in advance for your help.

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Answer 5

Aug 14, 2006 1:51 PM in response to Drew13

Hello Drew,
Have almost same problem.
My DVDSP encoding preferences are set to 16:9 in MPEG-2 SD.
I have a 16:9 track and menus, all set to 16:9 letterbox in the inspector Display Mode, but the movie is still squeezed on a 4:3 television.
Have tried everything I can think of without success.
Would appreciate any help.
Thanks,
Pat

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Answer 6

Drew13

Level 6

12,387 points

Aug 14, 2006 2:45 PM in response to Mark Gibson2

Mark/Pat

First thing is to check to make sure that the encoded m2v was encoded at 16:9. When you open it in QT the m2v should be 720 x 404 and not the normal 720 x 480 (use get properties)

If it is 720 x 404 it would appear to be properly encoded, then take a quick look here http://www.dvdstepbystep.com/169.mov to set up the track. Use 16:9 letterbox (not pan & scan as mentioned above.) Also press F3 key to get the layout in DVD SP that is in the movie

Let me know if this get you going okay (also keep in mind that settings on DVD Players and televisions can override settings on the DVD. check those also, to make sure that one or the other is not forcing something you do not want.)

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