Pan-Scan vs Pan-Scan & Letterbox... the low down?
Hello everyone,
I think this is pretty basic, but I'm just getting into the world of 16:9 vs 4:3, and I want to make sure I've got this right... Based on reading the manual and lots of posts here, would you say the following is a correct understanding of the display modes available in DVD Studio Pro?:
(By the way, this is all assuming that I've imported, edited, and compressed all my assets correctly)
4:3-- exactly what it sounds like. Normal SD assets that will display at 4:3 on a 4:3 tv (unless the user has done something truly funky with their dvd player settings)
16:9 Pan-Scan-- This setting will display 16:9 assets at 16:9 on 16:9 monitors, but will be display as full screen on 4:3 monitors, and will pan and scan IF the original asset has a pan-scan vector in it. Otherwise, most DVD players will crop on a 4:3 monitor, and only show you the center of the image. The Final Cut Studio does not offer anyway to create or edit pan-scan vectors, so one should normally avoid this setting.
16:9 Letterbox-- 16:9 assets will play on 16:9 monitors with no letterboxing. On a 4:3 monitor, it will appear letterboxed.
16:9 Pan-Scan & Letterbox-- I'm not quite sure. It seems that a 16:9 asset will display cropped as a Pan and Scan image (or just the center of the image, if you have no pan-scan vector) if the user has set their DVD player to force pan-scan 16:9 material. If the user has set their DVD player to letterbox, then the asset will display that way, but it will be "postage stamped" (what does that mean?). Am I right to assume you shouldn't use this setting at all if you don't have a pan-scan vector? Or when exactly would you use this?
Thanks for your help and time,
David
I think this is pretty basic, but I'm just getting into the world of 16:9 vs 4:3, and I want to make sure I've got this right... Based on reading the manual and lots of posts here, would you say the following is a correct understanding of the display modes available in DVD Studio Pro?:
(By the way, this is all assuming that I've imported, edited, and compressed all my assets correctly)
4:3-- exactly what it sounds like. Normal SD assets that will display at 4:3 on a 4:3 tv (unless the user has done something truly funky with their dvd player settings)
16:9 Pan-Scan-- This setting will display 16:9 assets at 16:9 on 16:9 monitors, but will be display as full screen on 4:3 monitors, and will pan and scan IF the original asset has a pan-scan vector in it. Otherwise, most DVD players will crop on a 4:3 monitor, and only show you the center of the image. The Final Cut Studio does not offer anyway to create or edit pan-scan vectors, so one should normally avoid this setting.
16:9 Letterbox-- 16:9 assets will play on 16:9 monitors with no letterboxing. On a 4:3 monitor, it will appear letterboxed.
16:9 Pan-Scan & Letterbox-- I'm not quite sure. It seems that a 16:9 asset will display cropped as a Pan and Scan image (or just the center of the image, if you have no pan-scan vector) if the user has set their DVD player to force pan-scan 16:9 material. If the user has set their DVD player to letterbox, then the asset will display that way, but it will be "postage stamped" (what does that mean?). Am I right to assume you shouldn't use this setting at all if you don't have a pan-scan vector? Or when exactly would you use this?
Thanks for your help and time,
David
