Help with 16:9 or 4:3

[yearofthespider2k3]

I have tried several different programs to author dvds such as VideoRedo tv suite and Womble Easy DVD. My question is, if I have a 720p 16x9 video, how can I create a dvd that as fullscreen? When I have a 4:3 video and I author it they always come out fullscreen when I have these 720p captured videos they always come out letterboxed. In VideoRedo I can choose to author the 4:3 in pillarbox if all the videos are 4:3. Basically that makes the video as tall as the screen with black bars on the sides. Does 4:3 going fullscreen chop out part of the picture? What options should I look for to author the 16:9 video as fullscreen.

[manono]

If it's 1280x720, just do a straight resize to 720x480 and encode it as 16:9. Nothing too difficult about that. You might have problems is it's 59.94fps, and you'll have to find out if it's film (in which case you get it down to 23.976fps before encoding) , or video (in which case you reinterlace it, or drop every other frame). But you didn't ask about that. I don't use either of the two programs you mentioned, but something like Avs2DVD can do all that for you.

[FulciLives]

AVS2DVD is a very simple easy-to-use program yet one that uses a lot of good tools so it actually creates very good looking (and sounding) output whereas other such similar programs usually make crappy looking video LOL

Give it a try!

[turk690]

My question is, if I have a 720p 16x9 video, how can I create a dvd that as fullscreen? When I have a 4:3 video and I author it they always come out fullscreen when I have these 720p captured videos they always come out letterboxed.

I take from this that when you say fullscreen you mean 4:3 fullscreen. Authoring programs and DVD-players set to display to, and connected
to a 4:3 display, will display 4:3 fullscreen & original 16:9 material with black bars top and bottom.

I have tried several different programs to author dvds such as VideoRedo tv suite and Womble Easy DVD. Does 4:3 going fullscreen chop out part of the picture? What options should I look for to author the 16:9 video as fullscreen.

If again you want to force 16:9 material on a 4:3 display without black bars you necessarily have to cut off parts left and right during editing. This is what happens for pan-and-scan. I do this in pesky situations where the video recipient has ancient 4:3 TVs and for some reason will not get a more normal 16:9 TV. Using Premiere Pro (after first creating a unique HD 4:3 template (NOT 16:9 as is the default)), I do a quick review of the video clip, determine where the action is, then manually position the view over the course. Then I frameserve via debugmode, load the signpost via any appropriate avisynth like AVS2DVD or HD2SD (carefully setting the outputs to 720x480/576, NON widescreen, bff), then on to either CCe or HCenc.
How tedious and long this process is will depend on how long the video is, how much the action veers to the right & left on extreme, and how much you care about letting the recipient see the final 4:3 video on his 4:3 TV with correct proportions without the black bars.

[yearofthespider2k3]

[QUOTE=turk690;2183557]

My question is, if I have a 720p 16x9 video, how can I create a dvd that as fullscreen? When I have a 4:3 video and I author it they always come out fullscreen when I have these 720p captured videos they always come out letterboxed.

I take from this that when you say fullscreen you mean 4:3 fullscreen. Authoring programs and DVD-players set to display to, and connected
to a 4:3 display, will display 4:3 fullscreen & original 16:9 material with black bars top and bottom

On the contrary, my tv is 16:9 not 4:3. For some reason the dvds still come out letterboxed and the 4:3 videos come out fullscreen.

[FulciLives]

If you have a widescreen source it is possible to make one of two things from it:

1.) A true 16x9 WS version
2.) A 4:3 widescreen version

The 2nd is usually called "letterboxed" and is in a 4:3 ratio but with black above and below the picture. On a 16x9 WS TV this would give you black on all 4 sides of the picture. So nobody does it like that anymore.

If that is what you are getting after doing your encoding then you are doing it wrong.

[manono]

On the contrary, my tv is 16:9 not 4:3. For some reason the dvds still come out letterboxed and the 4:3 videos come out fullscreen.

Then you should have said that at the beginning. Ordinarily when people refer to 'fullscreen' video they mean fullscreen for a 4:3 TV set. Anyway, from your 'new' description of the problem, I'd first check to make sure you have both your DVD player and TV setup properly. The DVD player should be setup to output to a 16:9 or widescreen TV set. That's not usually the default setup. And your TV set should also be setup properly. I can't give instructions there because different brands do it differently, but if you get any Hi-Def channels those shows should fill the entire screen with no letterboxing. Sometimes, people with the mistaken idea that everything watched on a widescreen TV set should fill the entire screen fiddle around with the aspect ratio setting and royally screw it up.

[Ennio]

In most dvd-player's menu there is this possibility to set "display" to 16:9. What happens is that, when an 16:9 anamorphic dvd (for movie-dvd's, so-called "widescreen tv enhanced") is inserted, the player will put out the extra vertical video that is on the disc, so the picture is vertically stretched. On your tv you'll have to set-up something like "full" or whatever to stretch out the picture horizontally again to the content's proper proportions.
Supposing you have your player connected analogly, with a full-pinned/wired scart to scart connection, a certain pin will give different voltages depending on a 4:3 or 16:9 authored dvd. A widescreen tv should recognize that signal and will adjust the display-settings accordingly, if not over-ruled by certain settings. You also can do this manually.
If you have connected by composite (yellow cinch), s-video or component, I can imagine your tv not being able to tell the difference and maybe will return to whatever settings it was in. It will get the picture vertically stretched though (again, if the player's display is set to 16:9). For 4:3 displays many players can have different settings each doing different things with the picture (zooming in, stretching etc.). For instance, pan & scan. If a properly authored pan & scan dvd is inserted, the player can chop off some parts of the program to a 4:3 ratio. To add to the confusion, 4:3 authored dvd's can have a widescreen movie (letter-box). Even a 16:9, 2.40:1 or whatever. They don't contain extra vertical video as the 16:9 authored ones. The - whatever sized - black bars are just a part of the 4:3 image.

Maybe you wanna check out both your player and tv settings. And by all means your manual setting possibilities on the tv. In my experience there are widescreen tv's that can do crazy stuff with a picture.

16:9 is ratio. It can be meant as aspect ratio, display ratio and whatelse. A 2.40:1 movie can be on a 16:9 authored dvd. Even presented on a 16:9 tv, you'll see black bars on top & bottom. Of course you can choose to "zoom in" and watch it "full screen".

Cheers
Ennio

[yoda313]

One possible "quick fix" for this user is the tvs zoom button. Assuming these letterboxed videos have the proper ratio inside and aren't skewed funny then zooming in will make it widescreen (but not anamorphic and not like a true widescreen video). The zooming will be a quick fix to fill the screen so that you have the proper bars on top and bottom. It might be more funky than that if this happens to be postage stamp letterbox - letterboxed inside a 4:3 frame - doubled I mean where have you pillar and letterbox bars. That should be rare.

But anyway as others have mentioned if you have a regular widescreen tv that can normally handle 16x9 videos just reauthor the video you were working on. Make sure you have the 16x9 output setting enabled.

However if your source is truly letterboxed whereby it is actually a 4:3 video but with the widescreen bars "hardcoded" into the video than more manipulation is required. You will need to search the forum for "letterbox to widescreen" or "letterbox to 16x9" for more details. I believe it can be done with some success and I think I have done it myself in the past. But it has been awhile so I don't remember the particulars. Cropping and resizing is involved and if you are new to digital video it means you will have some learning and practicing to do.

[yearofthespider2k3]

On the contrary, my tv is 16:9 not 4:3. For some reason the dvds still come out letterboxed and the 4:3 videos come out fullscreen.

Then you should have said that at the beginning. Ordinarily when people refer to 'fullscreen' video they mean fullscreen for a 4:3 TV set. Anyway, from your 'new' description of the problem, I'd first check to make sure you have both your DVD player and TV setup properly. The DVD player should be setup to output to a 16:9 or widescreen TV set. That's not usually the default setup. And your TV set should also be setup properly. I can't give instructions there because different brands do it differently, but if you get any Hi-Def channels those shows should fill the entire screen with no letterboxing. Sometimes, people with the mistaken idea that everything watched on a widescreen TV set should fill the entire screen fiddle around with the aspect ratio setting and royally screw it up.

I do get get HD channels and they do fill the entire screen. When I say fullscreen, I mean taking up the entire screen. The video on the dvd is 4:3 and 16:9. The 4:3 video fills the whole screen. The 16:9 video is letterboxed(?) It take up the whole width of the screen with black bars only on top and bottom. Why 4:3 fill the screen when the 16:9 wont? I understand I can use the zoom button on the tv as I do with some dvds. I'm going to look at the DVD settings and see if I can't figure it out there.

[DB83]

The settings on the player are the first place to start.

If you have HDMI output you could have setting for both the screen resolution AND 4:3 video output. With the latter that could say "full" which fills the screen or "Normal" which should give you a pillar-box - bars and left and right - effect.

You could also have settings on the tv itself such as "smart" and "wide". These can alter the viewing of a 4:3 dvd.

As for bars at top and bottom when playing a 16:9 dvd that should only happen if the AR of the dvd is greater than 16:9 such as 2.40:1. A standard 16:9 dvd (1.77:1) should fill a 16:9 tv with no bars at all.

[manono]

Why 4:3 fill the screen when the 16:9 wont?

The DVD player should be set up to output to a 16:9 or widescreen TV set. That's not usually the default setup.

I'm going to look at the DVD settings and see if I can't figure it out there.

You should have done that first thing.

[Cornucopia]

The crux of the matter is probably this: Many/most Hollywood movies are not originated as 16:9 AR (aka 1.77:1), they are 1.85:1 or 2.39:1 or similar. So when authoring them to DVD/BD (which only allow 16:9 as the widescreen format), they MUST letterbox (a little or a lot) to fill/fit the predefined encoded frame. IOW, it is meant to be like this. This won't change until a new CE format and Ultrawidescreen tvs become common.

So my suggestion is to learn to live with (appropriate) letterboxing/pillarboxing.

Scott

[yearofthespider2k3]

Hey guys. Been meaning to report back for a while. Those of you whom said my player was not setup appropriately were indeed correct. I looked for 2 days to find the original remote (been using the directv remote which could not acces the players setup menu) because my wife is not big on keeping up with remotes. Took about 30 seconds to get it setup and now its all good. Thanks very much. I have not always been into video/audio, dvd authoring, and stuf like that. I was one of those people who blindly thought you hook the cords up and you're good to go. The more I dig the more I learn. The more I learn the harder it gets for everything to understand. I appreciate all the help you guys give. Very appreciated.