wrong aspect ratio

[edong]

Is there a way to transfer a wide screen (16:9) camcorder shots to PC so that when I transfer it to DVD, the correct 16:9 is not stretched vertically when played in 4:3 TVs? I am hoping to see a letter-boxed image but it is not. There is no problem playing in widescreen TV though. What I am doing is re-stretching it with Tmpgplus before DVD authoring which is very time consuming. I use WinDV to capture. There must be a workaround this time. Thanks.

[Baldrick]

It should look okey on a 4:3 if you author it as 16:9 anamorphic. Convert to a 16:9 mpg with tmpgenc plus and author with a authoring tool that keep it 16:9 like tmpgenc dvd author.

What do you author with now?

[edong]

No other way I can skip re-stretching before authoring? I mean if I can directly dump the DV file into an authoring program. There is no capture program that will output as the same 16:9 format yet? BTW, I use Roxio to create DVD. It keeps the 16:9 format of the re-stretched video.

[jagabo]

Convert the 720x480 DV file directly to 720x480 MPG and specify that both the source and output videos are 16:9:

On the Advanced tab of TMPGEnc's Settings dialog set:

Source Aspect Ratio: 16:9 525 line NTSC
Video Arrange Method: Full Screen

On the Video tab set:

Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Display

Then burn as 16:9 DVD.

[jagabo]

Oops, hit the wrong button.

[JohnnyMalaria]

No other way I can skip re-stretching before authoring? I mean if I can directly dump the DV file into an authoring program. There is no capture program that will output as the same 16:9 format yet? BTW, I use Roxio to create DVD. It keeps the 16:9 format of the re-stretched video.

Our Enosoft DV Processor will convert 16:9 to letterboxed 4:3 on the fly during capture. But you need XP (your profile shows Windows 2000). Indeed, the origin of the software was the frustration of having widescreen DV footage and no widescreen standard definition TVs in this part of the world.

Here's an example of a native 16:9 DV frame:



and the converted letterboxed 4:3 DV frame:



(Yes, a monkey with blue balls!)

And, to demonstrate the correct handling of interlaced material:

[Baldrick]

The authoring tool roxio is also converting to mpg before authoring, it's an all-in-one tool. So it would be same as using first tmpgenc plus and then tmpgenc dvd author(it does not convert again).

[edong]

The authoring tool roxio is also converting to mpg before authoring, it's an all-in-one tool. So it would be same as using first tmpgenc plus and then tmpgenc dvd author(it does not convert again).

You are saying I would spend almost the same amount of time either way. I have used TDA but I like Roxio's menu creation . Even the stills are as good as the original JPEGs(perhaps not re-encoding)

J. Malaria's software suggestion looks promising.

Thanks again for the replies.