Wide 9:16... What Am I Doing Wrong?

[GRAMOPHONE]

I have used different softwares: DVD-Lab Pro, Encore, etc...
to put together a simple DVD with a motion menu. Thing is that the quality I get at the end isn't good and for some
reason the aspect ration comes a little wider than it should.

My assets:
HD 24p placed on a 24p timeline 720 x 480 wide.
Final transcode 9Kbps

Any help will be appreciated...

Thanks

[manono]

If you're saying your source is High Definition, then of course it won't look as good when down sampled to Standard Definition. Me, I encode myself my menu M2Vs and then supply them to the authoring program. I have no idea how good the encoders are for the programs you mentioned, or if you know how to use those encoders to their best advantage.

You might try resizing to 704x480 and adding black bars on the sides to fill it out to 720. That's if you think it comes out too wide the way you're doing it now.

[jagabo]

If you resize the 16:9 source directly to 720x480 (or 704x480) and make a 16:9 anamorphic DVD you should get the right final aspect ratio.

Do you realize that most TVs overscan the video so you don't see the outer edges? Most modern LCD/Plasma HDTVs overscan by 2 or 3 percent (at each edge). Many older CRT based TVs overscanned by 5 to 10 percent.