Anamorphic --> 4:3 Ltbx?

[acs236]

I have some video I recorded on my camcorder that is 16x9. I have no problem burning it to a DVD at 16:9, which is fine for my own playback, but I'd like to be able to make copies for a few people without 16x9 televisions.

What is the best way to take my 16x9 video and convert it to, ideally 4:3 letterbox, but if not, then I guess I can live with cropping the sides.

thanks

[yoda313]

I don't think you have to do anything.

On the commercial dvds I get I always buy widescreen even though I have a plain old 4:3 tv. I just get it letterboxed automatically. Not sure what my settings are on my players but I think I leave it on fixed or whatever.

Ask them what movies like Star Wars or Titanic look like on their tvs (when they play a widescreen movie). If they say they see the black bars then they have it set to be in letterbox mode already.

It's more a function of the dvd player than what you hardcoded the video to. THough of course you can't easily go from fixed 4:3 to 16x9 but your player does the work to go from 16x9 to fixed.

Maybe some other members here can be a little more specific about my generalities here.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Most DVD players *should* change the video aspect ratio. i.e., if the DVD is flagged as 16:9 and the player is configured for use with a 4:3 standard TV, you should get letterboxing (my cheapo $20 player does).

Alternatively, if the original videos are DV, you can do real-time (or fast) conversion with our Enosoft DV Processor. You can do this at capture time or, if you want to keep the native 16:9 file, you can create converted files from the originals.

[acs236]

Thanks for the replies. I understand that an anamorphic dvd will letterbox on 4:3 TV. But I was concerned that the video recorded by my camcorder was different. In other words, I had assumed that anamorphic dvds contained certain information that allowed the letterboxing. I'll try the 16:9 dvd I made from my camcorder on a 4:3 tv and see how it looks.

Thanks for the help.

[thecoalman]

There's no difference between a commercial 16:9 and your 16:9. As long as the flag is set properly it will work providing the player is set up right. If not neither will work correctly.