widescreen dvd problem

[seanin]

hi everybody,

i'm having a head-wrecking problem with burning a dvd. i've a widescreen hd video that i want to burn to dvd. idvd won't work cos it has a bug that doesn't allow you to burn widescreen dvds, and i've also tried quite a few free programmes such as "burn" and "visual hub". unfortunately software like dvd studio and encore isn't an option for budget reasons.

here's what's happening:
-working in a imovie hd 6 project file
-exporting it as a widescreen quicktime (1920x1080)
-burning the quicktime to dvd
-the dvd's fine on my computer but, on a standard 4:3 shaped telly, it's letterboxed properly but a little bit of the right and left is cut off. (***these areas being cut off is my problem****) i want my whole picture to be seen

i'm working on:
-a macbook with tiger (10.4 i think)
-imovie hd 6 etc.

all i can think of:
-are the dimensions of the quicktime right? (my video is widescreen, i want it to fill up a widescreen tv and be letterboxed on standard tvs)
-is there a hd/sd issue? (shouldn't be though, right? i understand that my hd video will be sd video when burned to dvd)
-is it the burning software? (if that's the case i'll just have to save up and get software that will do the job, by the way i''ve got my best result with free software "burn" so far).

it would be great if somebody could help me out, whether it's pointing out where i'm going wrong or telling me what software i need, i'd really appreciate it.

thanks,
john

[fritzi93]

Some overscan on a TV is normal. From the glossary:

"Overscan
The area at the edges of a television tube that is covered to hide possible video distortion. Overscan typically covers about 4 or 5 percent of the picture."

Different aspect ratios, properly displayed, will result in more or less letterboxing/pillarboxing. Forcing video to fill the entire (wide)screen can often mean stretching to fit, or cropping.

"Aspect Ratio, Display Aspect Ratio, DAR
A 4:3 aspect ratio means the horizontal size is a third again wider than the vertical size. Standard television ratio is 4:3 (or 1.33:1). Widescreen DVD and HTDV aspect ratio is 16:9 (or 1.78:1). Common film aspect ratios are 1.85:1 and 2.35:1. Aspect ratios normalized to a height of 1 are often abbreviated by leaving off the :1."

Just FYI. Can't help you with the Mac programs. Good luck.

[EDIT] You can reduce overscan by padding it out (add borders).

[seanin]

that might be a factor but i don't think it's the main problem, thanks for getting back to me