Help with PV-GS39

[videoboi]

I have a Panasonic PV-GS39. I know it can record in 16:9 widescreen, and right now I only have a 4:3 tv. I have the camcorder set that the output is for a 4:3 so the video will playback with the black bars at the top and the bottom of the screen. However, that only happens for the composite output, while the DV port would so the video, but with the sides cutoff and the black bars missing, though the video is good in proportion. Then I record the video onto the computer by DV, on Click to DVD (Sony program), and in the preview window, the black bars are there. Then when the actual DVD is made, the bars are gone and the sides cutoff again when played on the tv sets (which are are 4:3) but play good on the computer. Do I need to fix the settings or in the future get a 16:9 tv to take full advantage of the camcorder. Any help would be great.

[videoboi]

Can someone please help.

[guns1inger]

If you transfer true 16:9 footage to the PC, and encode it as 16:9, and author it as 16:9, and your player is correctly configured to output 16:9 to your TV, you should get 16:9 to watch. If you are not, then your process is falling down somewhere. You just need to work out where.

I would suggest that the Sony program you are using is not encoding or authoring correctly, so that is the first thing I would look at. So my first questions would be

1. What exactly is this Sony program ? Vegas ? Vegas Movie Studio ?

2. What settings do you use ? If it is either of the above, you need to make sure the project is set to 16:9, and when you encode, the output is set to 16:9.

3. What software do you use to burn the DVD ?

[videoboi]

I use Click to DVD for the encoding and the burning.

[guns1inger]

Does it support 16:9 encoding and authoring ?

[videoboi]

I'm not sure. I did however try the DVD on my friend's widescreen tv and the entire shot was shown, so I guess that means that I either need to get a widescreen tv or just record my videos in 4:3 so that way I won't have the ends cutoff.

[guns1inger]

If it plays back correctly on a widescreen TV then I would be looking at the player settings. Specifically, look at the output format and make sure 16:9 is set to play widescreen and not P&S.

[thecoalman]

Make sure you're not recording 16:9 on 4:3 as in this thread: https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=326030

You can test your video to see if the black bars are part of the video by opening WMP, click tools>options>performance>advanced and switch the video border color from black to white. Open your video and if they are still present it's not really widescreen but a 16:9 video on a 4:3 matte.

I'd suggest doing a short capture with WinDV before tryin that to remove any possibilty that it's your capture settings.

[videoboi]

I will give it a try. May I ask what is "P&S" for player settings?

[minko]

Using your DVD Player remote control, look in the "Settings" for "Display" or "Video" settings.

Since you have a DVD Player capable of playing back 16:9 (Widescreen) but you have a television capable of only displaying 4:3 (Full Screen), then you have to set your DVD player to "Display" in the DVD in the format that you want.

For Example, if you have a Widescreen movie you want to display on you Fullscreen television, then I would set the "Display" settings to "Letterbox" (Correct Proportions With Black Bars Top & Bottom).

You could however set the "Display" settings to PS (Pan & Scan). Correct proportions but areas cut off.

You could also set the "Display" settings to Fullscreen (Everything squished in from left and right to fill the screen)(Tall & Skinny People).

If you've captured, authored, and burnt in Widescreen, then the Letterbox option ought to look good to you on your Fullscreen Television. There will be black bars top & bottom.

[videoboi]

Well, my DVD player is set to letterbox, but I still have the ends cutoff. But the DVD displayed fine on my friend's widescreen TV.

[guns1inger]

How much of the ends ? Remember you will lose 5% of so to overscan

[videoboi]

I know it has been a long time that I've written back, but I wanted to say that my DVD player was set to P&S and not letterbox so I changed it and it worked.
I wanted to thank you guys for helping me and your advice helped out a lot. Thanks.