Create 4:3 DVD (from VHS) for 16:9 TV

[natrap]

I'm converting a few VHS to DVD. The movies are in 4:3 aspect ratio.

Just as background I've captured the video using Winfast PVR2 and a Winfast TV2000XP Expert PCI card. I'm capturing as MPEG-2 VBR 720x576 Progressive.

I'm then using TMPGEnc Authoring Works 4 to author the DVD. I set it to PAL 720x576 4:3 Progressive.

Here's where I encountered a problem. My TV is a 42" Plasma that has a resolution of 1024x768 so it doesn't have square pixels (I'm starting to regret it). I assume the pixels are shaped in a 4:3 ratio to create a 16:9 image? When I play the DVD I created the picture fills the whole screen so the image appears stretched and people fat. I had expected black bars on the sides so that the picture remains in its true 4:3 ratio. To investigate I plugged the VHS in to the TV and it was the same problem: stretched image, no black bars.

I'm a little surprised the TV can't display a 720x576 source as 4:3. I guess the wide pixels produce a stretched image while expecting DVDs to be anamorphic widescreen which corrects the stretching and it wasn't designed to suit VHS? I imagine this problem doesn't exist on TVs with square pixels? I can manually set the aspect ratio on the TV to 4:3 but this produces grey bars on the sides that are more distracting than the normal black bars so I'd rather avoid this if I can.

Now to what I think might be the solution. The alternative authoring option is to change the aspect ratio in TMPGEnc to 16:9. I then need to choose either Letterbox, Pan and Scan, or Letterbox/Pan and Scan. I suspect Letterbox is what I would want as I've never known Pan and Scan to be the right choice, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

If I set the aspect ratio to 16:9 TMPGEnc has to reencode the video. It looks like it will add black bars to the sides and I assume this would reduce the quality of the video since it has to fit more picture in each frame. Is there any other alternative? Is this what is done on commercial DVDs that are meant to be displayed in 4:3 or do they not bother, in which case I'd encounter the same problem wouldn't I?

My other query is that if setting the aspect ratio to 16:9 produces the desired result on my TV what will it look like on a Full HD TV that has square pixels.

I appreciate whatever insight anyone can give me.

[manono]

Do you have the DVD player set up correctly - to output to a 16:9 display? Don't you have any retail 4:3 DVDs with which to test? But to answer that question; retail DVDs of 4:3 material are encoded as 4:3. They don't add black bars to the sides and encode as 16:9. And the resolution of your TV set has nothing to do with how DVDs will look on it. Whether 1024x768 or 1920x1080, all DVDs should look the same as far as the aspect ratio goes.

Some TVs set grey bars on the sides. Some TVs allow you to choose the color of the pillar bars.

[natrap]

Yes the DVD player is set to 16:9 display. I found a DVD of Seinfeld that is 4:3 and it was stretched to fit as well. I do think it's a product of the rectangular pixels. I've watched 4:3 content so seldom (except on DTB where it sorts itself out) that I guess I never noticed it before.

I looked into changing the bars and it turns out I can do that. It's in the setup under the not very helpful name Side Panels so I never knew what it was. Thanks for the tip.

I think I'll be happy with that. It's not worth the trouble of having to reencode it.

[manono]

I do think it's a product of the rectangular pixels.

I don't. If the DVD player is set up correctly then your TV set isn't. Either that or you're supposed to change the display method depending on the DAR of your material. I've read of that before, people having to change around the TV setting depending on the DAR. You said you could set it to display 4:3 with bars on the sides, so I guess you're expected to do that. Your manual should have more information.

So you got the grey sidebar issue sorted out? Good.

[natrap]

You could be right. The TV aspect ratio is probably just overriding the DVD aspect ratio. Not a good design I think but I suppose it does allow flexibility.

Yeah I am able to change the side bars to a couple different shades of grey or black.

[guns1inger]

It mat depend on the player. I have two players set up correctly for 16:9 material on a widerscreen (full 1080p) LCD. Both are connected via component cables. I also have a PS3 connected to the same TV via HDMI.

If I play a 4:3 encoded DVD on the PS3, it displays correctly, with pillarboxing. All good.

If I play the same DVD with either of the DVD players, the TV displays the video stretched to fill the screen form side to side. I have to manually change the AR of the TV to accommodate the image. Doesn't matter what settings I use on the DVD players, the AR flag signal is not being correctly over component. When the same DVD players use the same set up, but connected via s-video, to my old 4:3 (16:9 switchable) CRT, it happily switched between 4:3 and 16:9 automatically.