DVD encoding... HELP!

[Hendricus]

Hey all,

I'm very new to this so please help me out. I've shot footage for school with a DVcam in PAL format (720x576). I used the 16:9 option. What I have now is footage on 720x576 with the black bars above and below the actual footage. I believe this is called letterbox.
I need to encode this footage so the DVD will show it as widescreen. How can I do this with TEMPGenc?

Another question: I'm making the intro movie with after effects. On which resolution should I make it so it'll be widescreen PAL in the end.

I hope I'm not asking dumb questions

Thanx,
Hendricus

[DJRumpy]

It depends on the aspect ratio of your footage. 2.35:1 should have some letterboxing, while 1.85:1 should have none.

For an aspect ratio of 2.35, your source file (without letterboxing) should be 720x352, with letterboxing (assuming NTSC 720x480 for DVD) filling in the rest of the vertical with letterbox (480-352 = 128). Divide the difference (128) by 2 to get the size of the top and bottom letterbox:

64 pixel high letterbox border on top (128/2)
[[ 720 x 352 video in the middle ]]
64 pixel high letterbox border on bottom (128/2)

An aspect ratio of 1.85:1 can fill the entire screen with no letterboxing (720x480).

These will display properly in widescreen.