Maestro Authoring 16:9,should I use 16:9 LB,or 16:9 PS/LB?

[defense]

I was just curious as to which option is the best for authoring 16:9 movies? I don't think I've ever seen a 16:9 Pan-Scan. All of the movies I do are 16:9 Letterbox or anamorphic. Either 2:35:1 or 1:85:1. I had read a couple of interesting guides on backing up DVD-9 to DVD-5 and they seemed to say when authoring with Maestro you should just select the 16:9 PS/LB option.

I had always wondered why that was when it would just seem like I should check 16:9 LB because almost all of my movies are 16:9 LB, not panscan. I mean my letterbox movies still play letterbox so I don't THINK it's affecting them in any way. Although hopefully someone would let me know if it is or could. Do the guides say to use the 16:9 PS/LB option because it would be good to watch a particular movie "BOTH" ways? Any info on this would be appreciated and VERY helpful. Thanks in advance

[damnim]

4:3

Choose this option for 4:3 content. In this case, when viewed on a 4:3 TV, the video content will fill the entire 4:3 picture frame. When viewed on a 16:9 TV, the video image will be centered with black frames to the left and the right of the image.

16:9 Letterbox

Many DVD-Video titles offer what’s known as a “16:9 Widescreen” format. Here, when viewed on a 4:3 TV, the video content will be framed or “letterboxed” with black bands above and below it. When viewed on a 16:9 TV, the video content will fill the entire 16:9 picture frame. If you select the 16:9 Letterbox option, then end-users who are using 4:3 TVs will only be able to view the current DVD Movie in letterbox mode — regardless of whether the video content is Pan-Scan-encoded (as described next) or whether end-users have set their DVD players to view 16:9 material in 16:9 Pan-Scan mode.

16:9 Pan-Scan

A rarely used option for working with 16:9 material is to encode it with “pan-scan” vector information. (This must be done during the video encoding process.) 16:9 Pan-Scan is a compromise approach to viewing 16:9 material on a 4:3 TV — where some information normally on the sides of the video frame are cut off so that the video content can fill the entire 4:3 picture frame without any letterboxes. With 16:9 Pan-Scan, the video content will behave as normal when viewed on a 16:9 TV
and will fill the entire 16:9 picture frame. When viewed on a 4:3 TV, however, the content will pan and scan so that the “action” area is what fills the entire 4:3 picture frame — assuming, of course, that the content has been encoded with the pan-scan vector information. This is a feature rarely, if ever, seen on an encoder. (Typically, the action area is the center of the 16:9 image. However, there are times when the action area — such as a character speaking — is off to one side of the video frame. In this case, by panning and scanning during the encoding process, the action area won’t be cut off from view.) If you select the 16:9 Pan-Scan option, then end-users who are using 4:3 TVs will only be
able to view the current DVD Movie in full-screen mode — even if end-users have set their DVD players to view 16:9 material in 16:9 Letterbox mode.

16:9 LB/PS (16:9 Letterbox/Pan-Scan)

If you select this other rarely used option — and the 16:9 content has pan-scan information — then end-users who are using 4:3 TVs will be able to choose for themselves whether 16:9 material is presented in letterbox or full-screen (pan-scan) modes. This selection is made by each end-user as a preferred viewing mode with his or her DVD player.


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[defense]

damnim, thank you for that very informative post, It was definitely interesting. I do have a question though. Being that the PS/LB option is what I thought, you mentioned that it is rarely used. From what i've read, I'm not sure why it would be rarely used when it seems to be the best option in terms of watching 16:9 films.

I mean with letterbox, you can ONLY watch the movie LETTERBOX, which is how I would anyway, but what i'm sayinjg is that with PS/LB, I can watch it EITHER letterbox OR PanScan, right? If that's the case, wouldn't it be best to just always choose PS/LB so that a change in the DVD player menu would allow to play the movie in both formats, or does that not make sense? I've always chosen PS/LB because the guides I have read say to choose it that way, and the end result is me having a video looking EXACTLY like the original with respect to aspect ratio, whether it be the 2:35:1 or the 1:85:1 variety. Anyway, please let me know when you get a chance, what you think about why PS/LB is rarely used, when it seems more versatile.

Thanks again in advance

[damnim]

You really should copy what I have written and save it as a txt file in your DVD Doc folder.

I understand your question but I think you didn't read carefully enough.

If you use 16:9 LB/PS the elementary video stream has to be encoded with pan scan vector imformation for it to work. If the video stream is only 16:9 encoded, 16:9 LB/PS will have no effect. So, just use 16:9 setting unless you are absolutely certain the video stream has both pan scan and letterbox instructions in the stream.

[TurboRunner]

Is there an encoder that can put the pan&scan and 16:9 info in the stream or what programs that can do it?

[damnim]

Don't know of any and in my own opinion would be a waste of time unless the audience you wish to reach would require/want these choices.

[TurboRunner]

well when i watch my videos on my big tv the widescreen version isn't too bad but when i watch it on my small tv have the 16:9 video looks even smaller so if you swap from 16:9 when on bigtv to 4:3ps on small tv would be a great feature.

and thats just one situation where that feature like original dvds disc would be good.

It might not be movies but widescreen musicvideos which is probably not a big deal when watch pan&scan.

[damnim]

well when i watch my videos on my big tv the widescreen version isn't too bad but when i watch it on my small tv have the 16:9 video looks even smaller so if you swap from 16:9 when on bigtv to 4:3ps on small tv would be a great feature.

This really is an excellent example of when you would want to use 16:9LB/PS in maestro.

However, as I have stated before the original stream has to have both instructions for Letterbox and PanScan. Tmpgenc is one program that maybe able to do it. However I have never tried it and is beyond my knowledge.

8)

[TurboRunner]

I've been able to create an svcd mpeg2 that can switch between 16:9 to 4:3 in WinDVD but once you burn it with your authorising software it looses that ability weather you play it in windvd or standalone but if you open the mpeg on the cdr with windvd it will work which probably means the authoring software would have to support this feature aswell so if i put my mpeg through dvdmeastro it might work the only problem is that i cannot create dvds as i don't have a dvdwriter unless dvdmeastro can do svcd aswell?

or is there a authoring program that has this feature for svcd?

if so i will try my svcd and if it works i will upload a guide telling how to do it i've posted a message on this forum with my settings if you would like to try it and see if it works.
and if it does could you let me know heres the post

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=146356&highlight=

Thanks

TurboRunner