16X9 video not outputing correctly, need help

[irose]

Hello,

I have put together a really short short. It was shot on a Panasonic GS250 in its 16x9 mode (NOT cinema=black bar mask). I have it all put together in Avid. My problem is avid imported it as 4x3, then on the timeline windows I right clicked to 16x9 video so I can edit it in its native aspect ratio. I have everything edited and now I want A. put on a DVD that will be displayed on a 4x3 television and B. Online.

Using Sorenson Squeeze I have taken the quicktime reference file and made a mpg. Not matter what settings I seem to do like: pixel aspect ratio, leaving the aspect ratio, or setting my own frame demensions my image is always a 16x9 stretched in a 4x3 screen. What I would like is to have black horizontal bars. How do I do this?

I know it can be done because I have taken the same 16x9 footage imported into Adobe elements and Adobe automatically recongnizes some sort of meta data on tape and puts the horizontal bars on the editing view window and later on when encoding into mpg.

My edited sequence is in Avid so I thought I could export it to tape and then import into elements and then use Adobe to make an mpeg. What happens though when I do a crash record to tape in Avid, my cam (acting as a Deck) doesnt immediately recognize the footage as 16x9 and stretches it then like 2 seconds of recording realizes and puts it into 16x9 with the horizontal black bars. Anytime I have black padding inbetween shots the cam switches back to 4x3 and then when footage comes back its take a while then goes into 16x9.

To sum it up, how do I take my edited native 16x9 footage and put onto a DVD for 4x3 playback (horizontal black bars)?

[sebastian]

In Avid you must add squeeze effect and make your footage "all wheels rounded" (squeeze only vertically) , render, then export QT ref as 4:3 native dimentions, import to Sorenson as 4:3 project and make 4:3 format MPEG2 (DVD). Done.
That's how I do, maybe there's another way...
Better way is to film 16:9 with black bars if your camera allows that. Then you have more freedom to process afterwards I think.
By the way...when you rightclick on Avid's screen to 16:9 then you're changing only viewing mode, your footage stays untouched.

[QXZ]

When I need a 16:9 DVD output from Avid, here is what I do (mind you I'm using Avid Symphony):
I export a Quicktime Reference with the "16:9 Pixel Aspect Ratio" button selected.
I take the resulting reference file into Cleaner (I'm using Cleaner XL) and add it as source media to a job which is set up to produce an .m2v and associated .wav file.
In the encoder settings for the job I make sure to select the "16:9 Aspect Ratio" choice under Video.
The resulting .m2v file (the MPEG2 Video file) is thereby "flagged" as being 16:9, and this flag instructs the DVD player to either display the image letterboxed on a 4:3 display, or crop it on the fly to 4:3 depending on what the user has instructed the player to do with 16:9 video.
When the compression is done you have a .m2v file and .wav file, and these can be brought into your DVD authoring software.

In summary, regardless of the software you're using, you must make sure that the MPEG2 video resulting from the compression process is properly flagged as 16:9 so the DVD player will know what to do with it.

[anchoryanker]

How would you do this under vegas 7.0 or FCP? I am having the same problem, i'm using an anamorphic adapter on my 100b and want to print to tape in a way that it will display in 16:9. I printed it to tape at 16:9 and when playing it displayed as 16:9 on the LCD but on the projector and tvs it still was 4:3.

I was able to watch it as 16:9 on my tv only because i manually set it to 16:9, the other tvs i showed it on couldn't do that so we had to watch it as 4:3.

I would prefer to show it from tape for quality reasons, I'm guessing I will have to print it to tape as 4:3 letterbox?

I know the two Fx-1s the school has both display properly here when projected, I'm gonna pull my hair out if I can't figure out how to get mine to do it also.

[aurantaurant]

I'm having the same problem as well. I'm using FCP with footage from the HVX200 shot at 24pn. Export through Compressor, imports fine into DVD Studio Pro, looks great when previewing it, so I burn...

Pop it into the DVD player and I'm not seeing the 16:9 black bars, it takes up the entire screen and some of the footage is cut off on the right and left.

So how do you get that image to display 16:9 in a consumer DVD Player? I've followed all the steps so far... now this....

[milksac]

In summary, regardless of the software you're using, you must make sure that the MPEG2 video resulting from the compression process is properly flagged as 16:9 so the DVD player will know what to do with it.
Give that man a cigar.
In addition to making the right choices during the encoding also be aware of your settings in your authoring app. Studio Pro for example allows the user to select 16:9 or 4:3.

Regarding Avid, I don't think that Avid will generate a WSS (widescreen signal). WSS is the 16:9 flag that QXZ is referencing. If in fact Avid doesn't generate a WSS then it would explain why the camera/deck is switching back to 4:3 when it hits the black in between clips. The WSS signal data is written to line 20 on the video, like VITC. That information was preserved when you digitized the cam original, however there's no signal in the black spaces that Avid generates. on off on off

If you set up your encoding and authoring correctly a proper WSS will be encoded along with the video.