Question about: Letterbox/Normal/Squeeze and 16:9 /4:3

B

bigox

Well-known member
I'm still getting familiar with my DVX 100B.


I want to shoot a film in "Widescreen/Letterbox" format.

When you buy a DVD that is in Widescreen at the store and then put it in the DVD play, the image is letterbox/widescreen, regardless of what kind of TV you use.

That's what I want to achieve. So how do I go about doing that?

I'm a little confused by what to select to get that.

If i go to MENU - CAMERA SETUP - ASPECT CONV:

I get 3 options: NORMAL - LETTERBOX - SQUEEZE

Which should I choose?

My understanding was that Letterbox means wide screen. Do they mean 2 different things on this camera?

In the manual they say Letterbox will create the bars, but that Squeeze shows the recording in 16:9 on wide screen televisions.

So it has me confused.

On a related note(Or maybe it's not related, i'm still learning)

If I go to MENU - DISPLAY SETUP - DISPLAY ASPECT:

I get 3 options: AUTO - 4:3 - 16:9

Do I have to choose one of these options also to achieve what I'm looking for, or is this 100 percent unrelated to that all together?

And if it is unrelated, what's the difference between choosing one of these 3?


You'll have to excuse my ignorance. I"m still trying to learn. I'm reading the manual like mad, but I'm still not understanding some of the specifics.

Thanks a ton guys in advance!
 
If you want the same thing the widescreen DVD does, then you want Squeeze. However, keep in mind that the DVD player does the work in formatting it correctly for the type of screen you have, and if you play the tape straight from the camera to a standard 4:3 TV, the picture will appear . . . squeezed.
 
Okay, I'm not married to the widescreen/letterbox format. - The important thing is the 24fps, which is why i have a DVX.

So what's the best way to go? I just want it to look good. I prefer widescreen when I watch a DVD, but hey, i can live with 4:3 if it's going to look better than the letterbox or squeeze selections.

Any advice? And also, in searching the questions, i repeatedly see people saying make sure you shoot in THIN when you do 24P - Are there any other suggestions on MUST DO settings when shooting on 24P? Or is thin the big one?
 
i have a whole film series im working on that im shooting in 4X3 on the dvx in 24p advanced mode. We are going to be presenting it to the Sci Fi channel. They will make us reshoot it, if they buy it and want it 16X9.

If i was going to shoot 16X9 with a dvx, i would use an anamorphic adapter.

Otherwise, i think you lose some quality.

If your okay with shooting 4X3, it works great for me. I just crop it in post. This requires the person watching it on bigscreen tvs to "zoom in" on the image in order for it to fill the screen. But i gotta tell you, the quality has held up AMAZING!!! Of course, this is also because i light things properly (HUGE deal).. I had one of my films that i shot in 4X3 blown up at a theater once... and of course it didnt cover the sides.. because of the ration.. but man , it looked superb! I couldnt believe i was watching a film i shot on a dvx in 4X3 mode!! So a lot has to do with lighting too..

I could just as well shoot in squeeze and save the viewer the hassle from selecting a ratio to zoom in when they watch it on wide screen tvs, ..... but i dont think it will look as good.

Using an anamorphic lense.. that would be different. I would rather do that, but they are just so darn expensive and finding a place that rents them is like pulling teeth.
 
I actually just messaged Barry about this and basically what he told me was that if you just want the widescreen look then use the letterbox, but if your final output is geared towards theatres or even 16:9 TVs the best way to go is squeeze, and if you change your display to 16:9 view it squashes the squeeze mode back into a normal looking image which is easier for framing I find.

Sean
 
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