DVD Burning problem, please help

armisiano

armisiano

Veteran
So here's my problem.

I have a short film I'd like to burn to a DVD. The video clip is 16:9.

When I burn the DVD as 16:9, it plays correctly in a very old DVD player I have on a 4:3 set, but plays incorrectly on many newer DVD players I put it in, by zooming in on the footage to crop out the letterboxing.

When I burn the DVD as 4:3, it STILL plays correctly in my old DVD player on a 4:3 set, naturally adding the appropriate letterboxing, but STILL plays incorrectly on several much newer DVD players, still zooming in on the footage cropping out the letterboxing and sides of the footage.

All tests were done on regular 4:3 television sets.

What's the deal?
 
I'm so desperate I may just drag the file into a 4:3 project and export it that way. I hope I don't have to.
 
as mike indicated, your dvd authoring program should have told the dvd player that it's 16:9 format... but sometimes you have to make that choice manually within the authoring program, when you are creating the dvd.
 
Sometimes a DVD player will also be set to "pan & scan" widescreen material, which will do what you're saying.
 
That's the thing, I am conciously telling the program to author the DVD as either 16:9, or 4:3, but either way on several DVD players it just zooms into the middle of the frame no matter what cropping off both the sides as well as the letterboxing. Creating what you see below.

Figure 1 shows what I SHOULD be seeing, and what I actually DO see on my older DVD player from 1999. Figure 2 shows what I actually see when I play said video on a newer DVD player, formatted at 16:9 or 4:3, same effect.

1228629707.jpg


I even formatted the disc as 16:9 and played it on a 16:9 tv set with a new DVD player, and it had the exact same problem, only this time it coupled that issue with also stretching the poorly cropped in now 4:3 image to fit the 16:9 screen, as demonstrated in the example below.

1228630136.jpg


Understand that this may not seem so bad with the image I've used an an example, but when you're talking about faces, and specific framing, it's a big issue.
 
o.k., you have documented the problem pretty well... but you haven't addressed the potential issues that might be causing the problem:

1) dvd flags should be set in the authoring program
2) pan & scan settings on the dvd player
 
OSV said:
o.k., you have documented the problem pretty well... but you haven't addressed the potential issues that might be causing the problem:

1) dvd flags should be set in the authoring program
2) pan & scan settings on the dvd player
Click to expand...


I hate sounding dumb, but I must, what exactly are "dvd flags"? I don't know that term, sorry.

The fact is I wanna send a copy of the short film on DVD to everyone involved. Nothing complex, just a simple pop it in and play. I'm just worried based on the diversity of playback I've been getting from my home DVD players, that some of the cast and or crew will be seeing the movie, well, jacked up.
 
the mpeg video stream is telling the dvd player that the video is 16:9, so display it on the tv that way.

pc or mac? what software did you use for authoring the dvd?
 
OSV said:
the mpeg video stream is telling the dvd player that the video is 16:9, so display it on the tv that way.

pc or mac? what software did you use for authoring the dvd?
Click to expand...

PC. I was just trying to do it quickly in Windows DVD maker. Pop the dvd in, drag & drop the video file, choose the aspect ratio and burn.
 
if you are able to tell the program what the aspect ratio is, i'd think that should set the flag?

i'm working on my first commercial 16:9 dvd right now, so your experiences have got me kinda nervous.
 
Its a setting on the DVD player. There is nothing wrong with your DVD. You have to go to the setting of your DVD player and tell it what to output. Some really cheap DVD players don't even let you choose, but most DVD players will let you choose.
 
Eric Papa said:
Its a setting on the DVD player. There is nothing wrong with your DVD. You have to go to the setting of your DVD player and tell it what to output. Some really cheap DVD players don't even let you choose, but most DVD players will let you choose.
Click to expand...

Cool. I'll go with this.

I'd like to get a least one or two other people agreeing with this and supporting this explanation before I move ahead and burn DVD's for people. Anyone?
 
armisiano,

On your DVD player remote control, press the setup or settings button. you should be able to navigate to a display setting were you can control this. like you said, your old DVD player worked correctly with 4:3. If you take the DVD player that is not working accurately and hook it up to a widescreen tv, you will see that the disc plays correctly, filling the screen properly without changing anything and using the same disc.
 
My DVD player has a similar problem. To solve it I had to actually stop the DVD, go into the DVD player's menu and tell it to play my widescreen DVD in letterbox. Otherwise by the player's default settings, my widescreen DVD would stretch to fit the 4:3 TV. There is also a pan and scan option on mine I never use.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top