letterbox

mistajazz

Member
Hey all, i know this might sound stupid but whats the actual purpose of the letterbox mode on the dvx100a.I know it makes it more like a film coz of the black bands on the top and bottom of the screen but isnt that the purpose of the squeeze mode.That in itself just looks odd..Only just bought this camera a couple of days ago but am loving it already. ;D
 
Re: letterbox

Squeeze mode is 16:9 if you're playing on a 16:9 screen (it'll play it properly because it'll stretch it out for you)

letterbox mode is for 4:3 tvs (and is second to the anamorphic adaptor for film prints)
 
Re: letterbox

Letterbox is for displaying on a 4:3 television. Squeeze mode is for displaying on a 16:9 widescreen television.
 
Re: letterbox

[quote author=Barry_Green link=board=news;num=1093608413;start=0#3 date=08/27/04 at 11:44:40]DOH!  Mike beat me to it...[/quote]

A very rare occurance might I add :D
 
Re: letterbox

Question:

(sorry, I know that this kind of questions are always floating in the forum)
I am starting the shooting of a short movie using squeeze mode.

I have 16:9 TV, and I am cutting in Premiere 6.5 with widescreen format. After I compress to MPEG2 with Canopus and specify 16:9 too. After I make DVD with TMPEG DVd Author and I do not specify 16:9

The DVD can not play full screen in my 16:9... format is correct (proportions) but smaller than the screen (black strips up, down, right and left)

Second question: shooting in squeeze will be a problem to play in 4:3 afterwards ?

Could somebody help ? Thanks a lot
 
Re: letterbox

Make sure your DVD is authored for 16:9 . If it is, you'll have no problems - it'll play full screen on a 16:9 TV (in the proper dimensions) and it'll play with letterbox bands on the top and bottom on a 4:3 TV. It'll work properly.

If you're never going out to film, and want 16:9, squeeze mode is the way to go.
 
Re: letterbox

[quote author=Mike_Donis link=board=news;num=1093608413;start=0#1 date=08/27/04 at 11:15:15]letterbox mode is for 4:3 tvs[/quote]

Hmm, but wouldn't it be better to capture using squeeze mode because of the higher vertical resolution and then in post output formatted for 4:3?
 
Re: letterbox

Squeeze mode is slightly lower resolution than letterbox, because squeeze mode is a digitally-stretched version of letterbox, whereas letterbox is the original unmodified footage.
 
Re: letterbox

When using letterbox mode, I noticed at times the desired effects you apply in post can affect the black bars as well.
 
Re: letterbox

donbarzini- thats a very common thing to go unnoticed, and end up screwing up footage.. alot of post effects will change the black bars from tru black, and smera the color and luminince into it and such.. its a good idea to keep a set of aspect ratio overlays to luma key over the finished project.. it will only overlay the black bars again, but it will cover up the old black which could have been affected during post.. since this has to be done alot.. its not much differnt to shoot in 4:3 and matte in post, which gains the little room for framing errors by sliding the vid up or down behind the matte. i still however shoot letterbox to begin with cause i prefer to have the finished look on the lcd vs tape.
 
Re: letterbox

To say nothing of the black bars moving with the footage if you do page peels or anything like that. Or if you do a water ripple, for example, it'll ripple the black bars, too.
 
Re: letterbox

Thats one of the reasons i shoot with the anamorf (if you dont count that its stucked)

But I bought a cam that recorded real 25p. To get full res 25p picture. If I letterbox it i loose some of the res i gain with 25p.
 
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