How can I keep letterbox?

Kalvos wrote on 11/10/2003, 8:37 PM

Hi all,

Been gone about a year, right through the transition to Sony, but have been happily working to VHS, creating AVI or MPEG files.

I just got a DVD burner (LG Electronics 4040), and I've run into a problem.

When going to VHS, I ran WMP, used my dual-head Matrox to output the screen to the second head as standard video, and the letterboxed (720x480) recording showed up nicely.

But I can't seem to burn these files to DVD correctly. Instead of leaving the letterboxing, it crops the sides so that it fills the screen vertically. I don't want it to do that (especially losing text on earlier projects), but in a whole day of web searches, I haven't been able to find a trick to keep it as is.

I've used Ulead Movie Factory and Neo with no luck. I even tried creating files on the HD and using IfoEdit to change the aspect ratio, but it still gives me 4:3 with the sides cropped.

What do I need to do to keep the letterboxing I have with all my VF/SB projects? I have a performance Saturday (a Theremin trio with video!) and really don't want to use VHS!

Thanks,
Dennis

Comments

Kalvos wrote on 11/11/2003, 11:44 AM

This group is pretty quiet, only a few posts. It used to be active in the old VF board. Everybody go to a newsgroup somewhere?

Dennis

jga324 wrote on 11/11/2003, 2:16 PM

Some comments:
1) Quiet group - Maybe there are fewer problems, or people moved up to Vegas. Certainly not the problems of "competitive" products.
2) Letterbox - Try putting letterbox in the Forum Search. Quite a few ideas show up.
3) A Theremin trio! - That I'd like to hear some time.

Jerry

Kalvos wrote on 11/11/2003, 2:29 PM

Jerry,

Thanks for comments about the group & Theremins.

I had done a search yesterday here and on other forums -- most of the day. A few suggested IfoEdit, but Movie Factory seemed to ignore anything I put in there.

And the comments mostly address 16:9, whereas this is 720x480 (3:2). The Screenblast preview screen and the Windows Media Player video output show correctly -- 3:2 letterboxed within the 4:3 screen.

But when I render this to DVD, it always removes the letterbox and trims the sides. I have found no references to how to solve this, or even the 3:2 (vs. 16:9) issue at all.

Are these simply incompatible? Is there no way to render the 3:2-inside-4:3 that the computer sees onto a DVD?

Thanks,
Dennis

Former user wrote on 11/11/2003, 2:39 PM

Just guessing here, but when you render isn't there an option to Stretch Video (or something like that). If so, this should be unchecked.

Dave T2

Kalvos wrote on 11/11/2003, 2:49 PM

Yes, Dave, it is unchecked. I have also tried it checked with no difference in results.

Is is possible that this letterboxed 3:2 (720x480) format is simply not supported? The odd thing is that it appears to be the Screenblast default for creating DVD files.

What don't I understand? After a year's worth of screen-cloning this format to VHS, I'm a bit, um, spoiled by having the whole image available!

Dennis

SonySCS wrote on 11/11/2003, 3:35 PM

If you're using myDVD or DVD Architech, you can e-mail Tech Support. http://www.custcenter.com/cgi-bin/sonypictures.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php

Suzan