Letterbox/Aspect questions

dth122 wrote on 8/29/2005, 8:06 PM

I have some questions regarding aspect ratio...

I shot some footage with a DVX100A in letterbox mode. When I bring this in to Vegas to edit, if I have a 4:3 project it's letterboxed, as expected. If I have a 16:9 project, I get a black border all the way around (understandable).

Question 1: The project will be played back from DVD on both 4:3 and 16:9 TVs. I assume that I want to keep it in 4:3 to maintain the resolution. Correct?

If I stay editing in 4:3 and I crop any of the video, it fills the whole 4:3 screen rather than staying letterboxed.

Question 2: How do I keep the letterboxing so cropped images look the same as uncropped images?

Question 3: If I were starting all over with the shooting, what is the generally accepted best paractice with respect to aspect ratio for shooting and editing footage destined for DVD playback on both types of TVs?

Thanks!
- Dave

Comments

filmy wrote on 8/29/2005, 8:55 PM

Seems this is a hot topic this last week or so.

overly simple answer -

Shoot 16:9 aspect ratio.
Edit
Encode using the widescreen DVD setting
Burn to DVD

Your DVD player does the rest. provided it is set up the right way when you plasy it on a 4:3 screen it will be letterboxed. When you play it on a 16:9 screen it will not be letterboxed.

To answer the question about the problem at hand -
Either crop it making it 16:9 and than just encode and burn as you would had it been shot 16:9 or keep it as it and for those with 16:9 sets they will need to either deal with it or use the "zoom" option, either on ther sets or on their DVD players.