Hi, and thanks for the reply.

I downconvert during capture because it takes less system resources to edit in DV than it does in HD ( at least it did when I used Avid).

I'm certain I rendered using the widescreen format -- even sent a clip to Sony tech support for their review and they said they had no problem with it. When I preview the event it shows up as full screen 16:9 but when I burn the project, it always burns letterboxed. I've burned several DVDs with different settings hoping to resolve the problem but nothing's worked so far. I can zoom the image on my HD TV but that's not the proper solution. I've also played the DVD on other TVs to be sure mine wasn't misbehaving, but the result is always the same.

I'd really like to have a cheat sheet that lays out all the necessary steps for capturing and burning a project so that when played on an HD TV, the image fill the entire screen without having to zoom. Any suggestions?

Thanks...

Well, some HDTV's are 16:9, some are 16:10, so those will ALWAYS letterbox normal widescreen video. That could be your problem. Most monitors are 16:10.

I previously edited with Avid Liquid Pro and never had a problem getting full screen 16:9 output. I did notice that Avid's standard setting for 16:9 is 720x486 (vs. 720-480 for Vegas/Architect). I've viewed that setting in Architect but haven't tried burning with it. Avid gives me a full 16:9 screen on my TV and also others I've tried so I'm still puzzled as to why I get full screen with Architect.

720 x 480 is normal for an NTSC DVD. The 720 x 486 is D1 standard for broadcast. This is probably not your problem.

Your problem must lie in the Settings in DVDA. Are they set for 16 x 9? when you preview in DVDA, does it display 16 x 9?

Dave T2

Yes, the settings are 16:9. I've had quite a bit of dialog with Sony's tech support -- even sent a clip which they said plays OK. I see full 16:9 when previewing but the burned copy always shows up letterboxed. There's got to be a setting that's been overlooked somewhere.

but I don't think there's a way to have DVDA convert a 16:9 clip to leterbox. I've NEVER had it happen. Can you post up a short mpeg that's 16:9 that you made & we can try to burn it?

Ok, I'll re-render a short clip using the current settings, but how do I attach it to a post here? Would it be easier to sent it as an email attachment?

Also, I realized I had two render files of the project I've been working on and DVDA was using the older version that did not have the proper settings. To be sure, I deleted both files and re-rendered the entire 1 hour video, ensuring that I used the MPEG 2 template with 16:9 widescreen selected. I then used the file in DVDA and burned a copy but the results were the same -- the video displays as 16:9 widescreen on my TV but it's letterboxed. If I zoom the image on the TV, it fills the screen but with dimished image quality.

Thanks for the help!

you can e-mail to the_happy_friar at yahoo dot com

under 10mb please. 8)

Clip sent this morning via email attachment (8.3mb). Thanks...

I checked in vegas & the clip is widescreen. DVDA saw it as widescreen too:
http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/8052/dvdaclipimage.jpg
I burned a DVD. Played it in my DVD player with a 4:3. Letterboxes. I played it in my BD player with a widescreen TV. No letterbox.

I didn't change any defaults, just dropped/dragged the clip there & it worked.

What version of DVDA are you using? I'm using 4.5.

Maybe it's the player then. Most DVD players have to be told what type of display they're connected to. If it's told it's feeding a 4:3 display it will letterbox 16:9 into 4:3 even if the monitor is physically 16:9. Then the monitor will probably pillarbox that 4:3 signal.

Is it possible to change settings in a DVD player? If so, how?

What puzzles me is that if I play a DVD I previously burned with Avid, it plays full screen on my HDTV. So it's hard to imagine why a DVD edited/burned with Vegas/DVDA shows up letterboxed.

What's even more perplexing is that test clips sent to Sony and to the_happy_friar play full screen without a problem. I can't figure out why I'm getting letterbox on my HDTV, a neighbor's HDTV and with Windows Media Player on my computer.

There must be a setting that's been overlooked either in capture or burning but it sure isn't obvious to me. And if it was in the capture process, the test clips I sent surely wouldn't play properly, but they apparently do. Yikes!

I finally figured out that the problem is with settings in my DVD player -- not with the way the project was captured, edited or burned. My Sony DVD player has a setup function that was set to 4:3. As soon as I changed it to 16:9 and played the DVD in question, I got full screen, much to my relief.

To all who've attempted to help with this problem, many, many thanks.