Thanks very much Kelly...I've done it before but it's been a while and was freaking out with my deadline!
Thanks again bud,
Randy

Be careful :

PAL 4/3 : 1.0926
PAL 16/9 : 1.4568

NTSC 4/3 : 0.9091
NTSC 16/9 : 1.2121

Sorry to bother you again Kelly but now(viewing on my 4:3 external monitor) my 4:3 program is letterboxed vertically (bars on sides)and squished instead of filling the 4:3 screen.
Any suggestions?
Thanks again,
Randy

Hi,

Use the pan/crop, but just for resize verticaly your event.

Note : this cause loss of the top end bottom of your 4/3 footage (or just top or just bottom if you use pan too) and loss of resolution.

Thanks Fred, but is there no way to have all of the 4:3 clip show up on a 16:9 TV...like 16:9 shows on a 4:3?
IOW, black bars where ever it doesn't fill the screen. With everything I'm trying I keep either getting a stretched, squeezed, or a cropped image.
Thanks again Fred,
Randy

I think you're right...just make it look the best I can by cropping it.

"but is there no way to have all of the 4:3 clip show up on a 16:9 TV...like 16:9 shows on a 4:3?"

I do not understand :
In this case, 2 possibilities :
1) you have 16/9 with black lines on the screen. So you had the equivalent in previous message
2) 16/9 footage has been croped (resize horizontaly), so it is equivalent what I suggest to you...

If your image is still stretched, turn on "maintain aspect ratio"

all is well now...I just used the pan crop (as you suggested) to get it right and it's working fine...thanks again Fred.

Well,I just thought everything was fine. When I play it on a 4:3 TV the 16:9 section is letterboxed (with bars on top and bottom as expected) but the 4:3 part has bars on top, bottom and sides!!
I have maintain aspect ratio on and stretch off...can someone please tell me if it is even possible to mix the 2 formats on one DVD and expect both to play normal??

Thanks very much,
Randy
EDIT: Oh man, I just watched it on a widescreen TV and the 16:9 section has bars all around also!

You've somehow got it flagged as 16:9. Now I'm sure of it.

Thank you very much for the reply Laurence.
Okay so I have widescreen and 4:3 video on the timeline.
I have the file/properties set to 16:9 because it needs to display correctly on a widescreen TV.
For the widescreen clip I right click and select properties, on the video event tab I have "maintain aspect ratio" checked and on the media tab I have pixel aspect set to "1.2121 (NTSC DV widescreen) " selected.
In pan/crop I have the 16:9 preset selected, maintain aspect ratio set to yes and stretch to fill set to no.

For the 4:3 clip I right click and select properties, on the video event tab I have "maintain aspect ratio" checked and on the media tab I have pixel aspect set to "0.9091 (NTSC DV) " selected.
In pan/crop I have the 4:3 preset selected, maintain aspect ratio set to yes and stretch to fill set to no.
Please tell me what I'm doing wrong...thanks very much for your patience!!!!
Randy

Your project properties should be set to 4:3 in a 4:3 project. If you do a 4:3 project with the properties set to 4:3 all the way down to the DVD authoring, what you'll get on a widescreen HD TV connected to a DVD player with HDMI is a pillarboxed 4:3 image. On a 4:3 CRT connected with composite or s-video you'll get screen filling SD.

So if I set my file/proerties to 4:3 they (the 4:3 and 16:9) will display correctly on a widescreen? Do I need to change the settings on the 16:9 clip from what I described above?
Thanks again Laurence,
Randy

EDIT: how bout properties at 4:3 like you said and stretch to fill on the 16:9 clip it looks right but before I render the whole thing and burn to DVD...also yoou're saying that DVDA should be set to 4:3 also for a widescreen project...that just seems weird but I'm ready to try anything!!!

I'm sorry to bump this but can someone please tell me how or if one can have a 16:9 clip and a 4:3 clip on the same DVD and them display correctly on a widescreen TV?
Laurence seems to think I'm dealing with a 4:3 video only but it is both.
Surely someone knows the answer and my client wants it yesterday.

Your answer would be very much appreciated!

Hi,

I do not use DVDA, so I can just give you 1 or 2 indications in Vegas :

First, Chek if your Veg PROJECT properties is well set to NTSC 16/9.
Second, check your render template is too NTSC 16/9 !

What you describe tells me your media on the DVD is in fact 4/3 and not 16/9 is you wanted... (if I understand correctly other posts : my english is not really good, sorry)

Thanks Fred,
Yes under file/properties it is set to 1.2121 and the render template is set to DVDA widescreen. With that setting the 16:9 material is stretched out of proportion horizontally.
Thanks again,
Randy

bump

OK, let me understand better. Do you want to have a DVD with two playback options in a menu: a 16:9 and a 4:3 where each option chooses a movie which continues once it starts in the same aspect ratio?

Maybe I'm missing something something here (and please correct me if that is the case), but I think the issue is this:

If this is a standard DVD and the project/DVD are NTSC, then the only way 16:9 will be displayed on a standard (NTSC) TV will be in letterbox.

On a widescreen (HD capable) TV, you will have the choice of displaying standard (NTSC) signals as either native format (within a 4:3 box in the middle of the screen), or stretched to fill the frame. If you choose native format, the letterbox will have bars all around (letterbox with pillars) and the full frame 4:3 will have pillars...If you choose stretch, the 16:9 will still be letterbox, but stretched, and the 4:3 will fill the screen.

Using an unpconverting DVD player will change the formula, but you can't really escape the limitations of the format. If you have an HDTV and watch an HD broadcast or cable signal regularly, you will get used to all this format sharing.

Unless you are burning a hidef project, these are the only choices that exist, I believe.

....There is actually a third choice for viewing standard def material on a widescreen, hi def TV: Zoom. I personally never choose this and just live in stretch land. The broadcasters basically seem to just leave everything in native format most of the time....which means that you still see a mixed bag of black bars and strips during the commercials, and still see "Pan and Scan" versions of movies from the broadcasters' archives being broadcast in hi def pillars format.

I may have the wrong end of the stick here, but as far as I know, the only way to get 16:9 and 4:3 to display properly in the same project/movie, is to drop the 4:3 material on to a 16:9 background. You can see this method used a lot on TV - especially for old sports footage, or footage from countries that 16:9 hasn't caught on yet. Even some new TV series from the US seem to be in 4:3.

I suppose I didn't do a good job of explaining but Arthur has the "right end of the stick"....thank you sir!
I have a 16:9 clip and a 4:3 clip and I want both to display correctly on a widescreen TV and my client wants them both on a looping DVD (to display at a state fair).
For me that would mean the 16:9 taking up the full screen and the 4:3 being pillar-boxed (first time I've heard that term) on their 22" widescreen TV.
So as Arthur has explained...it's not possible unless I "trick" it with a background so I'm off to try that.
Thanks to everyone for your help and I apologize for not expressing my needs more clearly.

Okay I was about to try this and realized I need to ask how to go about this.
When I think background I think having a track below the main track and adding your background to the lower track but that can't be what you're saying.
Would you be so kind to tell me exactly how to do what you're talking about... ie project properties set to widescreen, 4:3 clip properties set to 4:3, use solid color generated media etc
Thanks very much,
Randy
EDIT: also I still can't figure out why the 16:9 clip looks stretched horizontally with letterboxing instead of filling the screen....again thanks for everyone's patience!