I tried Make Movie, selected DVD with menus, then on the next screen selected Use Widescreen DVD Format. It rendered, opened DVD Architect and I burned a DVD. On my widescreen TV the video came up surrounded by black borders with the 16:9 video centered. I used the TV controls to Zoom the display and it then filled the screen with the same 16:9 format, losing only a VERY little on the top and bottom. The quality was fine on this 26" monitor.

If I also check the "Stretch video to fill output frame size (do not letterbox)", I assume that will eliminate the extra step on the TV controls. I will try a test with that.

The Stretch option did not have any effect. Same results as without it being checked, used the TV Zoom.

Did you change the cropping or something in your project? Don't.

Your TV settings are another thing, and entirely your doing.
Does your rendered file fill the frame when played on your computer?

The cropping is all consistent and not changed. All video clips are native 1920x1080, and all digital images were cropped and panned to be the same 16:9 ratio.

My original intent is the same - to have the DVD play on a typical 16:9 widescreen TV and fill the entire screen without side or top/bottom black bars.

In native mode on the TV, it plays in a reduced size 16:9 frame in the center of the screen. Hence the use of the TV's Zoom feature and I'm sure to be losing quality in the process.

I think the problem is that any rendering for DVD format puts out 720x480 standard definition video, which is not 16x9, hence the result is the width fits what would be a standard DVD width showing on a TV, and the height is reduced to provide the 720x480 widescreen ratio within that standard width box. 720x480 is what shows in Movie Studio's preview frame during rendering for DVD.

My rendered files are separate .mpg and .ac3 files that were fed to Arch Studio for burning. How would you play those on the computer? Do I render in a different output to do that?

It all plays fine in Movie Studio preview and fills the widescreen frame fine.

It appears one way to achieve the effect I want with my 1920x1080 project is to use Blue-Ray high definition DVD. Right? Don't have a burner or player for that.

One other option may be to render a high definition 1080 output (which one?) and use a computer player (which one?) through the HDMI port on computer to HDMI port on a 1080 TV. Any suggestions here?

Thank you,
Don

No.
Standard Definition Widescreen DVD is 16:9. The Pixel Dimensions are 720x480. The Pixel Aspect Ratio is ~854/720, or about 1.187. If you would like to begin to learn the differences between PAR, SAR, and DAR ratios, here is a good place to begin:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_aspect_ratio

If "standard mode" on your TV displays native pixel resolution rather than filling the screen, that is unusual these days, and was the reason I asked if you had cropped or sized your HD video source in Vegas. Since you say you have not, and the video fills the output frame, adjust your TV set for the best screen fit.

If your rendered .mpg file does not play back in the correct aspect on VLC Player on your computer, you may have selected the wrong render template in Vegas, or inadvertently done something to your 1920x1080 source in the project. Best of luck.

[EDIT]

I appreciate all your input on this.

VLC played the mpg file fine in widescreen. While playing I checked and changed VLC play settings between 16:9 and 4:3, and 16:9 made no difference but 4:3 shrunk it so I assume it was playing at 16:9. It certainly looked normal with no cutoffs anywhere.

The settings in Arch Studio were on 16:9, which it appeared to have defaulted to, as I made no changes after file was loaded from Movie Studio. Those settings were all as you show in your inserted graphic.

I will have to learn more about pixel ratios. I had divided 720 by 16, and 480 by 9 and got different results so concluded 720:480 was not a 16:9 ratio. If you divide 1920 by 16 and 1080 by 9 you do get the same answer. Maybe that approach is wrong for figuring ratios?

Unless I figure something else out, using the TV Zoom will have to do for now.

Thanks again.

Read the article.

NTSC 16:9 DVD is 720x480
NTSC 4:3 DVD is also 720X480

Notice how 720x480 divides to neither 16:9 nor 4:3?
Same pixel dimensions, different aspect ratios!

It sounds like your video is happy NTSC Widescreen DVD, just as you wanted.
Best of luck.

Pixel dimensions of screen, screen size aspect, and the individual pixel aspect ratio are very different things. No better understanding of this will become apparent to the observer, than when you examine how the 16:9 and 4:3 screens can come from the same pixel dimensions of 720 x 480.

Don, is your Vegas project set up for widescreen?

If your project is 4:3 then when you render to widescreen you'll be embedding 16:9 inside a 4:3 frame, and then this 4:3 frame embedded inside a 16:9 output, which results in black borders all the way around the frame.

If your project is set for widescreen then you'll get 16:9 inside 16:9 inside 16:9, which will fill the frame with no borders.

The project setting under the preview window is 1920x1080, and Project Properties confirms that as well. Using the Make Movie options to create DVD, setting was for "widescreen DVD". It showed 720x480 during rendering and previewed in widescreen (so assume non square pixels) and does play on DVD/TV in widescreen, not 4:3. It''s just that the whole thing is centered in the TV screen, and does not fill it.

This may be a function of my DVD player, my TV, or the combination. Haven't tried the DVD on a different setup yet.

I know this is an old thread, but I read that DVDs max out at 720, while newer widescreen TVs are more. The only way to fill the TV widescreen without having to zoom is to write the movie to Blue Ray.