simple solution for good letterboxed 16:9 in 4:3 mode

pb wrote on 9/4/2003, 3:24 PM
Stumbled upon this solution. Edit your job as Wide Screen then export job to DVD-A WS video stream/AC3. Make the DVD. Go into the DVD player set up menu and tell it you have a 4:3 television. Play the DVD and record the cleanly letterboxed 16:9 back to tape via S-Video, component or composite. Simple, easy and effective. Beats using Boris Red or a harware aspect ratio converter. The image is great, just like you would see on your TV with a rented DVD played through s-video.

Peter

Comments

DataMeister wrote on 9/4/2003, 5:18 PM
A 16:9 source will automaticly leterbox itself when you drop it on a 4:3 project. Am I missing something here?

Seems like it would be just as easy to render your 16:9 and then drop that video onto a 4:3 project and render out a quick letterboxed version.

JBJones
pb wrote on 9/4/2003, 10:58 PM
tried that but got a lot of motion artifacts in the rendered video. If someone has succcessfully done what you describe I sure would appreciate having a look at the end product. We were using the AVID Media COmposer to "squish" the 16:9 into a 4:3 window but even the AVID took a heck of a long time to render. One of the editors also used some featuer in Boris Red but that was rendering hell. I guess when VHS and 4:3 TVs finally go the way of Betamax we won't have this predicament.
filmy wrote on 9/5/2003, 8:16 AM
I just finished a feature render in VV doing this and there are no motion artifacts. I just take a 16x9 project and render it as 4x3 and VV does the rest. Render time really isn't that long at all.
pb wrote on 9/5/2003, 11:26 AM
Ah, so you edit in WS mode then render to 4:3. I'll try doing it that way again. Thanks.
pb wrote on 9/9/2003, 11:00 PM
Maybe I am missing something. I capture the very busy clip as WS then just stick it on the timeline with project properties set to WS. Highlight a couple of minutes then render as NTSC 4:3 DV. I get two outcomes, one a letterboxed image with the sides also chopped off or a letterboxed image that has major motion artifacts whenever there is a lot of movement. Running a 1.7 Ghz with 512 RAM, SCSI 10,000 RPM drive and ATI Raedon card. Windows 2000 sp3. Sure would like to resolve this within the editing program if it is possible. Most of our output is DVD so the players do the letterboxing but there is still a demand for 4:3 VHS. All of us on the production side despise the AVID work stations/ Boris FX/After Effects and are keen to find an easy all-VEGAS solution to the letterboxing issue. DVD -> tape works but it's definitely a dumb fix.
filmy wrote on 9/11/2003, 3:57 AM
If your material is 4x3 open a new 16x9 project. Import the media, bring it to the time line. Now "crop" it to 16x9 with the template. Render as 16x9 or 4x3. Either you will get anamorphic or you will get letterboxed 16x9. If you have 16x9 footage already just do the same except don't 'crop" it. Just open it in a 16x9 project and render out.

Now - here is what I may be misunderstanding - are you rendering to DVD or AVI? I really don't see how doing 16x9 would add artifacts but I could see if you, for example, rendered out to VCD might. (Although I rendered out a VCD that had some scenes with fast zooms, pans, 'action' and it was fine.)

Aside from that - sorry. This is what I do and it works like a charm, but I am going out to either 24p or 30i using the templates.
Finster wrote on 9/15/2003, 10:59 AM
I also get ugly motion artifacts when outputting (print to tape) 16:9 projects to letterbox format. The solution that worked for me was to render the project as an .avi (which shows no sign of artifacts) and then before printing to tape, right-click on the clip in the timeline and check the box for "reduce interlace flicker."