Ugly Output on HDTV: 16:9 and colors

ilmagic wrote on 7/3/2010, 9:55 AM

I shoot all of my movies in 16:9 format, I edit them in 16:9 projects, I render them to 16:9 MPEG-2 movies and I author them in 16:9 DVD projects.
But when I play the DVDs on my 16:9 HDTV, the movie is always stretched with black top and bottom margins. On a 16:9 TV screen in 16:9 mode, I'd rather expect a 16:9 movie to be fullscreen. But the strange thing is that when I tried again with an old commercial DVD labeled as 4:3 TV Standard on the box, the playback for that movie was fullscreen even setting the player mode to 16:9. Which format should I pick to be sure the movie will play fine on every screen?
Furthermore, of course, whatever I shoot with my DV camcorder- although it's 3CCD and the lighting is good- on the HDTV is highlighted in all its defects and minimum flaws, from grain to accidental overlighting, and the color brightness- especially for red and dark blue tints- is so high that it's often eye-torturing. What could I do to improve the imging on HDTV, besides buying a HD camcorder? And if I bought one, what hardware improvements would I need to capture and edit the footage ?
Thank you

Comments

Steve Mann wrote on 7/3/2010, 10:09 AM

"In DVDA, when you set up the project you MUST tell the project that you are creating a widescreen DVD. Otherwise it will do exactly what we see here. It will look 16:9 in the preview, but will make a 4:3 disc on output because the widescreen flag never gets set. Doing it in the video render is not enough."

(From Perrone Ford on the DvInfo foruums.)

I quoted Perrone because:
a) I'm lazy and
b) He says it so well.

Oh, and on the colors... How are you determining that your colors are wrong? No consumer LCD TV or monitor can be properly calibrated, so you have to rely on your scopes in Vegas Pro to determine your color settings.

Finally, consumer LCD TV's are by default over-saturated and over-sharpened.

musicvid10 wrote on 7/3/2010, 10:15 AM

I'd bet dollars to donuts your DVD player is not set correctly.

ilmagic wrote on 7/3/2010, 10:16 AM

"I quoted Perrone because:
a) I'm lazy and
b) He says it so well."

You're so lazy that you didn't read what I wrote above:
"I author in 16:9 DVD projects".
However I'm not using DVD Architect. I use Vegas Pro to edit and render and then author in Mediachance DVD-Lab Pro setting the DVD format to 16:9 in the Project Properties.

Jay Gladwell wrote on 7/3/2010, 10:26 AM

So have you tried the Mediachance DVD-Lab Pro forum?

Steve Mann wrote on 7/3/2010, 10:48 AM

You're so lazy that you didn't read what I wrote above:
"I author in 16:9 DVD projects."

Well, excuuuuse me for assuming that you would be using Sony DVD Architect since you are using Sony Vegas Pro and asking the question on the Sony Forums.

I just looked again at the OP, and nope, no mention of DVD-Lab Pro.

I only use DVDA because
a) It works, and
b) I can't find anything that other programs can do that DVDA can't.

I am not a devout fanboy of DVDA and I'll switch when something better comes along, so if there's something that DVDA is missing, then please tell me about it.

Dreamline wrote on 7/4/2010, 10:43 AM

I just found out that DVDA has a 18 link limit in the 16:9 format but the 4:3 does not.
How is this professional software?

I've always felt DVDA is the weakest link when it comes to professional software. When I see the moment to jump ship I am gone. I hope my feelings about Vegas don't go completely south but it seems the writing is on the wall.

John_Cline wrote on 7/4/2010, 11:14 AM

"I just found out that DVDA has a 18 link limit in the 16:9 format but the 4:3 does not. How is this professional software?"

It's not DVD Architect, it's the official DVD spec, there is a limit to how many buttons: no more than 36 buttons for a fullscreen (4:3 aspect ratio) menu or 18 buttons for a widescreen (16:9) aspect ratio. Seems like a professional would know this.

"When I see the moment to jump ship I am gone."

So what's stopping you? Don't let the door hit you from behind on your way out.

farss wrote on 7/4/2010, 3:40 PM

One problem I identified sometime ago is related to your issue.
To get the DVD player to work correctly you need to author a 16:9 (widescreen) DVD and have the DVD player setup correctly. That's relatively simple and it sounds like you're doing that.

The next issue is how the TV itself handles the video sent to it and this is not a simple issue. Additional isgnalling is employed outside the active picture area to tell the TV if the video is 16:9 or 4:3. SMPTE seem to have expanded the use of this in recent years. Even more confussingly not all TVs conform to the standards.
From my tests though the Hollywood DVDs do cause the DVD player to send the correct information to the TV. The ones I author in DVDA don't. I'm yet to find any DVD authoring software that does give control of this either. More information on Active Format Description here .

Bob.