If you mean 16:9 with the black bars on top and at the bottom:

Set the "project properties" ("File" then "properties...") to "0,9091 NTSC DV" (NON-Widescreen)

Then when you render: "File", then "Render as..." : there, set your template to: "NTSC DV" (NON-Widescreen).

This is if you're rendering in NTSC of course. The important thing to remember: Properties to NON widescreen an render to NON Widescreen as well. THAT IS what gives you the black bars on top and bottom of your 16:9, if you SHOT with 16:9 on your camera.

futz is right, but you must be aware of transitions, which will spill outside the 16:9 boundary.
You can fix it if you keyframe the video track to 16:9 and, to play safe, lay a black mask on a higher track.
Cheers.

Thanks! It is a shame to have to "dumb down" a 16:9 camera by switching to 4:3 then putting an aspect ratio on the lens to overcome the 20% loss in width. I guess we may start cutting all the commercials in Vegas then going to the Pinnacle to add logos and titles.

Peter

pb, you are right, we are still a little bit short of anamorphic ...

Speaking for myself, I decided to go this way, for the sake of compatibility. If I made my project in 16:9, I wouldn't succeed to see it in the majority of TV sets (4:3 here) so, without much trouble I am doing something that can be seen in 4:3 (letterboxed) or 16:9 (expanded).

Ah, forgotten: you must go through your Media Pool and change the properties of *each* clip, from PAL/NTSC DV Widescreen, to PAL/NTSC DV (you will preview the Media Pool clips stretched up). Then, when you import them in the timeline, they will stretch to the right size (because you have keyframed the track to 16:9). This is how you can apply transitions and have them confinate to the 16:9 rectangle.

How do you do it (properties change) when you have 500 clips in the Media Pool ? easy (?!) Change to View Details and build a macro that can do it for you in a couple of minutes. (I can tell the details later on if you wish, but you are in a hurry right now, so ...)

Good luck

sgblz: "futz is right, but you must be aware of transitions, which will spill outside the 16:9 boundary."

Right on. And some effects like blurs and glows will spill over the black bars too. Always put a mask if you want something clean! You can even put color to this mask if you want a more or less fancy look... ;D

yes, as a matter of fact I use a red mask which I set to be 50% transparent. This way I can control what's happening behind (if something). Then, to render, I change it for a black mask, fully opaque.

sqblz: I tried your change properties from 16:9 to 4:3 solution but all that happened was I got the same distorted 16:9 squished to 4:3 image. I know this can't be hard because when I was in Greenland last February they were shooting and transmitting 16:9 but it still looked okay on 4:3 monitors. futz's earlier solution kinda sorta works but creates terrible aliasing on verticals. Suppose a gausian blur might help but it'll degrade quality. Sigh. Should have just shot 4:3 extra wide then used a mask for the top and bottom. Guess I'll look for a 3rd party software solution.

Peter the Frustrated.

Hi Peter,

What are the pixel dimensions of the source footage?

wondering...


mph

Woah. It's becoming more and more complicated now...I never tried to get back to 4:3 so I have no idea concerning the process. Sorry. But I learned about this concerning the media files that need to be reformated (I didn't know about that).

I know the solution works for my config' with my camera (sony dsr-pd100). I always shoot 16:9 non-progressive and use the settings I gave you and I get no noise at all. Now, for monitoring, well, I gave up. It seems it worked for awhile but now it goes "berserk" when I use the ext preview button. I'm going to clear up this situation when I really want an external preview. I only check the final result once in a while, passing thru my -matrox- graphic card which got an external preview option that works well with all kinds of players (QT, WMP) but not with Vegas... :(
I'm keeping this whole discussion (paste in Word then put it in a special "Vegas" file) for further reference, of course, cause a lot is being said here... :/

This will convert it to letterbox in one step:
DVFilm Maker