Letterbox on 4:3
 

I am sure this is very basic but I cannot find a concise answer (I understand). I am needing to deliver DVD's to some friends. The project was shot in HD, edited in FCP6, run through compressor and into DVD studio pro. I want the image to be full screen on a 16:9 set and letterbox if played on a 4:3 TV. I have the display mode in DVDSP set to 16:( letterbox. Looks great in 16:9 set and some DVD players, but not many, letterbox the image on a 4:3 set. Most just chop off and crop the sides.

What is the proper way to do this? Thanks for the help.

Clay

Not sure if this will help much, but I do a lot of 16:9 DVD burning using DVD Studio Pro. When I set my project to 16x9 it seems to do all the rest for me. Before I burn it, I can preview it in 4x3, and it's letterboxed perfectly. I don't remember having to do anything special. It just worked.

NEVER letterbox. Just do a normal 16:9, a DVD player will do the rest. All modern DVD players have a setting "Output device: widescreen or 4:3". It is the DVD player owner's responsibility to set it properly.

Exactly. Clay, it sounds like you did everything you could on your end. The DVD players that are cropping your video are improperly set up.

I've had more than my share of run-ins with this type of problem. I'd try and advise the owner of the DVD player on how to fix the problem.

Thanks. That is unfortunate. I think some flks will not know the difference and miss out on some content.

Clay