to widescreen...or to not widescreen.
 

i have some footage filmed on my xl1s in standard 4:3 aspect ratio. my goal is to make a widscreen dvd. is it better to import the footage into a 16:9 project in premiere or to start a regular 4:3 project and put black bars on it? also is there a special way to put black bars on there so it recognizes it on a widescreen tv? or do you just put some black video and make them yourself?

thanks,
mike

The only way to make it wide screen is to import it into a 16:9 project and then export a 16:9 file for DVD authoring. When you take a 4:3 file into a 16:9 project, then it will either stretch out and distort the video, or if you zoom in on the video by roughly 33%, it will then fit into the screen without stretching. The problem is that you will loose some of the screen and possibly, some of the action, and you will loose some resolution.
Putting black bars on the bottom and top will only give you a letterbox effect, it won't make it 16:9 that is recognized by a DVD player. You'll have to play around with it and see which one will work for your project. I would recommend shooting in the anamorphic 16:9 mode on the camera next time, if that is what you want. Either way you will loose some resolution, but it will be easier to edit and work with if it is in 16:9 to begin with.