I have produced a short video in the 16:9 format and am trying to output it to a Quick Time movie file for web use. Each time I render the file it dispays it in the 4:3 format. I have rendered the file at least 8 times this evening using various settings.

Premiere Pro CS3, Output 500 x280, H264 codec, 44,000 16Bit Stereo, Pixel Aspect set to Pal Widescreen 16:9 also tried the 720 x 576 aspect in the hope it would stretch out, but so far no luck.

Any ideas anyone - I have to deliver the job on Thursday 28th August

try exporting as a quicktime pal anamorphic then use compressor to resize and encode

Thank you Pete, will give it a go.

I have managed to output the movie as a FLV file and this keeps the 16:9 format, but the clients wants a QT file.

If you are exporting from FCP, make sure you go into "options" and check the "size". It might be set to 640x480 or something. Just a thought (though you have probably checked this already).

I have tried most permutations without much luck. I am using Premierre CS3

I have produced a short video in the 16:9 format and am trying to output it to a Quick Time movie file for web use. Each time I render the file it dispays it in the 4:3 format. I have rendered the file at least 8 times this evening using various settings.

Premiere Pro CS3, Output 500 x280, H264 codec, 44,000 16Bit Stereo, Pixel Aspect set to Pal Widescreen 16:9 also tried the 720 x 576 aspect in the hope it would stretch out, but so far no luck.

Any ideas anyone - I have to deliver the job on Thursday 28th August

720x576 doesn't sound wide at all. You probably know that 16:9 anamorphic video is actually 4:3 and stretched out to 16:9 during play back. You have to type in a 16:9 resolution! Try 864x480 or 853x480, or even 864x486 I'm not sure which for your case, but it really doesn't matter since you have such little time, it will still look right!

Thank you, I have tried most of the settings. When I view the video in QT Player it just appears as a 4:3 frame in a 16:9 screen i.e. squashed up. If I output the same video to a FLV Flash file it all looks OK. I am beginning to suspect it is the player at fault (QT 7 Pro)

I have told the client the video will take another couple of days, he is OK with that.

Just as a final note. I altered the settings within QuickTime Pro 7 player (Window > Show Movie Properties - Video Track - Visual Settings) I used the 853x480 setting as suggested by Aric and saved them (when you close the movie you are prompeted to save the settings). The file now plays in the 16:9 format.

I am sure that I should be able to render the file in the correct format from within the Adobe Media encoder, but for this project I have found a sollution.

Thank you all for your help.

Right, you can do that too, and be sure to check high quality playback there as well (right below where you type in the ratio). I have found that 99% of people are seeing my .h264 in unbelievably low quality, because they would have had to manually set the actual QT preferences to high quality.
Lastly check de-interlace (in the same place) and see if it makes your video look better or worse. I didn't catch whether or not your video was already progressive...
Sorry, one more thing: make sure your video is at the beginning when you save or it may open up wherever you were watching last, for everyone else!

Thanks for those tips, especially the last one. I did woder why the video always kicked off in the middle, I just assumed it was cached and picked up again from where I left off.