Why does my HDV footage look so crap when mastered to DVD?

[Chas Briggs]

Originally Posted by Shaun Roemich

I was refring to the Canon Owners Manual. I'm downloading the Sony DVD recorder's now.

thank you very much for your help the ops manger of koin and i are at a lost so if you solve this you should get a Nobel Prize lol

[Shaun Roemich]

Ok, there are no user selectable items on the Sony recorder that would affect the process. Your only options are at the camera side.

So, in order to create an SD DVD from 16:9 HD program material on your XHA1, you need to:
- connect the supplied cable (identified as STV-290N Stereo cable on page 99 of Canon Manual) to the video terminal on the camera and switch the output selector switch to A/V1.
- connect the yellow video and red and white audio RCA's at the end of this cable to the Sony recorder.
- Go into the Canon's menu and find [Signal Setup]
- Select [Letterbox]
- Select OFF
- On the Menu of the Sony recorder, select Video => DVD
- Press Record to record as usual.

This should take your 16:9 HD material, downconvert it to SD, stretch it vertically in order to fill the frame INSTEAD OF letterboxing it, allowing a DVD player to decide whether to letterbox your material for a 4:3 set OR display full wide 16:9 for a widescreen TV.

Even if you think you've done as I say above, PLEASE go through each step from scratch and make sure you haven't missed anything. Good luck!

[Chas Briggs]

Originally Posted by Shaun Roemich

Ok, there are no user selectable items on the Sony recorder that would affect the process. Your only options are at the camera side.

So, in order to create an SD DVD from 16:9 HD program material on your XHA1, you need to:
- connect the supplied cable (identified as STV-290N Stereo cable on page 99 of Canon Manual) to the video terminal on the camera and switch the output selector switch to A/V1.
- connect the yellow video and red and white audio RCA's at the end of this cable to the Sony recorder.
- Go into the Canon's menu and find [Signal Setup]
- Select [Letterbox]
- Select OFF
- On the Menu of the Sony recorder, select Video => DVD
- Press Record to record as usual.

This should take your 16:9 HD material, downconvert it to SD, stretch it vertically in order to fill the frame INSTEAD OF letterboxing it, allowing a DVD player to decide whether to letterbox your material for a 4:3 set OR display full wide 16:9 for a widescreen TV.

Even if you think you've done as I say above, PLEASE go through each step from scratch and make sure you haven't missed anything. Good luck!

Your right i have done this and still letter boxes at the station could it be just a matter of them setting there player to the right setting on there dvd player under the aspect settings. i will go over all my camera setting again
thank you for all your time oh and i do have to have my camera set to down convert right. in the owners manual of the sony burner it says to set the cameras TV TYPE to 4.3 to get a 16.9 dvd how ever my camera doesnt have a TV TYPE setting

[Shaun Roemich]

But it SHOULD letterbox at their end. Unless they are broadcasting in 16:9. You are providing them with 16:9 material, it needs to display in 16:9 UNLESS you are doing a centre cut, which you can't do with the Canon.

Are you trying to provide them with a 4:3 image? If so, you NEED to edit first.

[Chas Briggs]

Originally Posted by Shaun Roemich

But it SHOULD letterbox at their end. Unless they are broadcasting in 16:9. You are providing them with 16:9 material, it needs to display in 16:9 UNLESS you are doing a centre cut, which you can't do with the Canon.

Are you trying to provide them with a 4:3 image? If so, you NEED to edit first.

No they want 16.9 but there monitors are 4.3 I think its on there end wen i look at my video on there monitor there is a black space on the top and bottom of the video and it fills from side to side they say it looks squished