http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=64673

In that thread Nick was looking for a method of shooting 4:3 to be converted to 16:9, someone recommended filming 4:3 in a 16:9 guideframe and then in a 4:3 project, add black bands in post to crop the top and bottom so it can be displayed on a widescreen TV...Is that not even necassary then? Would a DVD Player not automatically crop the top and bottom without the matte being placed in post or would the video be pillarboxed if the matte wasn't placed there during editing?

Unless you create an anamorphic DVD, the player won't do anything except show your 4:3 video. So if you add black bars to a 4:3 project then that's exactly what you'll get from the DVD player. However someone with a widescreen TV will have the 4:3 video with the black bars pillarboxed on their 16:9 screen. If you make a real 16:9 DVD, then it will fill a widescreen TV at full SD resolution, but it will be letterboxed on a 4:3 TV.

So if my source footage is 4:3;

1. I want a 4:3 DVD on a 4:3 TV:

I work in a 4:3 project, edit in a 4:3 project and export to a 4:3 DVD.

2. If I want to make a a 4:3 DVD Widescreen,

I edit in 4:3, crop it in post and do some 16:9 pan and scan and export it as a 16:9 DVD?

3. If I edit in 4:3, DON'T crop it and export it as a 16:9 DVD, it will just be pillar boxed on a widescreen TV and letter boxed automatically on a normal TV?

4. If I work on 4:3 that I know will ONLY be on 16:9 DVD, then I use the guideframes when filming and don't have to worry about 16:9 pan-and-scan in post after I've added the bands?

the answer
 

Boyd has at least one of the answers; that has worked for me.

Rand






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failure can not contend with persistence

Well, now this is weird. I used DVDSanta to convert a DIVX AVI copy of a Desperate Housewives episode to DVD. The episode is in widescreen and letterboxed when I watch it on my PC, so when I made the DVD I said it was 16:9 however when I watched it on my 4:3 Television, it came out in 4:3 without looking stretched...Why is that?