4:3 to 16:9 in Vegas 5 + DVD
 

I just finished filming for a client, shot it in 4:3. They have asked if I can make their DVD optimized for their 16:9 TV. What is the best method? I have leterboxed 4:3 in the past, but the final project has always been rendered and displayed as 4:3 leterboxed.

I know the widescreen TV would have a zoom function, but I would prefer an output so they do not need to use it.

If I want to make a DVD that will play full screen 16:9, and letterboxed when played on a 4:3, what steps do I need to take during the edit/render/authoring?

Chris,
Pan/crop has a 16:9 preset you can use to crop your 4:3 to 16:9. You then render it out as widescreen (pixel aspect ratio of 1.2121) either in DV or directly to MPEG2 for authoring. Make sure "stretch video to fill the screen" is checked. When you author it to DVD, use widescreen PAR and the authoring software will make the DVD playable as letterboxed on a 4:3 set or widescreen on a widescreen set.

If you didn't frame your 4:3 video for 16:9, you may have to keyframe the cropping in pan/crop.

oh and remember that if ur using a DVX100 in squeeze mode DONT crop it..

When I capture and edit, should project settings be 4:3 or 16:9?

I tried a test with the crop, and rendering to Widescreen DVD Mpeg-2, selected stretch to fill video output, and it appeared to further squish the frame when I reviewed it, ie. the output was 16:9 but my frame was letterboxed within it.

In Pan/Crop, under Source: set Maintain Aspect Ratio to NO. Set File/Properties to NTSC Widescreen 1.2121 and your event should look right with no black bars in preview. When you render out, select a widescreen template...for example NTSC DV Widescreen. Make sure that "stretch video to fill output frame size (do not letterbox" is checked.

Worked great, thanks!

dont forget to make sure that you have your deinterlacing method set to interpolate. Reason being is that youre changing the aspect itself, so some interlacing artefacts may be visible. Not always... but its safer this way.. also if ur upscaling to HD, do the same trick... ;)

Am I deinterlacing? Should I also change the field order from Lower to None or leave it at Lower?

keep the field order as is, but sometimes when upscaling if u dont interpolate, your actual field lines are also upscaled..being that youll get big fat chunky horizontal bars or that ugly combing effect...
this way when interpolating, field size remains a constant

Guy,

So if I have multiple video channels, I have to do this to each channel? I'm a little lost.

I presume you mean you have multiple video tracks. Yes, you have to crop all the tracks to 16:9 in order for the wide format to be maintained in your final render.