I have researched and read the forums but have found so solution to this...
I have exported as quicktime reference, quicktime movie, used widescreen / native...
The project is edited and shot widescreen, but when I import it into sonic dvd, it turns to 4:3. What? WHy?
yes, project settings, movie display... everything is set to 16:9.
I'd call Sonic and Avid, but they charge for support. Funny, it is a problem with their software and they charge me to get help.
Please, anyone, I am SOOOOOOO frustrated!!!!
Thanks,Todd
I think the problem exists when you export to DVCPRO, which is an anamorphic format, as your intermediate format. The workaround I've found is as follows:
1-put a resize filter on a blank video track above your edit with horiz scale set to 100 and vert scale set to 75
2-render the effect before exporting
3-export to QT movie.
4-Aspect Ratio 4:35-Dimensions 720 x 480 (640x480)6-Scale Letterbox
good luck
M-Power Independent Video and Film Services, Sony PMW-F5--Sony FS700U--Canon 7d--Odyssey 7Q
Firstly, the problem that you're having is absolutely nothing to do with DVCpro. Do not letterbox your vision prior to output. That will ensure that when you play your media on a true 16x9 display you will have a small envelope-sized picture in the centre of a black screen.
While I don't use Sonic, if you have the full Avid install you will have Sorenson, which I use. The approach for Sorenson is to export a QT ref file from Avid and compress in Sorenson to MPEG2, setting your compression there to 16:9 format. Use the MPEG file that creates to author your DVD in whatever application you sue (including Sonic). It will then play letterboxed on a 4x3 screen and fullscreen on a 16x9 monitor.
If you want to compress in Sonic given that this is an issue that all companies supplying this type of software have had to address, I find it hard to believe that there isn't a similar setting there too.
If you go the Sorenson path and you're working with HDV originals mixdown to DNxHD prior to export your QT ref. You may also find that you need to export at RGB levels, not 601/709.
It's strange. I just tried to burn it to DVD just to see if it will play 16:9, and it does. I can't get it to play that way when I preview it on Sonic, but when I play it on dvd - it is the right dimensions. I don't get it.
Avid DVD does not preview in 16:9
A small issue, but one you get used to!
jwrl:The approach for Sorenson is to export a QT ref file from Avid and compress in Sorenson to MPEG2, setting your compression there to 16:9 format.
This is so helpful to the problem I've been facing lately. I have a project I shot on HDV and have exported as a QTRef then dropped into Avid DVD. When I've burned off a DVD using the 16:9 setting the final looks great on my Widescreen computer monitor, but playing it on a Full Screen TV the DVD player displays a "pan and scan" filling the TV frame with the very center of my widescreen footage. The only thing I could find in Avid DVD to fix that problem was to export the timeline as a 4:3 image whhich gave a letterboxed effect on the TV, but caused the "envelope" effect mentioned above on my Widescreen monitor.
All this to say,,, Your suggestion of using Sorenson to write the MPEG 2 in 16:9 seems like the answer I'm looking for. My only question is when I'm looking at the settings in Sorenson I see the "Display Aspect Ratio" settings are either "Unconstrained" or "Letterbox or Pillar" the third option of "maintain Aspect Ratio" is greyed out. Which of these settings do I want to get the final effect of filling a Widescreen Display while letterboxing and fullscreen display?
I would greatly appreciate any help and advice. I've spent so much time lately waiting for burns and exports that have turned out wrong.
Just in case you have not done this, AVID DVD requires that you restart the program after you change the setting to 16X9 before they take effect. So you shoulld try to set the settings to 16x9, then restart the program and they should take...
Good Luck!
Camilo
Thanks Camilo, I'll give that a shot. The program was set up for 16:9 menus when I started the project, but the video may not have been. It's been a few days now and I've tried changing several things so I'm not really sure what was what back at the begining and when I may have restarted the program.
If anyone has an answer about the Sorenson Settings I asked about above I'd still be interested in finding that out as well.
Thanks,Jonny
Restarting Avid DVD after changing the movie to the 16:9 setting did not work. Still looks great on widescreen computer monitors, still does Pand and Scan on Full Screen TV.
I'm now using Sorenson Squeeze with both the Letterbox and Unconstrained settings, making two new files. I started it squeezing about 24 hours ago and only one compression has completed so far.
I just recently did a 16:9 SD project export to Sonic DVD directly through a QT reference file. It was a bit frustrating but you have to remember to adjust settings to 16:9 at every step from the QT ref export to the "new" Sonic project which should be set to "widescreen" under the Menu Aspect.
Once I caught all of my settings errors the DVD turned out great.
MC 5.5.3, Nitris DX, HP Z400, Win 7 Pro
Adkins Media:....still does Pand and Scan on Full Screen TV
This behavior could actually be due to a setting on the TV itself.
Pheral: This behavior could actually be due to a setting on the TV itself.
Boy do I feel sheepish... Yws that was the answer! I put in one of my previous drafts let the movie start playing and saw the same old Pan and Scan, hit the DVD player's menu button (not disc menu) and in the display window I found found a setting that was set on "Pan and Scan" but could be changed to "Letterbox" That's what I did and voila, I had a letterboxed image. It was beautiful!
I'd just like to note for future readers who may be having the same issue, this is the DVD player I use all the time to watch widescreen movies on, I don't know why there is a difference between the widescreen I burned at home versus the ones I buy at Walmart, but they have always displayed properly. I just mention this because for this very reason I was skeptical that this this is where my problem was.
Thanks so much to Pheral and all the users who have helped me sort this out!
My pleasure. If it's any comfort, I would venture to say that many average viewers do not have their TVs set up to display aspect ratios properly.
Adkins Media:I don't know why there is a difference between the widescreen I burned at home versus the ones I buy at Walmart, but they have always displayed properly.
To see if your discs are correctly authored you could try a little utility called IfoEdit. With that program, open a disc that you've burned and navigate to \VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO. A whole stack of data will appear in the lower window. You will see both menu and title data for the DVD.
The menu data may say something like:Video: MPEG-2 720x576 (PAL) (PAL 625/50) (4:3) (not specified perm.display)orVideo: MPEG-2 720x480 (NTSC) (NTSC 525/60) (4:3) (not specified perm.display)
To a degree this doesn't matter. You can have 4:3 menus on 16:9 discs and NTSC menus on PAL discs. What is important is the information in the video title sets. For example, the commercial disc that I'm currently looking at has the following entry for title 1.
Title Set 1: VTS_1 Video: MPEG-2 720x480 (NTSC) (NTSC 525/60) (16:9) (letterboxed) VTS_1 Audio 1: English (Dolby AC-3) 2ch 48Kbps DRC
In comparison a disc that I burned has the following entry for title 1.
Title Set 1: VTS_1 Video: MPEG-2 720x576 (PAL) (PAL 625/50) (16:9) (letterboxed) VTS_1 Audio 1: English (Dolby AC-3) 2ch 48Kbps DRC
Apart from the different television standards, both are identified as 16x9 letterboxed. This means that the full frame will be used, but that it will be played back letterboxed on a 4x3 display and full screen on a 16x9 display. I can absolutely guarantee from what you have just posted that yours will not be the same. The most likely configuration will be like the following.
VTS_1 Video: MPEG-2 720x480 (NTSC) (NTSC 525/60) (4:3) (not specified perm.display)
In other words you are producing an NTSC 4x3 DVD which you are then adjusting during playback to give you the display that you need. That's OK as long as you are not giving those DVDs to anyone else. If you do they will just regard it as a faulty DVD.
You can use IfoEdit to modify the IFO files on the DVD to correct the problem. To do so would in my opinion be dumb. It's far better to supply the correct media in the first place. The steps to follow are:
1. Export either a QTref (preferred) or QT file of your program. It will be flagged as 4x3.2. Open it in the compression software you prefer.3. VERY IMPORTANT: Set up the compressor to create a 16x9 file.4. Compress your program to MPEG-2.5. Import that MPEG-2 file and its associated audio into your authoring software.6. Author your DVD and burn a tester onto a rewritable disc.7. Check your disc. If it doesn't perform as a commercial DVD does, check the steps above and try again.
So. Long post, but a lot of information to digest. I hope that some of it helps.
jwlr,
Thanks for this long post. It is helpful. If nothing else it gives me a way to look at the DVD files and understand the way things SHOULD be. I am experimenting now to see if Ifoedit will let me check the formatting from a write file on the hard drive rather than burning to a disc (mostly just for curiosity.)
I'm sorry it's taken me so long to respond to your helpfulness. I really meant to get back to this sooner, but got busy with other projects.
I am being brought back now to a previous question, in Sonernson does anyoen know if I should be using the option for "unconstrained" or "letterboxed/pillar"
Also I have been having trouble with m2v files imported into Avid DVD. The video plays "upside down" and flashes. This problem seems to be consistent with the final DVD as well as in the authoring software, I wonder if anyone knows where I'm going wrong here.
Thanks everyone for your help,
Jonny
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