PD7 - 16:9 being slightly cut off on 4:3 TV?

Jay

Newbie Joined: Jun 06, 2008 00:22 Messages: 12 Offline

Solved by

Jun 06, 2008 00:34

OK - so I'm trying to make videos in 16:9 format. My Mini-DV captures in widescreen, so I want to make my videos in widescreen.

There's just one problem. When I view the videos on a 4:3 TV, a bit of the sides are cut off. So I lose some video, and if I put a title or something a little too far to the side, it gets partially cut off.

Now obviously I can move the titles over - but I really don't want to.

What I want to know is how to format my project so it shows everything on a 4:3 TV, but still in 16:9 format.

When I buy a widescreen DVD from the store and watch it on a 4:3, it doesn't partially cut off - it just has bars (as does mine - but mine still cuts off) at the top and bottom - but the left and right portions are in tact.

So - to reiterate my question - is there a way to not have the sides cut off in a 16:9 format when watching on a 4:3 tv? It works perfect on my widescreen TV, so no issues there.

babindia

Senior Contributor Location: India Joined: Aug 16, 2007 06:11 Messages: 884 Offline

Jun 06, 2008 04:30

You can change the format in preferences to 4:3. But you cant have 4:3 and still get full picture as seen in 16:9. In other words you cant squeeze.
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Barry

Senior Member Location: N Attleboro, MA Joined: Jul 13, 2006 19:57 Messages: 295 Offline

Jun 06, 2008 05:57

After you render your project in 16:9, re-render the new video into a 4:3 frame. This will allow a 4:3 tv to show your entire video, but with black bars top and bottom. You can still play this on a widescreen tv, but the viewer will need to use the zoom function of the tv to crop out the black bars.
Sometimes I just render a project this way and keep both files.

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Jay

Newbie Joined: Jun 06, 2008 00:22 Messages: 12 Offline

Jun 18, 2008 10:54

Quote: After you render your project in 16:9, re-render the new video into a 4:3 frame. This will allow a 4:3 tv to show your entire video, but with black bars top and bottom. You can still play this on a widescreen tv, but the viewer will need to use the zoom function of the tv to crop out the black bars.
Sometimes I just render a project this way and keep both files.

did that make any sense?

Thanks for the idea. What I did was take a 16:9 video clip and toss it into a newly made 4:3 project and burned it to a DVD... While it certainly looked better (wasn't nearly as cut off), it still was cut off on the sides a bit... At least on my TV.

Is this the method you meant, or was there something else?

Also - something to note. When I play it in VLC player, it shows perfectly on the 4:3 aspect screen - so it seems to have the right idea, but it's still cutting off on my TV (maybe an inch on each side)... Is there anything else I can do - or is it perhaps just a drawback of DVD players and 4:3 tvs - that maybe they just don't always show the image the way you intended it?

I ask all this simply because I want to be able to make my videos without all the worry about how it will look on various tvs... I film in 16:9, but I just want the videos to be viewed properly on whatever TV the person is watching the DVD on. So I'm not sure what to do. I don't really want to set my camera to 4:3 and film that way, because I'm sure in the future every TV will be 16:9 - so I want to keep it "future proof".

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jun 18. 2008 11:01

MeMyself&Pi

Member Joined: Nov 20, 2007 20:23 Messages: 67 Offline

Jun 18, 2008 15:29

It looks like from my experience, that a regular TV takes off some video from all sides. So when I've captured video from a VHS tape, I've noticed extra video on all sides. When modifying titles & pip's, there's an option that you can turn on that will show the section of the video that shows on a TV. It's called the TV Safe Zone. If you intend to watch your videos on your TV, you should always keep you pip's & titles within that zone.

Barry

Senior Member Location: N Attleboro, MA Joined: Jul 13, 2006 19:57 Messages: 295 Offline

Jun 18, 2008 18:09

The actions you performed were correct. You will not get the entire video on a 4:3 tv. Do not lose sleep. The 4:3 tv's will all be gone the way of the infamous 8-track tape, and the incandescent bulb.
Just make 2 versions of your most important videos, 16:9, and 16:9 into a 4:3 frame. Have fun! Join/SignUp to SeeMyWorldOnVideo. We're PowerDirector Video Editors. Are you a member? - JOIN TODAY!