Some clients have asked for their video to be delivered on DVD for use on an anamorphic projector.  They shot their stuff in standard def at 16:9 aspect (squeezed) and we've edited the same way, just switching the Avid windows over to 16:9 to correct the aspect.

So, do I just give them a DVD with the squeezed video and the projector corrects the aspect, or do I have to do anything on the authoring end?

I was planning to output the final DVD using my Avid patched into a consumer DVD recorder.  I have InterVideo DVD authoring software on my machine but I can try to beg, borrow, or steal something fancier if absolutely necessary.

BTW I have an old verion of Xpress DV if you are wondering why I don't have better authoring software.  My sytem is usually only used for offline.

Thanks in advance :)
Nina

Usually, when you encode the media for a DVD, you flag it as 4:3 or 16:9, and it is burned onto DVD with that flag intact.  Then, it depends on how your DVD player is setup to determine how the video is displayed.

If your DVD player is told that it is attached to a 4:3 monitor, it will display a letterbox or center cut of the program.  If it's attached to a widescreen monitor, it will send out an anamorphic signal which will be streched.  This way, you can have both on the same DVD and the end user determines how to view it.

But, if you know that you will need it to be anamorphic, you can just encode it that way and the projector will do the work.  But the DVD will look correct on any 4:3 monitor.

HTH

But, if you know that you will need it to be anamorphic, you can just encode it that way and the projector will do the work.  But the DVD will look correct on any 4:3 monitor.

So, you're saying that I have to find a way to put a 16:9 flag on my DVD...and I probably need to use encoding software rather than the DVD recorder?  I didn't see a setting on the recorder to flag anything as 16:9.

A software encoder (like BitVice or Compressor on Macs) lets you flag the video, and then the DVD authroing software burns it that way.

A direct-to-DVD recorder probably wouldn't handle that sort of thing, so you'll just have to reocrd it anamorphic.

Dang, I have serious Mac envy.  I remember doing this in DVD Studio Pro and it's super easy.

I will see if I can jerry rig InterVideo to do it.

I'm not familiar with InterVideo DVD.   What about TMPGEnc?  It should get the job done.

http://tmpgenc.pegasys-inc.com/en/product/tda3.html

Google IfoEdit.  Shareware that allows you to change the flag (and a lot of other things) on the DVD.

Thanks, will download the trial of TMPEG and the Ifo Edit freeware to see if I can find something that works.

Was also considering Sonic DVDit since I own Roxio Easy Media Creator so the upgrade would be cheap, but not sure about using it without Sorenson Squeeze in between.  I could never get EMC to work without interlacing problems.

Intervideo is a pretty basic authoring software that came free with our drive.  Works reasonably well but the encoding isn't great particularly if you have still images incorporated in the video.

Update:

I tried TMPG and the encoding isn't good enough.  Even with the quality settings cranked up all the way it can't handle the motion quite right.

I couldn't figure out IFO Edit.  I have barely authored DVDs and I think it's over my head technically.

Anyone have luck with Sonic DVDit without Sorenson Squeeze?

Current thinking is that we will borrow my producer's Mac and use some combination of Final Cut Pro and iDVD to get it right.

I tried TMPG and the encoding isn't good enough.

You must be doing something wrong then. TMPGEnc is considered to deliver very high quality MPEG-2 encoding for DVD.

I agree with Job, but if (as it appears) you've got Sorenson, go to MUST READ! Starter Tips, guides, important info Digest at the top of the Xpress Pro - PC forum.  In there you'll find a section entitled "Everything you need to know, start here", and inside that there's a section called "How to DVD".

You'll get a rundown there on how to use Sorenson to compress for DVD.  Sorenson lets you set the 16:9 flag correctly.

Job ter Burg:

I tried TMPG and the encoding isn't good enough.

You must be doing something wrong then. TMPGEnc is considered to deliver very high quality MPEG-2 encoding for DVD.

These are my settings:

Exporting from Xpress DV -

Export as: Quicktime Movie

Format Options: Custom ---> Compression type - DV/DVCPRO NTSC, Frame Rate: Current (should be 29.97), Compressor Quality: Best, Scan Mode: Progressive, Aspect Ratio: 16:9, Dimensions: 720x480

Video Format: 720x480 (Crop/Pad)

Color Levels: 601

File Field Order: Even (Lower Field First)

Display Aspect Ratio: Native Dimensions (720x480)


I don't have TMPG in front of me so these might be a little vague but here's what I did:

- set the pixel aspect to 16x9 (40:33)

- set the scan mode as progressive

-    set the encoding to 2-pass VBR with the quality at 100%/highest with error correction (to my eye this didn’t look a lot different than the default setting but maybe that’s just me.)

I DON'T have Sorenson Squeeze.