Converting HDV @ 16:9 to a 4:3 letterbox frame - stretching question

Hi
I'm helping a client export her project for a screening. Her sequence is HDV (1440x1080), playing of course as 16:9. The screening requires an MPEG-4 (H.264) of 640x480 frame size, with letterboxing.
Originally, I tried simply exporting the sequence using Quicktime Conversion - MPEG4 - then changed the export frame size to 640x480 and added letterboxing. But that didn't work: we got a 4:3 frame size, but the picture was squashed horizontally, with no letterboxing. I surmised it was simply showing the native aspect ratio of the HDV, which of course is already 4:3, and not taking account of the anamorphic footage.
So, next, we nested the sequence (or, at least, a sample of it), then copied and pasted into a new sequence with these sequence settings:
Frame size: 640 x 480 / Aspect ratio: NTSC (4:3)
Pixel aspect ratio: NTSC
It looked correct in the viewer. Exported it, and ... it's stretched horizontally. It's still letterboxed, and the Quicktime file claims that it's 640x480, but it looks like it's playing at 720x480.
Is this something to do with the pixel aspect ratio? How do I create and export a sequence which will look correct? Do I need to set square pixels in the sequence? Or do I need to choose a 720x480 frame? Or something else?
I'm sure this is "Pixel Science 101", but I'm stumped. Grateful for any help!
Many thanks.
Matt

Thanks for replying, Nick.
Nick Holmes wrote:
How can you not take the defining characteristics of your format into account?
I'm sure I'm not the first person to make that mistake. And yes, I do know that HDV is anamorphic, but I assumed that when exporting, it would continue to display it at 16:9 in a letterbox when I ask it to fit itself into a 4:3 frame. Anyway, we've clearly both written off that solution.
• Edit your HDV with the appropriate Sequence Settings.
• Export a self contained movie using Current Settings.
• Re-import the result and place it on the Timeline in a 4:3 Sequence. It will letterbox automatically.
• Export the H264 from this Timeline with the desired size settings.
This doesn't look awfully different from the second solution I used (nesting). I got my letterbox just fine, but my real problem is with the 640x480 Quicktime not looking like the 640x480 sequence I'm seeing in the viewer. As I said, it's slightly more stretched horizontally (people's faces are wider than they should be). My client is elsewhere in the country, so I don't have constant access to the project, but my guess is that Quicktime was actually showing the frame as 720x480. I don't know if that's a problem or not, and if so, how I go about fixing it (since QT claims that it's 640x480 already, I can't simply re-size the frame).
Matt
Message was edited by: Matt Clifton

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