16:9 footage being letterboxed on widescreen tv. Why?

Footage shot in 16x9.
Edited in fcp in a 16x9 sequence setting.
Exported the movie and put in to compressor.
Encoded at 90min, best, 16x9.
Put in to dvdsp and menu and video is 16x9 letterbox, not pan/scan or anything else.
Video plays on 4:3 tv with letterbox.
Video plays on widescreen tv (two different tv's) with letterbox.
This just isn't right, but I can't figure it out. Thank you in advance

You can try a reinstall of the software (make sure to remove the receipts) and also you can try a new user first.
1.) Which players were you trying this on and did Apple DVD Player change to 16:9?
2.) If the DVD SP Pro screen switched to 16:9 then it is working properly and could be the player you are trying. Sounds like it did not switch to 16:9 when you opened it in Apple DVD Player?
3.) Also when did you set 16:9 Letterbox on the track itself and not as a general default?
Could be wrong, but do not recall this issue coming up before if the settings in Final Cut, the encodes and DVD SP were correct (people have had improper settings before.) It is computer software and things can get bugs, but it is worth looking. The project open up from the build file DID NOT open properly in Apple DVD Player? - which is why yu said you had drop downs?
If you can say exactly the workflow, from original source footage, settings in Final Cut, the exact version of DVD SP, your OS it may show where it is falling apart, other than a general issue with DVD SP (since it seems not 16:9 ever worked properly for you?)
1.) Running OS 10.4.11 on a PowerBook G4 733 (yes?) It could be the computer maybe out of spec for the version of DVD SP....
2.) Running Final Cut Suite/Studio version with Final Cut xxx (???) on the system
3.) The original material is x capture on a x camera as x type of footage
4.) Captured (how)
5.) Edited in a Final Cut sequence with the following settings:
6.) Exported from Final Cut as self contained/reference movie at what settings version
7.) Ran through Compressor and bitVice with the following settings
8.) Bought into DVD SP (which exact version)
9. Set the track itself to 16:9 Letterbox?
10.) Built project and it did or did not open in 16:9 prior to burning.
11.) If it played back properly at 16:9, then burned to what brand DVD
12.) Tried it on Brand and models of DVD Players and television, with proper settings on both TV and DVD Player (check settings)
Some of the things, like brand of media, probably would not affect this issue.
Have you tried a 16:9 project in iDVD with a small portion of the footage that is exported from Final Cut Pro and does that work properly? (You can make a disc image in iDVD and mount with disk utility and play in Apple DVD Player?)

Similar Messages

4:3 footage being automatically cropped when played on 4:3 TV's. Converting to 16:9 no help either.

Hi! I recorded some footage on my DV Camera in 4.3 aspect ratio. I uploaded into a Premiere Pro CS4 project set up for 4.3, not 16.9. Everything that's in the frame on the camera's display is there on the screen in Premiere. The problem arises when I come to encode. In Export Settings, you can chose to crop the image to 4:3 or 16:9. Either doesn't include the whole picture. If you choose to no cropping you can set the boundaries around the image yourself, cutting out surrounding black, so that just the image is framed. This is what I did. You then chose to export either in 4:3 or 16:9. Choosing 4:3 and encoding in Adobe Encoder, I then set up a project in Encore, to burn to DVD in 4:3. Playing the DVD on a 16:9 TV or Computer gives you all the image, but playing on a 4:3 TV crops off the sides and tops. This I could understand if I was trying to play a 16:9 image on a 4:3 screen, but not 4:3 on a 4:3 screen.
Just for experimentation I went back, and pasted the 4:3 footage into a Premiere project set up as 16:9. I then exported as 16:9, and burnt to DVD as 16:9. Plays fine on a 16:9 screen. But on a 4:3 screen, while the whole image is present with nothing cut off, it's streched, so my subject's head and body are the wrong proportions. The only way that works is to paste the footage into a 16:9 project and apply black borders in Export Settings. This does at least present all the image in proportion on a 4:3 screen, but the problem is its plays as a small screen in the middle of the TV surrounded by loads of black border. I've tried the DVD on a couple of 4:3 TV's and had the same effect on each.
I'd be grateful if anyone knows what I can do to get all the image to play on a 4:3 screen, without it being streched, small, or cropped.
Thanks!
John
N.B. I tried using the 4:3 and 16:9 cropping templates in Export Settings and as I saw there, they cut off bits of the image.
Just for completeness; thinking if it's my Matrox RT X2 interfering, I pasted the footage into a non-Matrox Premiere project and burnt in a non-Matrox Encore project. It made no difference.

I agree with Harm on both points. You should turn off cropping completely if you're going from a DV source (which you are) to an MPEG-2 DVD output (which you are). Just click the Crop button "off" on the Source tab.
If you're seeing weird distortions on some television/DVD players, you may have the aspect ratio settings set improperly in the DVD players themselves. Typically, these settings need to be changed when you're viewing anamorphic (16:9 widescreen) DVDs; you change the setting to match your display preference to your television. Sometimes, the settings are not correct, and will result in unwanted stretching. This isn't necessarily the problem you're up against, but it might be something to check if things don't look right. Other than that, everything looks more or less correct in the export settings.

Youtube displaying widescreen movies in letterbox on widescreen tv

Hello all,
I hope I can get some help here.
I have a dual-monitor setup where I have a 19" main monitor running on 1280x1024 as my main desktop, and I have my 42" widescreen full-HD tv connected to the secondary output of my GeForce 9600GT.
I like to watch movies/youtube fullscreen on my 42" tv ofcourse, especially since YouTube now has 1080p quality available.
On other media players (like windows media player, Ustream and others), when I click fullscreen on widescreen content, the entire display of the TV is being used, but when I click the fullscreen option on YouTube (when the youtube content is on 16:9) I get a black letterbox all around the content.
Youtube is treating my TV as a 4:3 (so I get black bars on the left and the right). I guess the player isn't able to detect that it's actually a widescreen TV. The playbar and adds etc. show up on only part of the screen as well, and then ofcourse since it seems to detect 4:3, it also puts black bars on the top and the bottom for the widescreen content.
Is there any way to force 16:9 settings on youtube, regardless of what the player is apparently detecting?
Kind regards.

Hi, The only thing I would suggest is to see if Youtube has any guidelines. Also when you open your thread, look to the right side and you'll see "More like This" where various threads seem to be discussing this issue.
Thanks,
eidnolb

Letterboxing with widescreen source - CS4

I am using Premiere CS4 and I have an issue/problem (?) with the output from Media Encoder. The project is PAL widescreen.
I exported the timeline and selected "Microsoft AVI" codec. The resultant video shows perfectly in Windows Media Player, 16:9 aspect ratio. If I play the same avi file in Real player I get the video 4:3 letterboxed. The same results with any other compression; flv, f4v wmv etc.
Also, when I embed an flv video into Flash (CS4) I still get the 4:3 letterboxed result.
Not sure if this is a Premiere problem or Flash problem.
Any help appreciated.
Steve
Note: The original footage was shot on a Sony TRV-950 camcorder in 16:9 mode. Not sure if the black bands top and bottom were recorded by the camcorder and Premiere (and Windows Medi Player) recognises this and cuts them off. Whilst Flash doesn't.

The video that Flash sees is 4:3 format. The top and bottom bars are part of the footage as far as Flash is concerned. I have tried every permutation of dimensions within Flash but no luck. The problem surely resides in what Premeire exports, it's just that some programs (Window Media Player, Premiere Pro and DVD Encore) seem to be able to display it correctly.
The way that I understand how the TRV-950 works in widescreen mode is that it doesn't use the full height of the sensor, so it crops in-camera to give a 16:9 format.
Steve

CS6 Firewire 16:9 preview is letterboxed on widescreen monitor

With CS6, is there a setting to fix the Firewire Preview since the 16:9 video is incorrectly letterboxed on a widescreen video monitor? It is basically letterboxing something that doesn't need to be letterboxed.This is for a 1080 24p AVCHD project with 1080 24p video files.
Adobe Encore & After Effects CS6 properly dsiplay the Firewire Preview on a widescreen monitor.
In Encore, there is acctually a setting in the Preview Menu that lets you change the TV Mode from 16:9 to 4:3 Letterbox. That only affects the preview when choosing to the Preview the DVD. When playing the video from the Timeline or clicking on a DVD Menu that setting doesn't change how the Firewire Preview displays and is always 16:9. Premiere is always 16:9 letterboxed.
Any suggestions on how to get Premiere to display 18:9 using Firewire Preview without letterboxing it?
Randy

I checked it using various Firewire devices but they all act the same in this situation. Pioneer DVD recorder, Sony DV camcorders.
The unique thing with Premiere CS6 compared to CS5.5 or earlier versions is that it allows Firewire previews with the Mercury GPU on, it doesn't force you to turn that feature off and use the Mercury Software setting instead which is lower performance if you have the proper video card.
I just checked it using Premiere CS5.5 and it does the same thing. In 1080 HD Sequences, Firewire out has the 16:9 incorrectly letterboxed, or what I call "double" letterboxed.
With both CS5.5 and CS6, the Firewire preview is correctly displayed in a DV 480i 16:9 Widescreen Sequence.
A little annoying but this is where an old Sony PVM 4:3 broacast video monitor works well in combination with a widescree 16:9 video monitor still. Simply turn off the 16:9 mode and it will dsiplay it correctly when editing an HD Sequence. When using a DV widescreen Sequence you would then click on the Sony PVM's 16:9 mode so it would letterbox correctly.
Surprised Adobe didn't fix this in Premiere CS6
Randy

Letterboxing an widescreen format

I turned on letterboxing in imovie. I am editing and burning widescreen/hdv video. I have automatic DV pillarboxing and letterboxing on, but it doesn't put the black bars on the top and bottom when playing on a 4:3 tv. I thought it would do that? instead, it looks stretched.
Is this correct or can I get it to play right on a normal TV?

Hello Kingstone,
iDVD doesn't set the IFO file contained in your DVD to display the video as widescreen on a 4:3 TV. You should be able to solve the problem by changing the settings of your dvd player.
if you want to have the DVD display as letterboxed widescreen automatically you can create a disc image in iDVD and then re-author it with myDVDedit.
http://www.mydvdedit.com
hope this helps
mish

White Letterboxing on Widescreen Videos

I just got a new iPod 80gb Classic. I played back some widescreen videos and TV shows, and the "letterbox bars" are white instead of the normal black. This is driving me nuts! Has anyone else seen this or know how to change it?

hi i bought the 160Gb classic and found i had this issue aswell and thought it was default until i looked at my friends 160Gb classic.
However ive managed to trace the error:
when playing video from the video menu eg. videos > tvshow > ..
the letterboxing is black
but
when playing from a custom menu like tvshows placed on the main menu eg. tvshows > ..
the letter boxing is white
i have confirmed this on 2 Ipods and i think its just a menu issue. annoying none the less.

16:9 is Letterboxed on Widescreen TV

I have a 16:9 FCP project, exported QT 16:9 file and made 16:9 MPEG2 file for DVD using Episode Pro. This plays anamorphic in QT. Created a DVDSP4 project SD 16:9 Letterboxed. Plays fine in simulation. Final DVD is letterbox on a widescreen TV making the frame appear somewhat squished. I have not had this problem in DVDSP3. DVD's made this way in DVDSP3 are all anamorphically displayed on a widescreen TV and letterboxed on a 4:3 display. Any suggestions? Thanks, Jim

Jim,
It almost sounds like this is an issue with the display settings of the DVD player and/or TV than it is with the DVD itself. Obviously you're simulating in "16x9 Letterbox" mode since it looks right there.
The only other thing I would think is that you letterboxed your video as part of a 4x3 MPEG which you put into a 16x9 track and that your simulator settings are hiding this by making it "look right". That sounds far fetched though... so I'm sticking with it's the DVD player's/TV's fault.
Zak

16:9 DVD Still Letterboxed on Widescreen TV

I have completed a slideshow on a 720/480 anamorphic sequence in FCP. I used Compresser(Best Quality DVD) preset option to compress the DVD. I have all display settings set to 16:9 on menu and tracks alike. My viewer plays the slideshow with the correct dimensions, yet when burned to dvd and played on several widescreen tv's, the image is letterboxed. This is not the case with the same tv's and other dvd's. The same dvd, however, plays just fine in the OEM DVD player installed on my mac.
Can someone advise as to what I could be doing wrong to produce this letterbox(like a 4:3 that is stretched wide) on my dvd's?

It appears I have a similar problem, onboard Mac DVD player fine, 4:3 monitor fine, widescreen monitor and it gets stretched. Will post an answer when I get there. Hope you do the same if you get there first.

Widescreen (16:9) footage gets imported as 4:3, why?

I recorded some footage on my Panasonic SDR-S26 in widescreenformat (16:9).
I converted the MOD file to MP4 using a mod converter.
When I view the footage in quickplayer, everything looks fine.
but when I import the footgae into iMovie HD, it squishes the footage into standard width and everting in the footage looks thin and tall.
1. How can I stop this from happening?
2. How can I make iMove stick to the original screensize and resolution?
peace
anthoni
Message was edited by: anthoni Ji

Did you create a widescreen iMovie project before importing?

Getting footage to play in widescreen format

I am having trouble getting my projects to play in a regular 4:3 tvs as widescreen format.
On my old mac there was no problem
I want to import my footage and then output it to play in 16:9 format.
Is there new set ups thtat i need to configure?? in fce4
any direction would be greatly appreciated.
everyone looks like they are taller than they really are... all appears well in timeline but once on dvd it shows in a stretched tall format on the 4:3 tv....shows fine on widescreen tv.
TIm

1 cam is standard and my Sony is HD...sorry for the delay,
So I understand it as --as long as I shoot in hd i am ok.right
What use is it to shoot in stretch then? any?
Tim
you are a great help by the way..

Footage being scaled on timeline - looks aweful!

Can't find answers in the forums so I'm hoping you may have run into this at some point.
Two camera shoot and here are my settings for each in FCP:
Cam A (HMC150 shooting at 720p): 1280 x 720, Compressor is Apple ProRes 422, Pixel Aspect is Square, Field Dominance is None
Cam B (XL2 shooting in stand. def. anamorphic): 720 x 480, Compressor is DV/DVCPRO-NTSC, Pixel Aspect is NTSC-CCIR 601, Field Dominance is Lower (Even)
My timeline settings are the same as my Cam A.
Cam A looks great, the problem is Cam B looks god awful! When I drop Cam B footage on the timeline, it changes the aspect ratio to (-)18.52 and scales the footage to 177.78.
If I change the aspect ratio footage to 0, it doesn't look quite "widescreen". If I change the scale to 0, the shot only fills up about 2/3 of the screen (maybe less). The footage already looks blah due to low lighting but I suspect the scale blowing it up is making it worse.
Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

the problem is Cam B looks god awful! ..... it scales the footage to 177.78 .... If I change the scale to 0, the shot only fills up about 2/3 of the screen (maybe less)
Yes, that's what happens when you scale more than about 6%; it looks awful. Have you considered converting the HD footage to SD for editing?
-DH

Letterbox or widescreen or somethin' funky!

Almost all of the clips in my first sequence look like they're in some kind of letterbox mode, with black strips at the top and bottom. Every new clip I stick into that sequence, and all of the subsequent sequences I've made, don't have the letterbox thing going on. Their aspect ratio seems correct, but the clips in my first sequence seem to have the wrong aspect ratio. This phenomenon unfortunately remains when I output to DVD Studio. I made a DVD the other day of my movie and the first scene was all letterboxed-looking; the rest of the movie was fine.
I've been careful to make sure that "show as sq. pixels" is unchecked for everything, and all of my footage was shot with my same DVX100A with a 16:9 adapter. The item properties for each funky letterbox clip are exactly the same as for the non-funky ones; the pixel aspects are always NTSC CCIR 601, the little anamorphic box is checked for each of them, the frame size is the same 720 x 480, and the item properties for the entire sequence are the same as for my other, non-funky sequences.
I'm pulling my hair out here, trying to figure out what's going on. Please help me . . .
Thanks.

Just to confirm, was your first sequence flagged as anamorphic before you placed any clips into it? Or did you switch the flag after you dropped in the first few clips?
I suspect it was the latter, so please try this out...
With your first sequence open and active in the Timeline, select all your 'letterbox' clips
Press Option-Command-V to bring up the Remove Attributes dialog
Select Distort from the left-hand side 'Video' options, then click OK
If my hunch was right, your formerly letterboxed clips should now fill the 16:9 frame.
If I was off the mark, post back.

Letterbox vs Widescreen

Hey all,
Can somebody explain the difference between letterbox and true widescreen?
It is my understanding that standard NTSC images, in full screen 4:3, are 720x480.
What are the dimensions of a widescreen 16:9 video?
What are the dimensions of a letterbox video?
Any light you can shed on this will be most helpful.
Thanks,
Dan

letterbox just has a black mask at the top and bottom, so it's still 720x480
widescreen is anamorphic which "stretches" the image horizontally, the idea is to use those pixels at the top and bottom which would be masked. So it, strangely enough is 720x480 too, but it uses more pixels for a higher resolution image. but if you look at it without the anamorphic flag, it's "squished".
Google "anamorphic video"

My 1440x1080 footage is letterboxed

When I create a DVD with my 1440x1080 footage it appears letterboxed on my 42" plazma tv. I want it to fill the screen. Can anyone tell me how to set it up to do so? Also, when I upload it to the web it appears letterboxed. In final cut my sequence settings are 1440x1080 and it seems to export as 16x9. I don't understand why it plays back as letterboxed. I appreciate the help.

Two things to look at: how is your DVD player set up to deliver the picture to your TV? Most have an on screen menu, make sure it is set to send a 16:9 image to the TV.
Where are you uploading the internet content?

16:9 footage being letterboxed on widescreen tv. Why?

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