Anamorphic widescreen or letterbox output to iDVD?

I'm kicking myself.
We recorded our footage of a school play in 16X9 mode, edited tape to tape then, imported to a Final Cut Express project set to NTSC Anamorphic mode in "Easy Set-Up" and now can't figure out how to get widescreen or even letterbox output to iDVD.
The video appears letterboxed in FCE's preview window. But for kicks, I exported a short clip and burned an iDVD of it and it was streched on my set-top dvd player and 4X3 TV.
If the widescreen version would be truly anamorphic and appear letterboxed on standard (old) 4x3 screens, but actually scale up and fill a new widescreen monitor that would be great.
But at this point I'd accept a good, old-fashioned letterboxed version of the video. HDtv users be damned!
Any help? Hacks? Etc. P.S. I also posted this question in the FCE forum where someone suggested I ask it here.
Doing this on a 1Gig Powerbook with 1Gig of ram. iDVD 5 and FCE 2.?

Scalzmoney,
The link on the previous post will work for you, I have done this.
First use the Anamorphicizer
http://homepage.mac.com/sith33/FileSharing34.html
to make iDVD5 see your movie as anamorphic. (iDVD5 is only looking for WS projects from iMovieHD, and this app does the trick for FCE/FCP projects)
Once this is done you'll fill up 16:9 TVs, and the video will letterbox on some 4:3 TVs/players combinations, but will appear "squished" on some 4:3 TVs/players. Changing the settings on some DVD players will help, but not all.
That's where you need David A's "cookbook" as listed & linked your first reply, above.
I've hacked several DVDs this way. For example, if I make a WS DVD without the cookbook, it plays as letterbox on 2 out of 3 DVD players in my house (not counting Macs). The cookbook fixes it for that last DVD player, a PS2.
John B.

Similar Messages

IDVD won't trigger anamorphic widescreen flag

After I edit in FCEHD and export to quicktime and then put that quicktime in IDVD it doesn't put it back in anamorphic widescreen... is there anyway to fix this?

OK... I went into my Pro apps and took notes. This is what works for me (in iDVD 5.0.1). I tested on a short 20 second video clip.
While in Final Cut Pro (5): Export/Using Compressor...
In Compressor Preview window, select file in pop-up on upper-left side of window.
Click on the Batch window.
Click on Setting button and choose Advanced Format Conversions, then DV NTSC Anamorphic.
In Inspector: Click on Encoder button. Click on Video: Settings button and choose DV/DVCPRO-NTSC from pop-up. In Compressor section, Select Quality-Best, Scan Mode-Interlaced, Aspect Ratio-16:9, click OK. If you want to save this as a Custom setting (you should) click Save As... and give it a name like "Widescreen." It will show up at the bottom of the Setting pop-up in the Batch window next time you need it.
Back to the Batch window. From Setting, select your Custom setting. Then select Destination. Then click Submit.
Batch Monitor opens and shows progress. Double-click the file created in your destination location. Mine will show 720x405.
Simple, eh? I did that without consulting a manual.
I hope it works for others!!!

Creating anamorphic widescreen dvds

Does iDVD (in combination with iMovie) now produce anamorphic widescreen DVDs from a 16:9 camcorder source?
I'm currently using iLife '05, and the DVDs it produces are not anamorphic widescreen, which means when I play them back on DVD Player, they have a 2" border on all sides of the screen.

Andrew,
You are talking about two different issues with iLife 05 - Importing anamorphic video into iMovie HD (in iLife 05) and then burning anamorphic 16:9 DVDs with iDVD.
Many 16:9 cameras work great with iMovieHD. I even created anamorphic 16:9 DV files with both iPhoto and PhotoToMovie that also worked great with iMovieHD (05). However, some cameras do have the pillarboxing issues you pointed out and Matti referenced. I do not know whether or not this was fixed for your camcorder for iLife06.
The second issue iLife05 has is how it creates 16:9 anamorphic video in iDVD5. Actaully this does work correctly! It's only the conversion of the anamorphic 16:9 to letterboxed 4:3 for 4:3 TV's that is an issue. If you take a "good" 16:9 anamorphic movie in iMovie and transfer it to iDVD5, it does encode as anamorphic - it just doesn't set the flag right for display on 4:3 TVs.....they are full screen 16:9 anamorphic DV for 16:9 displays, and play correctly on my 16:9 plasma TV at the normal WS setting with no distortion, just like commercial WS DVDs. If this were not an anamorphic signal, I would have to use the "zoom" setting, which is how I view letterboxed cable shows. If you read David Althoff's site carefully, you will note that iDVD5 can use 16:9 encoding, but the playback flag is not forced to letterbox it for 4:3 displays.
Now I'm not saying that you haven't had the issue of getting 4:3 encoding....and your 2 inch border does suggest that! I think your main problem is the import of the movie into iMovie in the first place is creating 4:3 video, and once you've got that, iDVD isn't going to fix it.
You need to make sure that your start a 16:9 WS DV project, and then import your video with the preferences "unchecked" as Matti suggests.
And what kind of camera do you have???
John B.

Widescreen QT movie squished in iDVD 08 16 X 9 project

I've seen this question in a few forums but have yet to find a satisfactory solution. Widescreen movies look squished on iDVD 08 DVDs. Here's what I've been doing:
I edit and export a widescreen QT movie in FCP 6.0.4 (from a DV source).
I open the movie using QT and change the video track properties as detailed here: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2179
When viewing the movie in QT, it is in the proper 16 X 9 aspect ratio.
I create a new iDVD project and make sure it's widescreen. The theme is widescreen, the menu looks widescreen.
I add the 16 X 9 QT movie into the IDVD project and it looks squished from side to side, with grey bars appearing on the right and left sides of the movie's frame. This is seen on my computer screen as well as my widescreen TV (and my DVD player's settings are correct for the display). When I play the disc using my Mac's DVD player program, the screen shrinks from the widescreen menu to the squished banana-headed-people movie.
What gives? What's the correct settings and workflow to display my widescreen movies correctly on iDVD-burned discs?
Thanks for any help!

Pretty sure DVDSP will let you set the flags for 16:9 "manually"
From the DVDSP manual
SD DVD Menus, Tracks, and Slideshows
• Display Mode: Choose the default aspect ratio to use when creating menus, tracks,
and slideshows in SD projects. You can choose from 4:3, 16:9 Pan-Scan, 16:9
Letterbox, and 16:9 Pan-Scan & Letterbox.
16:9 Pan Scan & Letterbox: You can have up to 12 buttons.
Since I'm not a DVDSP pro, so you might want to ask in that forum!

Anamorphic Widescreen Not Working

I have anamorphic widescreen movies that play correctly in QuickTime, but when I play them directly in iTunes, they play in the anamorphic aspect ratio instead of their intended aspect ratio. Does iTunes just not understand anamorphic? It's hard to believe that such a mature program just wouldn't know how to play anamorphic widescreen, especially since Apple has it working with QuickTime. I've looked for settings, but can't find any that would fix this.
Phredd

While I am at it: Is it possible to make your own menus in iDVD or do you have to relay on the build-in themes?
Hope these help & good luck:
http://www.creativemac.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=66079
http://www.creativemac.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=67633
http://www.creativemac.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=29770
http://www.dvdthemepak.com/idvd.html
http://creativemac.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=31388

Changing sequence from 16:9 widescreen to anamorphic widescreen

I am working on a short video clip shot using 5D Mark II - 1080p. I am editing on FCP 7 and want to change my sequence from 16:9 to anamorphic widescreen without any distortion...anyway this can be done? All my raw files and transcoded file are 16:9.
Thanks
Sid

sure. fcp will automatically adjust this when you edit a clip into the sequence, so after changes the sequence settings, simply edit a source clip at the end of the sequence. Does it display correctly? If so, select the clip, copy, and then select all the other clips in the sequence, hit option-v (paste attributes) and make sure just basic motion and distort are checked. Should fix everything. Then delete that clip you added at the end of the sequence.
Oh yeah, probably a good idea to duplicate your sequence before doing this, in case you make a mistake (or if I've made a mistake - nah, that wouldn't happen).
good luck.

Idvd6 -anamorphic widescreen !!!???

cant get idvd6 to recognise 16x9 movie from FCE...even if widescreen selected in idvd project.
have tried creating widescreen quicktime and importing to idvd & also Anamorphiciser but no luck...dvds are always 4X3 "squashed" with black bars at side...any suggestions?

What have you selected in Project Information?

Anamorphic widescreen

I have video (DV) in 4:3 but also shot one wrong in anamorphic widescreen.
Can I import the anamorphic into FCE into the same sequence where the 4:3 on is?

thanks Tom.
I assumed it would be letter-boxed -> that means I could enlarged a little to move the letter box out of the screen as long as the video looks acceptable.

Widescreen and letterbox using same anamorphic footage

Is there a way to take a single source file that is anamorphic 720 x 480 (1.20) and have two buttons: one widescreen and one letterboxed -- so those with widescreen tv's can watch it in it's native aspect ratio, and those with 4:3 tv's can select the letterboxed version.
Right now, I am taking the anamorphic QT source file and placing it in it's own track, and then downconverting the anamorphic master making a letterboxed QT file and placing it in another track. I'm probably doing this the long way around, but it works. Just looking for a quicker way.
Thanks.
David Barker

Encode the track as 16:9, do not make another version that is letterboxed, then set track to 16:9 letterbox in the inspector (NOT pan & scan or pan&scan/letterbox)
The track will be 16:9 on 16:9 tvs and letterboxed on 4:3 (though people can mess with their DVD PLayer and TV settings)

Widescreen Quicktime goes square in iDVD

I have exported a quicktime from Final Cut that was shot in widescreen. I have exported it with the option for letter box and without. When I just play the quicktime it is in widescreen. As soon as I import it to iDVD it becomes square. I am using a widescreen menu in iDVD. The really weird thing is when I selected to letterbox if needed to maintain aspect ration it put vertical letterboxing in and made it even more narrow.
Any thoughts

Use Anamorphizer to treat your video content so that it is recognized as anamorphic content. See http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10885875&#10885875

Aspect ratio on widescreen tv - letterboxed

This has been brought up before, and there always seems to be the same answer…'its a setting on the tv/dvd to correct to play 16:9'…I have an SD widescreen anamorphic video that displays on tv as letterboxed and stretched, but yet the main menu of the dvd from DVDSP4 displays perfectly. There is no setting adjustment for display on the DVD. The display setting on the tv is set to 16:9. I'm baffled here. How can the main menu display right but the vid asset is stretched and letterboxed? I worked in FCP6 and exported to QT movie….from there I dumped it into DVDSP4 and created what I thought was a standard 16:9 dvd. Thoughts,…ideas…suggestions?

You also have to mind the display setting on the DVD player appliance.
At home I have an Insignia (Best Buy) DVD player and a Playstation 2. Both of these appliances were originally hooked up to 4:3 TVs, and now they're hooked up to 16:9 TVs. Just to make matters more fun, the Playstation 2 has a setting that applies to games and a setting that applies to DVDs. On the Insignia player, using the SETUP button on the DVD player's remote control, I set the display to 16:9. If I watch a 4:3 DVD on it (such as an old Bresson movie) I just change the TV's display setting (the TV's Dynex, also from Best Buy) and I haven't touched the DVD player's settings in years. Some Hollywood DVDs from 2009 and earlier have the previews at 4:3 and the main movie at 16:9, a mild nuisance.
In short, my advice to you is to make sure that both the TV and the DVD player are on the same page, so to speak, on aspect ratio. If that doesn't work, you might be dealing with a holdover glitch that also affects Windows Media Player; let us know the brand of your TV and DVD player.

Anamorphic sequence with letterboxes

Hi
I have a sequence that was shot on an xl2 in 16:9, it was digitized in a 4:3 project and edited. I have a client who only has widescreen tv's. I made the sequence 16:9 anamorphic in my sequence settings. It still has letter boxes on it, I need to remove the letter boxes. I tried removing attributes basic motion and distortion which has been recommended a lot here. Those attributes aren't an option, the only options for video are filter and speed. I tried dumping it to tape and digitizing it into a 16:9 anamorphic project but it only logs and captures in the 4:3 ratio with letterboxes. What should I do.

To start with you shouldn't capture and edit in 4:3 if your material is anamorphic. Now you're trying to resurrect the situation that you've quite badly messed up by not capturing and editing your material properly. At this stage it's kind of hard to tell what to do, without knowing what your program actually looks like and now the material is designated. Has the material been set to anamorphic? You probably need to do that first for ALL your material. You can do that in the browser columns for multiple items. It's more difficult for items that have been edited into sequences. Does the material at this stage look correct in the 4:3 sequence, or does it have letterboxing, or does it look distorted? You can set the anamorphic flag for this material for each item, but them you have to copy and paste the content into a new 16:9 sequence, and then you'll have to remove the distortion created by having edited it into a 4:3 sequence in the first place.

How to make Widescreen Videos Display correctly in iDVD?

I shot video with my sony dvcam in 4:3 format. PAL.
I took this video and edited it in iMovie and Exported as follows:
DVCPRO PAL; Aspect: 16x9 25fps.
Size: 720x576 16:9 (i do not preserve aspect ratio).
I take this quicktime movie file and drop it into iDVD using a non Widescreen format menu (but i go ahead and choose it to switch to widescreen when it asks me).
I have 10 small videos i do this too and out of the 10 only 2 actually play in widescreen. The other 8 start off by displaying grey side vertical bars on either side of the screen then proceed to move into a 4:3 aspect.
Why is this happening? Why only 2 work? What is happening to the other 8?
Each of the .mov files i am using display in widescreen when i open and play in QuickTime.
(i have checked using QTPro and all the aspects are set to 1024 x 576 (PAL) for each movie.
Can anyone point me some clues as to what is happening?
THANKS

OK found my solution.
Something in iDVD was not translating the .mov file correctly and not showing my .mov files in proper 16:9 format. It did so with 2 of them but not the other 8.
So i found a work around that made it work perfectly.
I made a new iMovie file in widescreen format. Closed iMovie. Then did a "view contents" function (cntrl click on iMovie file and "view contents"). Next i dropped the 16x9 .mov file into the Media folder. Open the iMovie file again and move the .mov file from the Trash into the Timeline. Save iMovie file. Then i dropped the iMovie file into iDVD and now i have my 16x9 movie with no problem.
I had to make these different aspects and formats because i needed 4 DVDs of each movie:
Fullscreen PAL
Widescreen PAL
Fullscreen NTSC
Widescreen NTSC
Glad i got it all to work out OK.
Also be sure to select the correct fps in the iMovie preferences before making a new iMovie. And deselect the "pillarbox and letterbox" option.
jeff

Using both "True Widescreen" and letterboxed 4:3 to create a widescreen dvd

Hi! Please can you help me with some widescreen problems?
I recently filmed a stage play with two cameras - one recording in 16:9 "True Widescreen" and the other (an older camera) filming in a "false" widescreen: letterboxed 4:3.
On top of this the camera I'm using that has a firewire connection to the Apple is the older camera that plays back the "True Widescreen" tape squeezed.
How can I capture both of these tapes and export them as a widescreen DVD? - it doesn't matter if there is some loss of quality through resizing (The way I did it before on a much cheaper editing system was to import both as they were and then resize the height of the squeezed true-widescreen back to the same shape as the letterbox widescreen).

You need to do it the other way - you need to stretch the letterboxed footage's height to the True Widescreen's dimension, which btw is refered to as Anamorphic. Then you need to tell the system that it is anamorphic footage (there's a checkbox for this in the properties window).
After you cut it together, export it and tell DVDSP that the footage is Anamorphic and it will set it up to play back widescreen in widescreen capable TVs and it will letterbox it for the less capable out there...
Patrick

Need widescreen, not letterbox, when hooking up to TV through composite

I've read a few unanswered posts on this subject. I have a macbook that I want to hook up to a HDTV through a mini-DVI to composite adaptor. When I do this it restricts the available resolutions to letterbox (4:3) resolutions (640x480, 1024x768, etc..). What do I have to do to get this to work properly? I know for a fact that you can put 16:9 through composite cuz thats how my wii is hooked up and its fine.
Side note:
It seems like every time I hook up a mac to a new monitor/TV this same problem occurs. Whoever came up with the idea of restricting resolutions at apple need a swift kick in the pants.

This sounds similar to a limitation of the Intel mini. Oddly the G4 mini with ATI graphics had no problem outputting wide format video from the Apple to S-Video adapter. So I guess the limitation is in the Intel driver. Certainly other Macs have no problem putting out S-video and composite video in wide formats.
You may be able to get around the Intel driver limitation using SwitchRes X, but I'm not sure of it. Basically you would start with a standard timing like 800 x 600 and make a custom scaled timing from it. The result would still be a 4:3 timing but the video inside that format would be wide, if that makes sense. Then you would set your TV to a wide mode and that would restore "square pixels" so to speak.
Again, I don't know if that would work or not. The Intel driver might intervene and not let SRX build the kind of timing I am describing.

Anamorphic widescreen or letterbox output to iDVD?

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