16:9 Squeezed - Digibeta for Mastering

[Daniel Tan]

Hi,

 

I'm preparing to go mastering onto Digibeta for my Super16 short that was telecined squeezed 16:9. The question is - shall I letterboxed it before outputting to Digibeta or still have it squeezed or do both and get two different copies? My final distribution format would be DVD and digibeta.

 

Does the DVD authoring handle the squeezed or unsqueezed image according to the type of TV used?

 

Thanks.

 

Regards,

Daniel

[John Mastrogiacomo]

Hi,

 

    I'm preparing to go mastering onto Digibeta for my Super16 short that was telecined squeezed 16:9. The question is  - shall I letterboxed it before outputting to Digibeta or still have it squeezed or do both and get two different copies? My final distribution format would be DVD and digibeta.

 

Does the DVD authoring handle the squeezed or unsqueezed image according to the type of TV used?

 

Thanks.

 

Regards,

Daniel

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

First of all, your DVD authoring program needs to be able to handle 16x9. There should be an option somewhere to make a 16x9 project.

 

Second, your set top DVD player has to be set to accept 16x9 DVD's. Some of them do this by default, some do not. I have set top DVD players that will automatically recognize the 16x9 format and some that you have to explicitly tell to set to 4x3 letterboxed.

 

If you want to be sure it will play correctly on all DVD players, just master it to 4x3 letterboxed. In the USA most TV's are still 4x3.

 

You can also master to an extracted 4x3 full screen if you shot it with a 4x3 version in mind. :)

[Phil Connolly]

As far as your Digi-Beta master goes really you should get both -you really don't want to chuck away quality by only having a letterboxed master - anamorphic will look much better espcially on the big screen in festivals that can project that format and if you get it on TV in Europe, anamorphic is the way to go.

 

Running off a 16:9 linear letterboxed dub at the saem time would not cost too much and would be needed for US Tv and festivals that don't like anamorphic - perhaps both versions could go on the same tape. I would get a letterboxed Beta-SP dub made as well, for locations that don't have a digi deck

 

I would stick to anamorphic for the DVD

 

On 4:3 displays the DVD player should be able to letterbox the image - I've never come across a DVD player that can't do this, as long as the disc is authored as anamorphic project - Senarist, spruce and DVD studio pro can handle 16:9 projects.