For filming a movie how do i account for widescreen?

[Matthew MD]

Ok im trying to understand the whole idea behind getting widescreen to play properly on my tv (4:3, so it would have to be letterboxed).

The camera films in 16:9 but when i view it on tv some is cutt off the sides, even if i pan it in, it still doesnt reach its full 16:9 AR.

I put a professional dvd (16:9) into my computer to compare it to mine, and it looks to be way wider than 16:9, as if it was accounting for it to get up off on a 4:3 tv...?

so do i have to film and just account for the tv cropping off the sides on its own, I would just like to know from someone who has filmed and got it to play 100% 16:9 on a 4:3 tv and know exactly how.

Like i said when i viewed the dvd on my computer, i measured it with my hand, and it was atleast over twice as long as it was tall...like 20:9..?
So thats why i figured it is filmed and edited in some way before dvd ready.

[Worley]

Some films are wider than TV widescreen. There are several widescreen aspect rations in use. This does mean that some films on DVD are letterboxed on a 16:9 television screen!

I don't know what authoring software you are using, or what DVD player, or TV. But when authoring, author the DVD as a 16:9 project. When replaying on a 4:3 TV, you should be able to change a setting on the TV or DVD player that will letterbox the video for correct display on a 4:3 television.


Hope that helps.

[mik]

there are quite a few ~16:9 formats, not very different though.
all tvs have a crop factor, it's normal and required. you'll never get 100% of the image on a crt tv (there are crt monitors but that's not a consumer tv).

almost all new tvs have a ratio setting you can select. letterboxing is required if you have a 16:9 source and want to make it for 4:3, you shrink it and add black bars to fill the screen up to a 4:3 format. professional made 4:3 conversions are not done with letterboxing (since the movie gets kinda small on the tv) but are panned and zoomed on a per scene basis (they actually move the 4:3 screen inside the 16:9 screen). you can catch these on tv when there are 2 actors in front of each other, too wide for 4:3 and the image pans from a side to another, that's something not found in the original movie.

[Worley]

There is a scene in "The Untouchables" that does this. (At least, the version broadcast by the BBC a few years ago has it). It looks very unnatural to have the camera panning sideways between actors. It would have been better to cut from actor to actor.

[Mal]

Widescreen vs. pan n' scan:
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/6781/EmpireCompare.html

[Matthew MD]

i know what you guys are talking about this "pan and scan", but i hear of a setting called anamorphic.. which automatically switches it between a 4:3 tv and a widescreen tv. of course if its on the 4:3 tv it will get letterboxed.

So how do i set that up and what are flag markers, is that a way to tell the dvd to be recognized when playing on a dvd player?

[mik]

anamorphic? only film is anamorphic. you'll never need to know about it at home.

[SenorKaffee]

Yep - you can set a flag in MPEG Streams and there should also be an option in your DVD authoring suite for this. Widescreen is a little more work for DVD menus, though, see your documentation for details.

There is nothing you need to change on the HV20 to record a proper widescreen video. Just make sure that there is nothing important outside the safe frame. ^^