Importing 4:3 Letterboxed

Robert-N-LA wrote on 8/4/2007, 9:09 AM
I've done some searches and can't seem to find anyone else who's had this problem, so here it goes.

Problem: I have a series of short films on a DVD that are 4:3 Letterboxed, which is what I want. I need to make a minor change in the credits, so I'm importing it into Vegas 6.0c. I set my my properties for 4:3 (either DV or Standard NTSC) but when I view the project, both in the preview monitor and on standard def TV set up as a remote monitor, the project is nearly 4:3 Full Frame with distortion.

It feels like Vegas has looked at the black letterboxing, ignored it, and is forcing the image to be full frame.

Any suggestions?

History: Original shorts shot 16:9 HDV on a Canon A1, edited originally on FCP (which was a pain in the ass), exported to Standard Def DVO as VOB files as 4:3 letterboxed.

Thanks.

Comments

TheHappyFriar wrote on 8/4/2007, 11:31 AM
um... have you tried the project as 16:9? sounds like it's not letterboxed to be but real 16:9 footage on the DVD.
Robert-N-LA wrote on 8/4/2007, 2:29 PM
But when I play the DVD it's 4:3 letterboxed.
Malcolm D wrote on 8/4/2007, 2:59 PM
It is probably the DVD player doing the letterboxing. In the set up menu of the player the display type is probably set to 4:3 so the player knows to letterbox all 16:9 material. If you were to change diplay type to 16:9 and it still letterboxes then it is a letterboxed file. If it does not letterbox with this setting then the file is 16:9 and the player was doing the letterboxing.
It does not make sense to produce a letterboxed file for a DVD as a 16:9 DVD will play correctly on any TV if the DVD player is correctly set. A letterbox file wastes data space producing black bars and can not be displayed correctly on a 16:9 display.
Robert-N-LA wrote on 8/4/2007, 5:26 PM
Actually, the problem was my version of Vegas. I upgraded to 6D and it worked fine.

But thanks for the thoughts.