Hello All,

Just thought I would post a how-to for anyone needing help making a 16:9 DVD file.  I recently compiled this for someone when I misunderstood them, so I went ahead and kept it compiled for anyone who needs it.

 By the way, I don't have the latest version of Sorenson on my computer right now due to lacking a serial number that works, but I do have Sorenson Squeeze 3.5 from Avid Xpress Studio. The process should be similar in 4.0 or 4.1, but it might be easier to bring up the Encoding Settings window (I haven't used version 4 since march or may, so I can't remember)

1. Open Sorrenson Squeeze.  When it is fully opened, up near the top, click the Edit drop down menu.  Once this menu is selected, look near the bottom for "Default MPEG DVD Settings".  highlight this option, then select one of the presets that appears in the new menu to the right.

2. In the Compression Settings window,  in the Video Output division, click on the "Options..." button.

3. A new window called "MPEG Video Options" should pop up.  Inside of this window is where you will select the 16:9 pixel ratio so that your video is correctly viewed in widescreen.

4. After creating your settings as you so please, you can easily rename the compression settings, and save them for later use.  Simply do so by clicking the "Save As..." button on the right of the "Compression Settings" window.

 

Good luck in your works with Widescreen DVDs!

That's pretty sweet. 

Quite a useful tutorial.  Can we get this stickied?

It will be added to the all you need to know sticky...

Thx Nforce it's a great post!!!!!

Menno

Your post is very helpful but I still have a problem. The footage I have was shot in 16:9.  I captured it and lost the letterboxes, I suppose thats normal, then I followed your direction with Sorenson Squeeze and I get no letter boxes when viewing it on my TV.  Shouldnt I have the letterboxes? 

If you have correctly followed these steps and produced a 16:9 FHA DVD but it is displaying on a 4:3 TV without letterbox i.e. tall thin people syndrome, then it is possible that your DVD player is set up incorrectly. It differs from machine to machine but is usually in "Setup" "Video" or similar and in the output display options you need to select 4:3 letterbox rather than 4:3 pan and scan or 16:9.

HTH

Brian