Crunch time help: 4:3 and 16:9!

[touchdown]

Well, the viewing format of my project has just changed to a 55" LCD tv.

The entire project has been done in 4:3. I tested it on a 55" LCD and the stretch really made everything look sub-par.

I can re-render the whole thing so long as I don't need to really do a lot of changes to my elements (pictures, animations, standard 4:3 vhs footage, etc).

I'm using Sony Vegas & DVDA if that helps.

Not having a flatscreen myself, is there an option to view video inputs as their true input (4:3) and not stretch them to 16:9? Or, should I go back and re-render at something like 1280x720 HDV?

This thing is going out tomorrow, and I'd rather not spend the entire night re-encoding the whole thing.


Thanks folks.

[lwaxana]

My LG tv has options for 16:9 and 4:3 and zoomed variations on those. You can have the aspect ratio set by the dvd, or you can set it manually. I switch them manually all the time, no bother. I don't know what you need to do when you're creating the dvd to make it automatically set the aspect ratio, though.

Any chance you can check the tv it will be playing on for aspect ratio options?

[edit] I would assume that any 16:9 tv would have a 4:3 option because so many things are in that aspect ratio. And yeah, things tend to look terrible stretched.

[touchdown]

lwaxana, thanks.

that's what i was thinking. the guy is checking. it's a new plasma, so yeah I'm pretty sure he can opt for 4:3.

the thought of going back through and re-encoding and rendering just makes me want to drink....

[lwaxana]

lol I know what you mean! Well, hopefully all these technical issues will go smoothly and then you can drink in triumph!