5 replies to this topic

[pantropolis]

Folks,

I have several video files in widescreen format that I have been trying to burn using Toast 7.0.2 but I'm not having much luck.

I drop a widescreen format .avi file into Toast, in the DVD mode. When selecting the file edit/video/ the preview appears in the proper aspect ratio. Toast encodes the file then writes it to disc but when I play it back the video has been blown up as though it were in a pan and scan mode without the actual panning and scanning. The black bars are gone and the video frame, from top to bottom, takes up the entire TV screen.

I have tried selecting 16:9 in the custom option within Toast but this does nothing. When I play the .avi files back in Quicktime or any other video player they appear fine.

Thoughts?

Many thanks,
Andy

[tsantee]

Does the DVD play in widescreen view on the Mac using DVD Player?

[pantropolis]

I'm burning to a DVD-RW and it won't play at all in the Mac DVD player.
It plays on both of my other regular DVD players...just blown up.

[tsantee]

pantropolis, on Apr 11 2006, 10:28 AM, said:

I'm burning to a DVD-RW and it won't play at all in the Mac DVD player.
It plays on both of my other regular DVD players...just blown up.

Here's what I think is going on. Apparently you have the DVD player connected to a 4:3 TV. Toast creates a "flag" that tells the DVD player this is a widescreen movie. If the DVD player is set up for a 16:9 TV it automatically fits the image to the TV's screen. If the DVD player is set up for a 4:3 TV, the player can be set to either letterbox the video so it is displayed as widescreen with black bars on top and bottom, or as a pan & scan video that fills up the TV screen by cropping off the sides. If you DVD players are set up to do letterboxing, then the problem you're experiencing is puzzling.

Let me know if the DVD player is set up for letterboxing.

Another thing to test. Insert the DVD in your Mac and open Toast. Click the Media button to enter the Media Browser. Select DVD with the top button and go down a level with the lower button. Is the thumbnail image that appears a widescreen of cropped 4:3 image?

[pantropolis]

Looks like you nailed it. I do have the DVD player hooked up to a 4:3 tv, but that was never an issue with other widescreen DVDs, must be specific to Toast DVDs. I tried the Toast DVD in another DVD player, an older machine, and it displayed properly in widescreen.

Is there anything I can do in Toast to make the DVD play properly in the newer player? I guess that's a question I should ask Panasonic.

Many thanks for your help!

[tsantee]

pantropolis, on Apr 12 2006, 02:29 PM, said:

Is there anything I can do in Toast to make the DVD play properly in the newer player? I guess that's a question I should ask Panasonic.

Many thanks for your help!

I can suggest going through the DVD player's setup menus. There should be one where you choose pan & scan or widescreen/letterboxing. Setting it to letterboxing should fix the problem. If it is already set up that way I don't know why it isn't being recognized properly. Maybe it is a bizarre case of media incompatibility with the player. If you used DVD+R media, try again with DVD-R.

Toast writes the instruction to the DVD player in the VIDEO_TS IFO file. There is a way to edit that file with an application called MyDVDEdit. But that would require several steps and the burning of a new DVD. First try to change the DVD player's setup options or different media. If all else fails, let me know and I can try to explain MyDVDEdit.