Panic time… :-?
I’m shooting for a DVD for widescreen, using “PAL 16:9” preset although it’s not going to be PAL. (American, DVD to flat-screen monitor…)
The preview windows are seriously distorted. Please reassure me, and my client, by explaining to me one more time why it is that “this is perfectly normal…” %|
Hello
I hope that someone who KNOWS the subject will answer you.
Until then, here’s my “guesses”
16:9 is not really an image format but a “workaround” I guess
The size image is the same as normal PAL, only the ratio changes
That’s why when you watch the 16:9 image in PC screens ( or normal TV) the
image is distorted.
You must activate the 16:9 mode
And, if you want to watch the images in america ( NTSC) you must change manually
the 16:9 presets Y size to 480 I GUESS 
Bye
Hello,
I don’t know anything about PAL 16:9 but I remember when looking at the Blender manual a page that talked about the reasons for that distortion. It appears that the distortion is normal and that it will be fine on a TV. But you can read the article for yourself:
Here’s the link: http://download.blender.org/documentation/htmlI/x8989.html
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Trebor
Hi. If I remember correctly, aspect ratio is the shape of the pixels. On a pc monitor, they are usually square, but on TV screens, they are enlongated. So when you are changing the aspect ratio to fit a wide screen TV, you are trying to cram it in to a pc monitor so it gets distorted.
-Laurifer
That’s correct. For examle NTSC is 720x480. The pixel aspect ratio for 4:3 is .9 while widescreen it’s 1.2. They are both the same resolution
One thing that you should be aware of is to make your DVD anamorphic. That basically means that the ratio is 16x9 but it will letter box on a 4:3 screen so that it won’t be distorted. Your DVD creation software let’s you do that.
As for showing your client some video players can force a certain aspect ratio. VLC is one such program. I beleive PowerDVD can do it as well.
Is your final product supposed to be high definition or standard widescreen?
Standard widescreen.