Presenting widescreen video on fullscreen TVs

Several methods are available to convert widescreen video to fullscreen format for display on fullscreen TVs. You can convert widescreen video to fullscreen format and store the converted fullscreen video on the DVD; however, the preferred method stores the original widescreen video on the DVD. The DVD player then converts it during playback to a fullscreen TV. Adobe Encore DVD stores the original widescreen video on the DVD and instructs the DVD player to letterbox it on playback to a fullscreen TV, regardless of the DVD player's settings.

DVD players use the following modes to convert widescreen video for display on a fullscreen TV:

-- Automatic Letterbox shrinks the image until it fits the fullscreen format horizontally, causing black bars to appear at the top and bottom of the frame. The resolution of the image is lowered, but the image remains whole--no cropping occurs. For footage that is stored on a DVD as widescreen, DVD players use automatic letterbox to display it on fullscreen TVs.

-- Automatic Pan and Scan crops the widescreen video to fit the fullscreen frame, removing visual data outside of the fullscreen frame.