ive been hooking up my camera to my tv via s cable but it shows my 16x9 footage as 4x3, is there anyway to fix this?

3 possibilities. 1. Buy a widescreen TV. 2. Buy a studio monitor that can switch between 4:3 and 16:9. 3. Buy a scan converter (but these make all of your cuts look like soft cuts). The least expensive option is probably #1.

If your TV isn't 16:9 capable then there's no easy fix for this. Anamorphic 16:9 will appear as a regular 4:3 image on an older TV, but of course everyone will look tall and skinny. If you're using a new widescreen TV then you'll need to set it to the correct mode to fill the screen; there should be a button on your remote for this.

The most practical way to show 16:9 on an older TV is to burn it to a properly created anamorphic DVD. If the DVD player is properly configured then it will automatically provide the letterbox for viewing on 4:3 screens.

If it's just for rushes one of the above options is best. If you mean for final output, editing software can take care of the problem for you. It's fairly straightforward and outlined clearly on Ken Stones website. http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/understanding_16_9.html

Actually I think you'll get the best results by staying anamorphic and burning to DVD as described above. That way people with both 4:3 and 16:9 TV's can watch the same disk.

That article is fine, although very dated (2002). If you're using FCP then you hardly need an article to learn how to letterbox your footage. Simply drop your anamorphic clips or sequences into a 4:3 sequence and it's automatic.

Actually I think you'll get the best results by staying anamorphic and burning to DVD as described above. That way people with both 4:3 and 16:9 TV's can watch the same disk.

That article is fine, although very dated (2002). If you're using FCP then you hardly need an article to learn how to letterbox your footage. Simply drop your anamorphic clips or sequences into a 4:3 sequence and it's automatic.

Ok, so...what...?
I'm a bit lost here...
I have all my footage native 16x9, captured using the Anamorphic preset in FCP5, rendered, and finally burned using DVD Studio Pro 4. the menus are set up on the DVD for 4:6, but all the footage is set up for 16:9, when I checked it out on different sets, it actually worked differently?
What gives. My Sony Widescreen TV it actually changed my set up from the menu's 4:3 to 16:9 when I started playing the footage, but when I took the dvd to my in-laws house and checked it on their older 4:3 set all the footage was not letterboxed like I thought it would be, instead it was squashed and their faces elongated.

Ok, and if thats not bad enough, I went back home and checked it on my newer 4:3 set and it DID letterbox the footage correctly.

What gives, how can I have one widescreen DVD that works correctly on all TV's OLD & NEW?

Oh, and when I letterbox my footage in FCP then its set up great for 4:3 TV's but then doesn't work full scale in my 16:9 tv...it's still letterboxed and now pillared too!

Help business depends on it!

Since I don't use DVDSP I can't tell you what settings to use. However, if you make your anamorphic DVD correctly then it will letterbox on 4:3 screens and will the the screen on a 16:9 TV. Of course, the DVD players must be properly configured. There will be a menu option of "screen type" or something like that. Set it for 16:9 and it will just pass the anamorphic video directly to the TV - now of course you need to have your TV in the correct "full screen" mode also. There should also be the options for 4:3 pan and scan and 4:3 letterbox. Set it to 4:3 letterbox for a regular 4:3 TV - this should be the default if you do nothing.

Regarding menus and stuff - I just don't know. On the commercial DVD's that I have they generally seem to be designed for 4:3 screens, and on my widescreen TV they look stretched, but it usually doesn't matter a whole lot.