Chris Hurd was kind enought to dispense the following advice:

<I don't have the specific numbers in pixels, but a perfect solution for you would be to create black mattes in these aspect ratios in Photoshop or some other paint program, such as Paint Shop Pro. Start with a 720x480 transparent image and add black bars within the top and bottom of the image to get the proper aspect ratio for widescreen. Save this image as a .JPG and load it to the Smart Disk / MultiMedia Card in your GL2 via the USB cable. Choose "card mix to tape," and the letterbox matte is now an overlay for your video. You'll see the letterbox in the viewfinder, plus it's instantly recorded to tape, mixed with the video you're shooting. No need for any work in post... instant 4:3 letterbox to your choice of widescreen aspect ratio. Hope this helps,
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Chris Hurd
San Marcos, TX>

I'v successfully created the 720 x 480 matte image in Photoshop, but am having trouble with:

1) Getting the file into my camera so I can access the file.

2) I can't find the "card mix to tape" function to get the matte to overlay the viewfinder.

I can't get this file to appear in my still image collection on my memory card, or in my "Title" bin. I thought if I could get it into my title bin, I could use the title mix to overlay onto the image.

Can anyone give me a really easy step by step on how to do this?

N~

On the main page of the GL2 page there is a link to a instructional video on how to do this task. Hope this helps

Alex

I own a macintosh, so I am unable to access that tutorial.

Another dilemma: I cannot seem to get a jpg image transferred to my camera from my computer. How is this done?

I was simply dragging the file into the DCIM/CANON100 folder that all my other still images are that were taken on the camera, when the camera icon is on my desktop. This did not work, however.

We have an entire discussion about the process here (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6136) and Tustin Larson should be able to assist you with any specifics. I hope to have a text-based (and QuickTime-based) version of the tutorial at some point in the near future.

I will gladly answer all of your questions about the title mix function. Please email here tlarson@cathedralcity.gov I will give you the play-by-play.

Chris, I will hopefully send you the text version by the end of the day, and the QT version I am still working on... it keeps coming out too large... So as soon as it is ready... i will get it to you.

Thanx,
Tustin Larson

No worries, Tustin... thanks again for all of your very helpful efforts,