No 16:9 Playback When Connecting to TV for Playback?

[Christian Asnieres]

Hello All,

I shot about thirty minutes of 30-40 foot waves on Hawaii's North Shore back in January in 16:9 mode. Recently a friend wanted to see the tape, so I hooked my XL2 to my television screen and put the camera in VCR mode.

The 16:9 footage was playing back at 4:3, and the image was vertically stretched (people were real tall and skinny).

Did I miss a setting to playback in the 16:9 mode I recorded the footage in? Or did I discover a quirk in the camera?

Thanks,

Christian

[Boyd Ostroff]

Nope, this isn't either a setting or a quirk. It's just the way that anamorphic 16:9 looks on a 4:3 TV set. It would look correct on a widescreen TV, or a TV that has a 16:9 mode.

This is a problem as we make the slow transition to widescreen TV's, the old 4:3 sets don't understand anamorphic 16:9 so they show the image in its native squashed format. If you burn your footage to an anamorphic DVD then the DVD player will provide the letterboxing for the 4:3 set.

[Christian Asnieres]

Thanks for the answer!

Makes sense that my Costco special television wouldn't be able to handle this (with a two-year old who likes to color on the television screen, I can justify a new widescreen yet.)

Christian