Black bars top & bottom of widescreen project viewed on 16:9

[Peru]

I'm not sure if I am doing something wrong, or if it is a TV problem, or if nothing is wrong.

When I create a widescreen project and view it on a 4:3 TV, I get black video on top and bottom as expected. But when I view it on a widescreen TV, set at 16:9, it is stretched out with black video above and below just as when viewed on a 4:3 TV. I have to change from 16:9 to Zoom 1 in order for it to play properly.

If I put a "store bought" widescreen DVD in the player, it plays with no black on top and bottom.

Workflow:
Capture with Pre El 3.02
New project widescreen setting
Export Mpeg
Author in DVDAS as widescreen
Prepare from DVDAS and burn to DVD using Imgburn

All through the project, the video looks wide screen 16:9 on the computer monitor.

[Chuck Engels]

Do you have any settings on the DVD player that may need to be changed?
Usually these problems turn out to be a DVD player or TV setting.

[Peru]

I'll check the DVD player.
I don't have a widescreen TV, but was playing it on my in-law's TV with their DVD player.

I don't know why the "store bought" one was OK, though.

[Chuck Engels]

I think it might have something to do with the way the DVD is encoded.
Sometimes the DVD player can automatically read the format and sometimes it has to be set manually.
Home burned DVDs are not the same as commercial DVDs in many ways.

[Peru]

Ah ha.

I guess I'l have to make sure that when I give a video to somebody to tell them to change the TV setting if it doesn't look right.

...and then they'll look at me as if I was instructing them on how to walk.

[Bob]

On the other hand, it does sound like you created a letterboxed dvd. Letterboxing creates a 4:3 frame which fits your standard 4:3 TV with the widescreen content resized to fit the width of the 4:3 screen -- the black bars at the top and bottom are embedded in the movie. Played on a widescreen TV, depending on the settings of the TV, it may be stretched to fit the width.

Verify that you have a widescreen project and that, in the share panel for burning DVDs, you've selected the widescreen preset and not the standard preset.