I have successfully used DVD Architect to create a HD video and have successfully written it to an ISO file and then burned to a a Bluray. I would also like to have the ability to also burn the video to a standard DVD. What would be the easiest way to do this?

I still don't know about DVD Architect (haven't gotten Steve's book yet), but with PRE7 I "share" the HD Timeline to a (SD) folder (Share>Disc>Burn to Folder) and then burn the actual discs from that folder (after playing back the first to be sure it is flawless).

I actually started with PRE7 but could never complete the project, It would always return an "access denied" error message after completing the rendering process. I took Steve's advice and made an MPEG file with PRE7 and then used DVD Architect to create some really neat menus and then I made the ISO file.

Not sure just where to go from here but will continue searching, there has to be a way.

You should be able to just choose a DVD as your burn option and get DVD files from those same project files, tj.

They, of course, will be standard-def video and not hi-def, like BluRays. But you should be able to able them from the same project file.

If not, then go to the File menu and select Properties and switch the settings to DVD settings first. Then you should be able to produce your VIDEO_TS files.

Thanks Steve, that worked OK, the only problem is that the 16 X 9 format is somewhat distorted. In other words, the horizontal black strips at the top and the bottom are taller than they should be and the actual video is squished down. Hope that makes sense. Did I miss a setting somewhere? The Bluray version I burned earlier filled the entire screen (no black strips) and was perfect. By the way, I have your book on order so hopefully I won't ahve to ask dumb questions in the future.

Did you burn to a wide screen dvd format or to a standard 4:3 format. That sounds like you may have burned your 16:9 widescreen movie to a 4:3 dvd format and it got letterboxed.

I did not change the formatting, left it 16 x 9. To me, letterbox is when black appears on all for sides of the picture. Letterbox would be OK because then I could expand via the TV to fill the entire screen. I only have black at the top and bottom and the actual picture is a bit distorted.

I know this from renting movies at good old blockbuster. When it says it as anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1, the video will fill the entire 16 x 9 screen. When it says anamorphic widescreen 2.40:1, there will be small horizontal black at the top and the bottom but the viewable video is in proportion. when I made a Bluray from this very same project, the video filled the entire screen.

Letterboxing has horizontal black bars at the top and bottom. Pillarboxing has vertical black bars at the left and right. Windowboxing has black bars all around.

Letterboxing occurs when you scale footage with a larger frame aspect ratio (e.g.16:9) down so it will maintain its aspect ratio, but fit within a frame which has a smaller frame aspect ratio (e.g. 4:3). The width of the wider material will scale to match the width of the narrower frame, but the heights will not match and black bars will be introduced as a result of the different frame aspect ratios. Your Bluray disk was burned with a 16:9 aspect ratio that matched your project, so no letterboxing.

The format I was asking about is not the format of the project. I was asking whether you burned your project to a widescreen dvd or to a standard dvd. You can burn to either type of DVD. A widescreen dvd should maintain your project's 16:9 aspect ratio with no letterboxing. You can select the DVD type in Optimize DVD.

That was it Bob, thanks! The aspect ratio WAS set to 4:3 so it has been changed to 16:9 and I am re-rendering. thanks for your help.