Today I received a new 42" plasma screen, and when I started going through some of my DVDs, which I have been authoring in the past years, I found several that have problems with showing subtitles.
The problem is the new screen ratio, which is 16:9 instead of the old 4:3. As most films are 1.85 or 2.33 to one ratio, they fit perfectly the new TV, with no waste, but in doing so leave half or the whole subtitle out.
I have already tried the several screen sizes on the DVD, to see if there was a way to solve the problem combined with the TV ratios. But the only one that shows all is the 4:3 option, leaving black bars on the sides or up and below.
So how should I author my filmes from now on? I use DVDLab Pro.
My guess is I should use a 16:9 form to start with, which would fill the screen, and watch that the subs are in. As I don't like avi files, I convert them to mpeg and then vob, files, so in that conversion I can resize them to whatever I want, I think.
In my past authorings I put the subtitles in the lower black bar, if possible, so they wouldn't invade the picture area. But now I need it to be in the picture area, perhaps using a smaller font size to fit the new screen.
Almost all programs will automatically put subs within the 'safe zone/area'. You moved them. There should be an option to show the safe zone (actually 2... action and text), enable it and keep your subs in it.
