Information applies to NTSC video only.
Source Material			Action Safe Mask	Action Safe Offset	Title Safe Mask	Title Safe Offset
NTSC DV	720x480	Rectangular pixels	800x533	40x26	900x600	90x60
Still cameras and scanners	640x480	Square pixels	711x533	36x26	800x600	80x60

Here is a QuickTime Pro 7.x procedure for masking an NTSC DV movie to fit into the Action Safe or Title Safe area with an added black border. (See table above for mask size and offset to use with 640x480 square pixel material.)

1. Create a 800x533 black mask Action Safe (900x600 black mask Title Safe) in Photoshop. Save it as a JPG file.
2. Open your DV movie in QuickTime Pro. Open the saved mask in another QuickTime Pro player.
3. Select the mask clip and edit->select all and then edit->copy
4. Select the DV movie clip and then edit -> add to selection & scale
5. Next, select Window -> Show Movie Properties
6. Find the mask video track (Video 2).
7. Click to highlight video track 2 and then click Visual Settings.
8. Change layer setting (bottom center of menu) to 1 (it must be a larger number than the actual movie video track (Video 1)).
9. Click to highlight video track 1 (this should show the original movie).
10. In the Offset window, set the offset to 40x26 Action Safe (90x60 Action Safe). This will move the movie to the center of the mask.
11. Make sure all tracks are selected in the check boxes.
12. Export it as a DV stream. This will resize everything to DV format size. Bring it into iDVD.


Frederick L. Shippey
Electronic Imaging Consulting
4 January 2007