16 x 9 DV anamorphic setup

I thought I had this issue worked out but now I'm questioning myself. I shot 16 x 9 DV footage and captured as such in final cut. I rendered this into a 4 x 3 sequence, hence the footage is letterboxed. This is what I want. I exported the timeline via COMPRESSOR as 4 x 3, not 16 x 9.
However, should I set up the project in DVDSP as 16 x9 or 4 x 3? I want the final product to look as letterboxed on 4 x 3 TV's and 16 x 9 on wide screen TV's.
thx
DVDSP 4
Final cut 5.1

I want the final product to look as letterboxed on 4 x 3 TV's and 16 x 9 on wide screen TV's.
To get that playback you need a 16:9 (anamorphic) video from FCP and set the DVDSP track as * Display mode: 16:9 letterbox*. This way you'll full screen playback in widescreen TVs and letterboxed in standard ones.
Hope that helps !
Alberto

Similar Messages

Anamorphic Setup - Final Cut Studio Training

I inadvertedly posted this in the DVD SP forum. I'd like to move it here where it belongs.
I just got my Final Cut Pro Studio a couple weeks ago, had to finish a project that I was doing in FCE and iDVD, and am now reviewing the tutorial on the Final Cut Studio Training DVD.
One of the first steps is to setup the session to "DV-NTSC Anamorphic". Since I had already blown past that 2 week ago, I did not see it this time, nor could I find the correct menu to make that setting for the tutorial. So I just blew by it; realizing that I'd find out sooner or later what the cost would be.
I found out: When doing the Motion segment and importing the final "TrailerLowerThirds" back into FCP, that part is compressed horizontally with black side bars on the right and left.
3 questions:
How do I make that setting if I've been running FCP already?
What does that do to the project, the clips, anything else?
If I were to make this mistake on one of my projects, how would I recover?
So far I've only been making projects in DV-NTSC 2:3 (I guess that's the right way to say it). Any insights would be appreciated.
G5 dual core 2Ghz, 2.5 GB, 160, 300GB & 300GBfw Mac OS X (10.4.6) FCE HD, FCSP5.1

My second question was: "What does that do to the project, the clips, anything else?"
The essential thing to bear in mind is that 4:3 and 16:9 anamorphic projects (in the SD world) have the SAME resolution: 720x480 pixels for NTSC, 720x576 for PAL. Because the resolution is the same, but the apparent frame size is different, it can lead to confustion, and it's easy to get it wrong - especially over there in the US where anamorphic broadcasting of SD material never took off, and thus widescreen sets were never mass market before HD.
(The situation here in Europe is different.).
Have a read of this for clarity: http://www.helerab.fi/widescreen/
The anamoprhic easy setup just tells FCP that you are capturing anamorphic material, and that new sequences should be anamorphic by default. You can override these defaults if necessary, but the easy setup just makes it harder to mess up.
The important thing when going to DVD is to keep the workflow anamorphic all the way through: output anamorphic material from FCP, make sure material is transcoded to mpeg (whether through compressor, iDVD or Quicktime) with anamorphic settings intact; and in your DVD authoring application, make sure projects, menus and tracks are created or flagged as 16:9.
The end result is an anamorphic DVD.
Your DVD player has a menu where you tell it what type of TV it's connected to - whether 4:3 or widescreen (and if it's a 4:3 set, how it should handle widescreen material: either letterboxing it or "cropping" it via pan/scan).
I've started noticing in other posts that some people think that if you have anamorphic material you should set your DVD player to 16:9. This is NOT A GOOD IDEA (unless the DVD player is attached to a widescreen TV, in which case you have it set to 16:9 already!) Just set the DVD player once and leave it alone.
Hope these observations help get you started. If you understand what's going on with anamorphic media, you're less likely to make mistakes. Best of luck.

Questions about 16x9

Hello all, I have always been a bit fuzzy about working with 16 x9 but have some projects that would benefit. What I don't understand is how to get the 16 x9 format on the finished DVD disk and the export process.
I am shooting with a Sony PDX 10 (this is an old 3CCD) which I have been told shoots native 16 x9 (real 16 x9 ). Does this mean it is not anamorphic ? A word I have never understood in terms of video.
When I import I can get the timeline and viewer to look like 16 x9 no prob. I remembered to check 16x9 in and choose the right anamorphic setup in Easy Setup. Is there anything else to modify?
Exporting is when I get confused. What dimensions do I choose? And when do I choose to crop
or letter box? If exporting 16 x 9 for a small web size do I come up with my own dimensions?
Thanks,
Al

Hi
I also was confused with 16x9 - most because I had not explored the Browser Window enough.
After I captured my material, I had to for each captured sequence/clip extend the
Browser Window and here was lot's of colums and one spelled Anamorphic
I had to select/tick this for each clip/sequence before moving/using them into TimeLine.
Now when I was done (editing) I
• Export out as QuickTime .mov
• Not Self-contained (not important but saves time and space)
• NO QUICKTIME CONVERSION ! IMPORTANT !
• Select with Marks - and then Chapter Marks !
This QT.mov file I import into iDVD - from within iDVD.
And that works greatly for my movies.
Yours Bengt W

Exporting 1-frame stills from fcp

Here's my problem: I've captured lots of 1-frame stills from clips, stored in the Browser. Using 24PA Anamorphic Setup, wanting my final DVD to play 16:9 on a widescreen LCD. I then create a new Anamorphic Sequence and drag all stills to the timeline. Then, I export all the stills as jpg's, using QT Conversion to jpg. This works fine. But when I look at the resulting stills in Photoshop, they are squashed. Now, I can convert them to QT files and then get a nice correction by exporting the stills back out of QT, using Show Movie Properties>Visual Settings>Unchecking "Preserve Aspect Ratio">Changing Dimensions to 853 x 480. But then I've got a QT file which doesn't open in Photoshop. Yikes! By the way, in fcp, it doesn't seem to matter what format I set for the export--png,jpg,photoshop, etc. The stills always look squashed, compared to the video that they came from. Thanks for your help.

Drew13 or anyone! Oops! I just discovered another problem. I changed the pixel aspect ratio of all the 1-frame stills that I had exported from my 16:9 fcp project, and while there in Photoshop they look correct. But if I open these pictures in Preview, they still look squeezed. Then, if I open them again in Photoshop, I get this notice, "Pixel aspect ration correction is for preview purposes only. Turn it off for maximum quality." When the picture opens, it looks correct at 16x9 again. Apparently, changing the pixel aspect ratio in Photoshop does not "really" change the photo. My goal is to use the exported stills in a DVD slideshow,and have them look correct at 16x9 dimensions, but now I'm stuck with all squeezed photo-stills. Hmm.

Sony DCR-TRV140 w/Final Cut Express 4 - Capture format question

A big thanks to the forum for patience and direction. You all have helped me get an older digital camcorder hooked up to the Mac to date.
I'm now able to capture video from the camcorder to FinalCut Express.
So, on to today's question...
I have a Sony Digital Handycam DCR-TRV140. I know that it's NTSC (mainly because it says so right on the side of the camcorder). But I don't know what capture settings to use in Final Cut Express to get the best quality video onto the Mac, and ultimately onto DVD's or digital files I publish to my family over the net.
So when I go to the menu path Final Cut Express -> Easy Setup, I have a number of options to choose from... I (think) that I know that the best format option to choose from the dropdown is NTSC... But I don't know what to choose from the drop down list.
Here's a picture of the drop down list:
https://wu20hg.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pNUoJrOOSdf-4NJq3OjEIyrt38TEU64-Pid2LRNbw kG9grywxFV1qA2NshK8uSxl6eiTlYiq4uNbG86CJRUantQ/FinalCutExpressTim1.tiff
Specifications for the Sony camcorder can be found here:
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=1055 1&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=11027762
or here
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-DCRTRV140-Digital8-Camcorder-Streaming/dp/B0000634T4/ ref=cmcr_pr_producttop
Can you help me decide what is the best option to choose? If it depends, maybe you could explain what it depends on...?
Many thanks!
Tim

The differences among the Easy Setups have to do with audio sample rate, device control, and widescreen shooting.
The Anamorphic setups are for widescreen. If your camera doesn't shoot widescreen (16:9), you can ignore them.
DV media is generally recorded with audio at 48kHz or 32kHz. Choose according to the audio recorded by your camera (some offer different record options). If you capture with the wrong audio selected in your FCE Easy Seutp, you'll get a warning message at the end of the capture.
What FCE Setup are you using at present? I'm guessing it's either DV-NTSC Firewire Basic or DV-NTSC DV Converter. If that's working for you, stick with it.

Exporting a 16:9 still image

I imported some video using the anamorphic setup and now I want to take a still frame from it. When I tried it squished it down to 4:3 but I was it to be 16:9 what do I need to do to acheive this. Thanks

the anamorphic flag is just there to tell the clip to display as 16:9 even tho its true aspect ratio is really 4:3 ... this flag doesn't exist for still image formats hence when you export a still and then open it up it displays in its true 4:3 aspect.
just resize/scale the image in photoshop or other image editing app so that the height is reduced by 25%
alternatively:
you could mark in/out a few frames around the frame you want to export, then export using Export > Quicktime Conversion, and in the Options set the size to a true 16:9
[ if original is 720 x 576 then you need 720 x 405 ie (width * 9) / 16 ]
reimport the clip and use that to export your still

Question about 720 x 480 (widescreen)

Hi,
I'm working with FCS2, that is Final Cut 6 and Compressor 3.
I shot footage with an HV20, in HDV, 16:9 and 24p. My goal is to produce an SD (720 x 480) mini dv tape that looks good, not squeezed, I think I will need it to have the black bars, right?
I captured and edited as HDV, and followed the workflow by Apple (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2410) prior to editing. Now, I have footage 24p, HDV, edited. I've tried to produce an SD sequence, so I applied the Bonsai method http://www3.telus.net/bonsai/Step-by-Step.html in FCP, it seems to look good.
However, I'm stuck when it comes to Print to tape. I've tried it but I get this squeezed image everytime. Please, I've trying here for hours now, searching and testing. I need an SD mini dv tape that's not squeezed in the image. The downconvert looks just fine, it's the squeezing I can't get right.
Also, I remove the pulldown through Compressor but when I Print to Tape, it's in 29.97 again! Is this normal? Does this mean I can't have 24p on tape?
Thank you so much in advance

You'll want to create a new sequence using the DV/DVCPro NTSC Easy setup. Do NOT use the Anamorphic setup. Drop your existing clips or sequence into the new sequence, do not answer Yes to matching clip setting. This should create a letter boxed 4:3 720x480 version of your HDV sequence.
DV tape can only record at 29.97 frames per second, that's set by the original design standards. DV cameras that have a 24fps option have to add a 3:2 pull down before recording to tape.
You CAN build a 16:9 24fps DVD from your HDV sequence that could actually be better quality than a letter boxed DV tape @ 29.97.

Editing a HDV project with anamorphic DV footage setup issue

I’m editing a HDV show and my source footage was down converted HDV to 720x480 DV anamorphic. I’ve selected the anamorphic under format for all my source clips. In the viewer window everything correctly looks 16x9. In my canvas window my footage looks like 16x9, but when I select the title safe grid in the canvas window the title safe grid doesn’t line up like it does on the footage in my viewer window. It’s as though in my canvas window I’m looking at letterbox footage in a 4x3 screen and my title safe grid looks like it’s a 4x3 title safe grid.
My question is there a 16x9 title safe grid for anamorphic footage? Or do I have my sequence settings incorrect?
My settings are:
Source footage is 1440x1080i HDV down converted and captured at 720x480 DV. Pixel Aspect-NTSC – CCR 601. Anamorphic selected.
Sequence Settings are:
720x480 NTSC DV (3:2)
Pixel Aspect NTSC –CCIR 601/DV 720x480
Field Dominance: Lower
29.97
Compressor: DV/DVC Pro – NTSC
I’m running FCP 5.0
I would appreciate your input. Thanks!
Quad 2.5 G5 Mac OS X (10.4.3) 5 GB Ram

If you are creating an anamorphic project, and your
footage is anamorphic, then your sequence setting
must also be anamorphic unless you want it
letterboxed in a 4x3 frame.
Check your Canvas view settings: "fit to window" and
"show as square pixels".
That sounds correct but when I select anamorphic under "item properties" for the sequence it streches out the images as if I were double doing the anamorhic. It stretches sides again a second time.
I just tired this... I grabbed a clip and turned off the anamorhic on the source clip. I created a new sequence and turned on anamorphic on the sequence. That stretched out the footage in the canvas and the title safe grid looks correct. That's great. But wondering, is that the way FCP works, that you have to watch the source side distorted when editing?
And that's ok if there's not an option. And if so, is there a way of batch selecting all my source clips and turning off anamorphic?
Thanks!

East setup and anamorphic.

Just upgraded FCP 4.5 to 5. I watched the DVD Video that came with it and it says to set up for DV-NTSC Anamorphic. I shoot regular Mini DV. Is there a reason Apple is saying to set up for Anamorphic and not DV-NTSC? If I do will I have any problems with capturing regular DV. Never dealt with Anamorphic and I can't get a handle exactly what it is. Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks
Bob

I believe you misunderstand the situation.
DV-NTSC anamorphic (16:9) is something that you RECORD the original video in the camera. If you have shot your footage that way, you simply check the anamorphic block when you bring the footage in. If you are shooting standard (aka 4:3) DV-NTSC forget the whole thing.
x

Any way to export anamorphic SD QT that will play back 16:9?

I haven't posted for a while because FCS2 has been working great. However one thing has been nagging me for quite a while and I wonder if it's a gap in my FCP education. When I work in SD 16:9 projects (either DV NTSC or DV50 Easy Setup), I often export to QuickTime Movie as "self-contained" .mov's before dealing with clients about output formats. However, because these are now 16:9 anamorphic clips, I can never get QuickTime Player to play them back at the Desktop level in the right aspect ratio.
Is there any way to flag the QT so that the QT Player can play it back properly?
For instance, if the next step is making a DVD, the same QT Movie can be imported into DVD Studio Pro, and all I have to do is to identify the track as "16:9 letterbox" and it'll play back in DVDSP in correct aspect ratio. Am I correct in thinking that the QuickTime Player still doesn't allow me to do something this simple after all these years?

That is strange ... I just ran the test again. Heres the steps I tested.
First, I created a DV PAL anamorphic sequence in FCP 5.1.4 (QT 7.4.1)
Then I added a 10 second color matte to the sequence (Video Generators>Matte>Color)
Finally I exported the timeline in using 3 different methods:
1) Export >Quicktime Movie w/Current Settings, Self Contained
2) Export >Quicktime Movie w/Current Settings, Recompress All Frames, Self Contained
3) Export >Quicktime Conversion >>Quicktime Movie >>>DV PAL, and specifying specifically that the aspect ratio was 16:9
Results:
1) Movie played 4:3 in QT Player ... enabled "Conform aperture to: Clean" and it played 16:9
2) Movie played 4:3 in QT Player ... enabled "Conform aperture to: Clean" and it played 16:9
3) Movie played 16:9 in QT Player ... "Conform aperture to: Clean" was enabled already
So I've just tried to see if I can force it NOT to work...
4) Export >Quicktime Conversion >>Quicktime Movie >>>DV PAL, and specifying specifically that the aspect ratio was 4:3
Result:
4) Movie played 4:3 in QT Player ... "Conform aperture to: Clean" was enabled already.
So the only way I can seem to make this not work is if I go out of my way to tell QT that its NOT anamorphic and that it really is 4:3 ... then QT Player takes me at my word.
Odd that you're not seeing this. I wonder if its version specific?
Andy

Anamorphic PAL DV to H.264 (Pal 16:9)

Hi all,
First I'll confess to being a noob to video editiing etc. and have the following issue:
*The Setup:*
Recording = MacPro (OS 10.6.3), capturing into Final Cut Pro via a ADVC300 Firewire unit. This Set to capture DV PAL 48k Anamorphic.
Playback = Mac Mini connected to Sony EX503 via DVI>HDMI converter. (Sound out put through optical).
*The Process:*
Basically new to Final Cut & Compressor so appologize for ignorance.
Basic premise is this I initial record programs on our SKY HD box. The ones we want to keep I capture on the MacPro via the ADVC300. Edit out all the adverts etc in FCP. Then Export out the edited DV stream (as DV video).
Then Drop the edited DV stream into compressor and compress with the following settings:
Name: Untitled QuickTime Movie 1
Description: No description
File Extension: mov
Estimated size: unknown
Audio Encoder
IMA 4:1, Stereo (L R), 48.000 kHz
Video Encoder
Format: QT
Width: 720
Height: 576
Pixel aspect ratio: PAL CCIR 601 (16:9)
Crop: None
Padding: None
Frame rate: 25
Frame Controls: Automatically selected: Off
Codec Type: H.264
Multi-pass: On, frame reorder: On
Pixel depth: 24
Spatial quality: 100
Min. Spatial quality: 25
Key frame interval: 25
Temporal quality: 50
Min. temporal quality: 25
I then copy onto the mac mini and play back on the TV via Front Row.
*The Problem:*
Recording is fine as is editing and outputing the edited DV stream to a QT file. However when I drag onto compressor and compress with the included settings to create my small play back file is were the problem lies. The final H.264 file plays fine in quicktime player (looking wide screen), both on the MacPro and Mini. However when played through Front Row the aspect ratio is a 4:3 (but slightly smaller in the frame) image instead of 16:9.
Now the original capture by FCP is a DV - PAL, 720 x 576 (768 x 576), which looks squashed.
After editing and saving from FCP the new edited stream is DV - PAL, 720 x 576 (1024 x 576), and displays 16:9 in quicktime.
However after compression the files is ; H.264, 720 x 576, Millions AAC, 2 channels, 48000 Hz and looks fine in quicktime play but not in Front Row. Incidentally the edited DV streams look fine in front row.
Any advice on what I need to do to make the final H.264 file a PAL 720x576 (16:9) which displays correctly through Front Row.
Thanks
Steve
By the way the only thing that has seemed to work is using apples 'apple tv' settings for SD anamorphic but this works on the NTSC 480 lines (which means loosing rez) or 'Apple TV' HD 720 (16:9) but this looks too pixelated.
Message was edited by: Cacus

I've also used Quicktime Pro, Export and it's still slow ...
/Reine

Anamorphic Footage on DVD...Final Cut Express 2.0.3 & iDVD 4.0.1

Hello again everyone,
My latest project involves 5 short QuickTime Movies edited together in one sequence in Final Cut Express 2.0.3. I am trying to now burn that sequence to DVD but I am having some "issues"...
Three of these QuickTIme Movies are DV PAL Anamorphic and the other two are DV PAL (not anamorphic) and all five have been edited into a DV PAL Anamorphic Sequence in Final Cut Express 2.0.3. This works great when viewed in the canvas.
What I have been trying to do next is export the whole sequence using File/Export/QuickTime Movie so I end up with one whole exported QuickTime Movie, containing the five other QuickTime Movies, that I can then import into iDVD 4.0.1.
The export works fine and I can import the new QuickTime Movie into a PAL iDVD 4.0.1 project but the footage looks 4:3 and not anamorphic.
When exported the QuickTime Movie does not seem to have preserved the pixel aspect ratio of my sequence (anamorphic)...
Can anyone please offer some advice here? What is the best way to export Anamorphic PAL sequences out of Final Cut Express 2.0.3 as QuickTime Movies that can then be imported into iDVD 4.0.1 (or DVD Studio Pro and other apps) with the correct pixel aspect ratio (Anamorphic PAL)?
Is this something that iDVD can't handle and needs to be done in DVD Studio Pro or do I need to change my export settings in Final Cut Express 2.0.3......or do I need to export it from Final Cut Pro instead?
Regards,
Justin Pamenter

I think iDVD 5 is the first version of iDVD to support anamophic. Sounds like you did the right stuff in FCE. You had the Easy Setup on anamorphic when you captured and when you created the anamorphic sequence.
Take a look at the iDVD forum or Google "iDVD Anamorphic".

Wrong aspect ratio or size when exporting Pal anamorph with ProRes codec!

Hi community,
I have a problem exporting a spot in the right format. The customer/the upload service provider needs PAL anamorph 16:9 in ProRes codec.
When I export my FULLHD spot to these setting, the aspect ratio/the spot size turns out wrong. When opened in QT Pro the size is 720x576, what is correct, but the anamorph size quotet in brackets reads different values, for example 1020x576 but never 1024x576, what would be correct.
The service providers online software refuses to work with these wrong nunmbers...!?
The same export settings with QT Animation codec is correct. Also when exporting the same composition with two export modules, the Animation codec is OK, the ProRes codec is wrong. No matter whether I export a PAL-format comp or stretch it while exporting the FullHD comp.
Working with After Effects CC.
Any ideas?

Don't resize the output but instead drop your full HD comp in a standard PAL widescreen comp, fit the HD comp horizontally and then render the new comp without using any resize controls.
Second option, Render your full HD comp to a frame based production master codec (prorez) and then use the Adobe Media Encoder and setup a PAL Widescreen Square Pixel preset. Here's my Pal Widescreen Prorez 422 HQ preset. It is what I use for all requests for Pal ProRez from my clients.

DV NTSC 48 kHz 23.98 - anamorphic?

With reference to my previous question regarding PAL TO NTSC standards conversions, if you look at the last paragraph in this article the writer refers to a sequence set to DV NTSC 48 kHz 23.98.
However, I need to do this to an anamorphic film clip - but sadly FCP does not have a setting for DV NTSC 48 kHz 23.98 anamorphic.
Can anybody help?

In the A/V settings preference dialog, you can create custom capture and sequence settings and even make a custom easy setup with those defaults.

Easy Setup Suggestions

Hi everyone,
ok, once again a silly question, but apparently in the past I committed mistakes so...
I'm shooting HDV with an HDR FX1, will import as SD for sake of time and hard drive space. Final destination will be DVD and TV.
What easy setup should I use? In the past I used DV-NTSC but Tom once asked me why I had choosen that... especially when I had to use the filter "widescreen" to crop transitions and other effects. If I had choosen the right setup that wouldn't have been necessary.
My camera will output SD 720X480 footage letterboxed. What is the best setup for timline and output????
Is there any reading I could do about the different setups?
THANK YOU!!!!!!
Umberto
iBook-hopefully soon a ProBook Mac OS X (10.4.6)

DV is always 720x480 (NTSC anyway) whether it's anamorphic or letterboxed for not. I am pretty sure that camera will output a DV anamorphic signal as well as a letterboxed signal. Read the manual to figure out how to do this. It sounds as if you're sending a letterboxed signal to FCE, not an anamorphic one. When you say it's stretched, which way is it stretched, up and down, or left and right? It should look correct in the capture window.

16 x 9 DV anamorphic setup

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