Anamorphic in iDVD workaround

There has been a lot of discussion about how to force iDVD to show anamorphic movies correctly when burnt to a DVD. There have also been a lot of work-arounds none of which seem to be 100% reliable.
There does seem to be one way which avoids the whole problem of using anamorphic material in iDVD entirely. This Apple Support document suggests the way:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305337
It suggests using QT Pro to change the scaled image size to:
PAL 1024 x 576
NTSC 853 x 480
I suggest that a better solution for FC users is to export the anamorphic sequence to Compressor. Create a preset setting based on DV-PAL or DV-NTSC but NOT anamorphic. Set the aspect ratio first to 16:9, then set the image height and width to the appropriate dimensions above. Save this special preset. Drag it onto the sequence file and convert it to your output file.
This can be then imported into iDVD as a normal 16:9 movie without worrying about confusing it with anamorphism!
It seems to work for me so far. I'd be interested to hear if anyone can verify that it solves the problem for them. (It seems too easy!)

I have used this method but it is very tedious since my DVDs frequently contain a couple of dozen items, the copies of which all have to be individually unlocked and permissions altered to R/W. Then I have to change each item in myDVDEdit. If I forget to unlock one of the items, myDVDEdit crashes when I try to change it. Furthermore, the DVD doesn't always work on my 3 DVD players the same way, probably due to the way some players treat file metadata differently.
I don't see why the whole anamorphic problem can't be sidestepped simply by using Compressor to resize the sequence video to 16:9 dimensions as an ordinary file.
Have you tried this way to see if it works for you?

Similar Messages

FCP/FCE anamorphic to iDVD - A simple solution?

I posted this over in the iDVD forum, but I would like to get some response from you guys on this matter too.
I have seen a lot of discussions about how hard it is to get anamorphic material from FCP/FCE into iDVD. There seem to be a few complex workarounds using third party software etc.
Today I suddenly came to think about a possible very simple solution.
1. Export to QuickTime from FCP/FCE
2. Open the clip in QuickTime Pro
3. Choose the Window menu and choose Show Movie Properties
4. Select the Video Track and click the Visual Settings tab
5. Uncheck Preserve Aspect Ratio
6. Change the width to 854 (DV-NTSC) or to 1024 (DV-PAL)
7. Save the clip and quit QuickTime
8. Open iDVD and start a new 16:9 Widescreen project
9. Import your modified QuickTime clip
10. Author and burn your DVD
Is it really this easy? Are there any downsides to doing it this way?
I just tested this workflow, and the finished DVD looked fine.
I prefer using Compressor/DVD Studio Pro my self, but it would be nice to have a simple solution to offer those who ask about bringing anamorphic material from FCP/FCE into iDVD.
I wonder why Apple has not implemented an anamorphic checkbox or something like that inside iDVD. I have not yet found any guidance from Apple on this matter. Have I missed something here?

I gave the usual dimensions for Standard Definition DV Anamorphic as an example. The actual dimensions for DV Anamorphic NTSC and PAL are: 720x480 and 720x576, but when stretched, the right width is 854 and 1024 as mentioned in my first post. The dimentions you are mentioning are for High Definition 1080i/p
If you are editing 720p, the dimentions are: 1280 × 720.
This might be of help:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:CommonVideoResolutions.svg

FCP/FCE anamorphic to iDVD widescreen - A simple solution?

I have seen a lot of discussions about how hard it is to get anamorphic material from FCP/FCE into iDVD. There seem to be a few complex workarounds using third party software etc.
Today I suddenly came to think about a possible very simple solution.
1. Export to QuickTime from FCP/FCE
2. Open the clip in QuickTime Pro
3. Choose the Window menu and choose Show Movie Properties
4. Select the Video Track and click the Visual Settings tab
5. Uncheck Preserve Aspect Ratio
6. Change the width to 854 (DV-NTSC) or to 1024 (DV-PAL)
7. Save the clip and quit QuickTime
8. Open iDVD and start a new 16:9 Widescreen project
9. Import your modified QuickTime clip
10. Author and burn your DVD
Is it really this easy? Are there any downsides to doing it this way? The modified QuickTime clip's Movie Info in QuickTime says: Format: DV, 720 x 576 (1024 x 576)
I just tested this workflow, and the finished DVD looked fine.

I gave the usual dimensions for Standard Definition DV Anamorphic as an example. The actual dimensions for DV Anamorphic NTSC and PAL are: 720x480 and 720x576, but when stretched, the right width is 854 and 1024 as mentioned in my first post. The dimentions you are mentioning are for High Definition 1080i/p
If you are editing 720p, the dimentions are: 1280 × 720.
This might be of help:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:CommonVideoResolutions.svg

FCE4 and iDVD Anamorphic Ken Burns

I created a 60min movie in iMovie8 using three media: 1) NTSC Anamorphic DV from a Panasonic PV-GS80, 2) JPEG 2816x2112 stills from a Panasonic DMC-FX3, and 3) 848x480 motion JPEG video from the DMC-FX3. An iMovie 8 project in 16:9 aspect was burned to DVD by iDVD and viewed on a 16:9 LCD TV with no problems encountered and pretty decent quality.
However, frustrated by the lack of basic features in iMovie, I purchased FCE4 after speaking with an Apple rep at Best Buy who assured me that it could import iMovie8 projects. Although I was carrying a disc with my iMovie project, I wasn't allowed to verify this in the store. Unfortunately, Apple's claim that iMovie8 projects can be imported into FCE4 is grossly misleading at best. They say "With iMovie ’08, putting together a great movie is as quick as drag and drop. When you want to add professional polish to your project, simply export to Final Cut Express 4 and edit like a pro." In fact, contrary to the FCE4 manual, iMovie8 projects cannot simply be opened: Incompatible files. Apple tech support told me iMovie8 projects must first be exported as XML.
The truth is that iMovie8 projects must be tediously recreated for FCE4 because it can't use MP3 audio files (must recapture from CD's), it doesn't recognize transitions (must recreate Ken Burns effects from scratch), and DV NTSC video clips are captured by iMovie8 at a mysteriously bloated 6.4 MBps rate rather than the 3.6MBps they should be (must recapture all DV). Apple must retract its claims or fix its products to enable upwards migration.
Nevertheless, having recreated 10 minutes worth of movie in ten days of experimentation and reading most of FCE's 1152-page manual, I have yet to produce acceptable output from FCE. Besides the frustrating discrepancies between the manual and actual FCE4 operation, my biggest problems have been to maintain the 16:9 aspect in iDVD, and to render still images (with modest Ken Burns motion) with any semblance of quality in the final output.
The FCE4 project settings are DV-NTSC Anamorphic 48KHz. Anamorphic video from the PV-GS80 is captured at 720x480pix, 29.97fps, DV/DVCPRO NTSC, 3.6MBps, 16-bit audio, NTSC pixels, Ana=Yes, Field=Lower (even). Stills are imported at 2816x2112pix, 29.97fps, Photo-JPEG, Square pix, Ana=No, Field=None. Motion JPEG is captured at 848x480pix, 30fps, Photo-JPEG, 1.6MBps, 8KHz x 8-bit audio, Square pix, Field=None.
All these media appear correctly in 16:9 aspect within FCE4. However, unlike iMovie8, when FCE4 exports as QTMovie, the movie is not recognized as anamorphic by iDVD, so it is burned in a horizontally compressed 4:3 aspect. Why are there no options or controls when exporting as QTMovie, which seems to be the only way to avoid unnecessary processing and image degradation?
Experimenting with FCE4's Export Using Quicktime Conversion, I was able to export the movie at 848x480, but at a huge cost in time for unnecessary transcoding and the resultant degradation in image quality.
Experimenting with the Anamorphicizer third-party software that this BBS recommends to solve the incompatibility between FCE and iDVD, I found that the anamorphic aspect is recognized properly by iDVD, but still images are now unacceptably stretched horizontally. This seems like a poor solution to a simple problem of incompatibility within Apple's own products.
Most recently I stumbled upon the observation that if a FCE4 sequence begins with a few frames of anamorphic DV from the Panasonic PV-GS80, this sequence can be exported as a QTMovie which iDVD will recognize as anamorphic, resulting in a DVD with the correct aspect. This doesn't always work, e.g. if the audio is removed from those few frames, or if their opacity is set to 0% to hide them. It reminds me of the Auto Conform feature in FCE4, but my Preference/Edit/AutoConform=Ask, and FCE4 has never asked. Furthermore, this works even if AutoConform=Never. Unfortunately, I don't want to start my movie with a DV clip but with a still, and this results in a 4:3 movie in iDVD. Furthermore, this "fix" doesn't seem to stick: after editing, the sequence can revert to 4:3 in iDVD for unknown reasons. I can find no mention of this behavior in the docs, and FCE4 shows no differences in properties between these sequences, so I don't know why it happens. Nevertheless, it seems preferable to Anamorphicizer, because still images are not stretched. Can anyone tell me why this happens so that I can control it predictably?
My biggest remaining issue is that FCE4 renders still images with Ken Burns slow pans and zooms unacceptably poorly. First, some images but not others seem to have gross interlace distortion throughout the clip, as if the JPEG were interlaced. It seems like this problem develops after editing even for stills that once looked OK. Adding the Deinterlace filter merely softens the distorted images. Oddly enough, adding the Deinterlace filter or the Shift Fields filter and then deselecting it seems to fix the problem. I've tried changing the Field Dominance setting on stills from None, but no help. Since the original JPEG is progressive, this seems like an FCE bug. How can I avoid this distortion in the first place?
Finally there is the issue that Ken Burns style pans and zooms create unacceptable aliasing and shimmering in the output, even if the motion is minimal. Easing zooms by changing Scale fast at first then slowing down doesn't help. Easing pans by changing in several steps (because the Center parameter can't have Bezier controls) makes the aliasing even more noticeable by changing the rate of shimmering in discrete steps. When still images contain significant detail and linear edges, there seems to be no level of Ken Burns motion that will result in a reasonable image on DVD. Why are these artifacts so much worse than with iMovie?
As a newcomer to FCE4, I am very disappointed in Apple's failure to ensure a reasonable migration path from iMovie. Perhaps they have forgotten how the basic "bait and switch" strategy is supposed to work! I hope someone here can help more than two hours of hold time with Apple Tech Support helped me. I would be interested in any recommendations for other vendors' products that produce better results with less aggravation. If not, I am about ready to get my money back for FCE4!

"This will explain what you can do about this..."
I shouldn't be required to purchase QTPro just to fix the anamorphic bit in the movies exported by FCE, especially when iMovie8 sets the bit properly. Seems like an obvious FCE bug to me. Tom, any thoughts on why a segment with an anamorphic clip first is handled properly?
"Where are you seeing the image degradation? Are you looking at the output on a video monitor?"
I'm editing using a 21" ViewSonic LCD monitor, but then I burn DVD's to view on an LCD HDTV. The artifacts are apparent on both displays.
" Changing anamorphic values after the material has been edited into the sequence will result in image stretching."
I assume you mean setting the Anamorphic bit on my JPEG stills: I haven't done that. I'm saying that after using Anamorphicizer, some still images were definitely stretched horizontally. I created these by simply dragging a folder of JPEG images to the FCE browser. Other than setting the still duration default, I don't know what else I should do.
"If you add motion to the images interlacing will be introduced. "
I understand, but it is much worse on some images than others, so I'm trying to understand how I can minimize the ugliness of aliasing and shimmering. On some still images, FCE seems to me to have started with two mismatched frames, so that very exaggerated aliasing appears consistently throughout the clip, seemingly independent of the motion. I suspect data corruption in FCE, and I remember a warning in the manual about corruption being caused by copying sequences too many times, but can't find it now. Could this be my problem?
I've also found that even though FCE claims to be a reference editor, not touching the original files, there is a problem with handling portrait versus landscape JPEGS. After importing JPEGs, sometimes the FCE image matches the file in the Finder, and sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't, I have found that if I rotate the Finder file, Save it, then Rotate it back and Save again, FCE will finally get its version rotated correctly. This never works by only changing the source file one time: I must do it twice.
"If you're uncomfortable or unhappy with the application you might be better off using another one."
I am mostly disappointed that FCE seems to be so out of sync with other Apple apps, and perhaps buggier than many. My guess is that iMovie and FCE are on a collision course instead of a rational product relationship. I would be happy for any recommendations, because I feel that the time I've invested in learning to use this seemingly overly embellished software may not have been well spent. On the other hand, if someone can correct my misunderstandings, I will be very grateful.

16:9 idvd dilemma

Hi, I was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction.
I shot my project using a DCR-TRV 17 Sony Camera. I'm editing in Final Cut Pro 3.0.2. I'm burning dvd's on idvd.
My project was shot in 16:9. I edited in 16:9. In FCP it plays in 16:9 and looks great. All of the settings in FCP are for 16:9.
My problem is when I burn the dvd, the image is stretched into a 4:3 space. It looks awful. There don't seem to be any settings in quicktime or idvd that can correct this issue.
Can anyone tell me how to burn a 16:9 dvd?
Thank you for all of your help. You guys are terrific.
Have a great week.
BK

Shooting Anamorphic and outputting Anamorphic to iDVD:
NOTE: This works with FCP 3.0.2
1) Check Final Cut Pro> audio/video settings>Sequence Presets>DV NTSC 48 khz Superwhite (make sure this is checked. It's the default setting.)
2) Check Final Cut Pro>Audio/Video settings>Capture Presets>DVNTSC 48khz (Make sure this is checked. It's the default setting.)
3) Import the 16:9 clip in 4:3 while in standard miniDV capture presets. If you drag the clip into the sequence timeline, you will notice that it has to be rendered, but don't, because your next step is to arrange a sequence you can work in without rendering your source material.
4) Check Final Cut Pro>audio/video settings>Sequence Presets>and double click on the DV NTSC 48 khz Superwhite. Doing this will allow you to create settings.
(NOTE: You want to create a new sequence while using the new sequence settings.) Click the 16:9 box and apply. When you exit the screen, check to see that there is a check mark beside the new sequence setting.) Exit the screen and create a brand new sequence. The first thing you'll notice is the new aspect ratio in the sequence viewer.
5) Drag the clip into your new sequence. You can now work in this timeline without having to render the anamorphic material.
6) Here is the tricky part that took me hours to figure out. Check Final Cut Pro> audio/video settings>Sequence Presets>DV NTSC 48 khz Superwhite (Make sure this is checked. It should be set at the default setting before you create a new sequence.)
7) Create a new sequence. The viewer should be 4:3, or you can use the original sequence you started with.
8) Return to your edited sequence which will be in the 16:9. (NOTE: Don't click and drag, or cut and paste your sequence. Instead, drag the sequence from the BROWSER into your new sequence. It will nest automatically and it will have to be rendered, but the top and bottom bars in the viewer will show a 16:9 frame in a 4:3 sequence.
9) Render your new sequence.
10) Export as a FCP movie. Check the self contained box. Make sure under SETTINGS, you select the CUSTOM setting that will allow you to check the 16:9 box. You are now ready to export a suitable 16:9 file that will work in iDVD without distortion.

Using 16:9 .mov file in iDVD

Hello,
When I add my 16:9 .mov video, created in FCP with Export: Quicktime Movie: DV PAL anamorphic to iDVD I get a 4:3 video.
I changed to .mov file with QT: properties: conform aperture, but this does not help.
I have an old .mov file from February where I have no problems that iDVD is converting the 16:9 to 4:3.
How can I get a 16:9 video in iDVD ?
Thanks,
Hubert Anemaat

I have managed to burn with iDVD and 16:9 no problem exporting movies out of both iMovie09and FCE.
What theme are you using? Some of the themes in iDVD are 4:3 themes and may very well mess up your movie?
If you want one of the 4:3 themes, you can always letterbox your 16:9 movie so that it has black bands top and bottom and fills the 4:3 window. But that diminishes the visual size of the movie.
Otherwise be sure that you have selected a widescreen iDVD theme.
Terri

Switch to different menus after different video clips?

I'd like to make an instructional DVD where the student makes a choice from a menu, which takes him to one of, say, three clips. Each of those, after showing the clip, would then lead to a new choice / menu. I can't see how to do this with iDVD. Is it possible? Alternatively, is it possible to make a submenu start with a video clip before presenting its choice buttons?
I've tried doing it from the map display, but there seems to be no way to add a menu (or anything else) after a video clip.
Is there a limit to the number of submenus I can put on a DVD in this way?
If this is not possible with iDVD, any suggestions about the simplest package I can get that will allow it?
Thanks for any help.

Interesting problem.
iDVD cannot directly do what you want and I can't think of any iDVD workarounds that allow new choices to be made after playing a video (except at the top menu). I suppose if your video was very short, it could play as a menu button, and then the student could choose an item from that submenu.
You could check into Roxio Toast 7. DVD Studio Pro ($$) allows you to target a specific menu once a video finishes playing, so it should work. It also allows hyperlinks (if you're using a computer) to connect to the web... which suggests a whole different kind of solution.
If the students will be using a computer, why not integrate your videos into a web page? The files could be local, or on the internet, but you could have the interactivity you are looking for. And you should have the basic software (iWeb) to do that.
John

IDVD 08 audio/video sync drift toward end of DVD movie - fix/workaround?

Anyone know how I can fix this issue? It's driving me crazy.
I've just spent a few evenings in iMovie 08, editing together the video of my son's birth. All looked & amazingly good in iMovie. The "Large" .m4v file output by iMovie - Shared with the Media Browser - plays perfectly in Quicktime too.
However, after adding that shared movie to iDVD 08, and burning a DVD, I noticed that the audio sync drifts toward the end of the Movie when plated back. At the start of the DVD all seems well, but by the end of the ~1hr 20 minute movie the audio is unbearably out of sync with the video. Completely unwatchable.
After a little Googling I came across some reports that iDVD might not deal well with video that's been recorded with 12-bit audio. I've confirmed that my camcorder is (was!) set to 12-bit rather than 16-bit (the default, I'm sure). So if that's the problem I'm hosed... it's not like I can get a retake on that footage
Is there a reasonable workaround for this issue? I'm obviously unable to re-take the video (or the other 10 hours of DV video tape I've yet to use in an iMovie project). Ideally I'd like Apple to release a patch for this. Shouldn't it be possible for iDVD to account for audio that was originally recorded in 12-bit... even if it's just a checkbox you have to select to tip it off?
Then again, perhaps this is totally unrelated to the 12-bit issue, and this is just a run of the mill bug?
As I said... iMovie generates a MPEG4 video file of the Movie that looks/sounds perfect, so it seems this sync issue's being created somewhere in iDVD as it's rendering the audio/video to burn to the DVD...
Thanks in advance.

I've tried most of the options I can think of, and the audio sync drift issue continues on this ~1hr 12 minute iMovie/iDVD 08 project.
A couple of promising ideas tried used QT Pro, to export the audio track from the iMovie generated MPEG-4 file - as a WAV file, resampling to 48kHz and 16-bit... then Adding this back to the video track in the MPEG-4 file (having deleted the original audio track). In another test I also tried the Add to Selection and Scale option. Oddly enough I think the Add to Selection and Scale attempt generated more sync issues than before in the final DVD movie... so I stuck with the MPEG-4 file containing the video track and the added, resampled at 48kHz & 16 bit, WAV audio track.
This was saved as a self contained Movie file, producing a QT .mov file. I moved this .mov file into the iDVD projects directory structure so that it was avalable in iDVD's Media Browser. I then reworked the iDVD project to use this QT large.mov file, instead of the original iMovie large.m4v file.
As a reminder... the original large.m4v file has the following properties:
29.97 FPS H.264 Decoder, 960 x 540, Millions
AAC, Stereo (L R), 44.100 kHz
0:01:12:07.16 duration
The resampled and saved QT MOV file has the following properties:
29.97 FPS H.264 Decoder, 960 x 540, Millions
16-bit Integer (Little Endian), Stereo, 48.000 kHz
0:01:12:07.16 duration
BOTH versions of this Movie file play flawlessly within QT Pro... there's no audio sync drift evident toward the end of the movie unless I use iDVD 08 to burn either movie file to a Physical DVD (or DVD Disk Image). In both cases the resultant DVD Movie exhibits significant audio sync drift as the ~1hr 12 minute movie progresses. The sync goes out by ~ <= 1 second based on a rough visual assessment.
I've not yet tried to burn either the original iMovie produced MPEG-4 video file or my QT Pro tweaked audio track .MOV file version to a DVD on my PC...
... But I have used an application called Burn (referenced in this earlier/archived iDVD sync drift forum post: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1332100 by user F Shippey - http://burn-osx.sourceforge.net/) to take the QT Pro tweaked .mov file version of the original MPEG-4 file and burn it to a DVD...
Results:
The Burn app burnt DVD plays with NO audio sync issues!... Even though it was generated from the same audio tweaked (48kHz/16-bit resampled) QT Pro .mov file.
However, whenever I burn a DVD using iDVD 08 the audio sync gradually drifts. It matters not whether I use the original iMovie 08 generated MPEG-4 movie file, or the QT Pro version of that file with the resampled audio track (the same one that works fine with Burn).
It sure looks to me like iDVD has a problem... Again, refer to http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1332100 for someone else who seems to have run into similar challenges.
Am I overlooking something?
Thanks in advance.

How can I get an anamorph movie to widescreen in IDVD

Hi, I NEED URGENT HELP!
A friend of mine and I cut and created a movie on his PC with Premiere Pro 2.0. Now I need to create a high quality dvd from it but I can't get the anamorph data to play in widescreen on my IMac. neither in I Movie nor in IDVD. I tried and burned DVDs in both formats 4:3 and 16:9 but both times the film didn't convert to widescreen and on top the movies looked bad- really bad quality, even though the orignal data my friend gave me, is very high quality film resolution.
What do I need to do to convert the xxx.mov anamorph (16:9) into a widescreen IDVD?
My friend says the original material is: Mini DV, PAL 720x576 Pixel, anamorph (16:9)
Or in what form/size do I need the movies/data from him to make sure I can burn a widescreen dvd with it?
Please help!

I am not sure about SWF support in Acrobat 8.x, however, if it is supported, you will have to add it to the PDF after the PDF has been created. You can leave the space for it in your FrameMaker document and add it via the Mulimedia Tool.
I do know that SWF is fully supported in Acrobat 9.x, but in this case you will also have to add the SWF to the PDF after converting the FrameMaker document. To do this, marquee and area on the PDF using the Flash Tool; Tools > Multimedia > Flash Tool. You can also simply double click on the PDF with the Flash Tool. Support for SWF, and several other multimedia file types is much stronger in Acrobat 9.

IDVD, playing my 16:9 (non anamorphic) movie as a squashed 4:3?

I exported a movie from FCP using quicktime conversion with an aspect ratio of 16:9 (1024 x 576). It is not anamorphic.
When i make a DVD using iDVD widescreen 16:9 [or 4:3] is squashes the film into an anamorphic image. Kinda weird because if it was anamorphic to begin with then it would make the image even more skinny. I went to the 'help' tab and it told me to do exactly what i had already done (i.e "select 1024 x 576 when exporting from FCP").
Please help...! I got a deadline fast approaching and i am sure this is simple for someone out there.

Did you follow these instructions completely? iDVD: DV widescreen 16:9 workflow from Final Cut Pro at http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2179
Of course, the actual content put on a DVD is anamorphically squeezed to fit on a standard definition disc. The content SHOULD be un-squeezed on playback.

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".

IDVD Refuses To Recognize 15:9 NTSC Anamorphic from Final Cut Pro

I read the following article on getting iDVD to recognize an anamorphic 16:9 video from Final Cut Pro:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2179
My movie says it is in 16:9 anamorphic in QuickTime Pro, and the window is sized properly, but when I drop the movie into an iDVD project, it comes in 4:3, even though I selected a 16:9 iDVD theme to start with.
Anyone have any ideas as to why iDVD is ignoring my movie's aspect ratio?

I found out that I had to choose "Anamorphic" for the timeline in Final Cut Pro to fix the problem.

16:9 DV sequence in iDVD shows up as 4:3 - Apple's workaround =Quality loss

Hey guys,
Capturing and editing anamaphoric 16:9 from a DV Camera in Final Cut Express, then exporting using Quicktime (not conversion) gives a file that iDVD does not see as 16:9 but squeezes it to 4:3. After esearching this quite extensivly, Apple's workaround is to do the following:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1611
Which works fantastic but my simple question is... because I now have to use Quicktime conversion (as stated in the link above) does my quality of the video suffer at all?
Any help greatly appreciated,
Jazzy

To be honest I didn't try it yet, but at a first look the procedure described in your link doesn't seem to degrade the movie quality. In fact, even if you use QuickTime Conversion, that procedure simply uses the same codec as FCE (DV/DVCPRO-NTSC or DV-PAL); the Aspect Ratio and Dimensions parameters should only affect the "presentation" of the movie, not its intrinsic resolution, which should remain untouched (720x480 or 720x576). Then its effect should be the same as changing the Scaled Size in the Visual Settings of the property window in QT Player (but only if you have QT Pro), which does not touch the video encoding but only the way it is displayed.
But other posters might know more about this...
Piero

Anamorphic 16:9 in FCE squeezes to 4:3 in iDVD '09 - Apple's solution...

A Movie imported and edited with FCE from a Anamorphic 16:9 DV Camera cannot be imported into IDVD '09 without squeezing the image into 4:3. Apple's work around is to export the file from FCE as a 854x480 instead of the native 720x480. This seems to work so far except my question is... does changing the aspect ratio before exporting like this degrade video quality of the final DVD?
Any help would greatly be appreciated.

And here's the best part ...
Don't have QT pro, and the snow leopard quicktime can't seem to do the resizing either. So I was going to just do the resizing under "export using quicktime" where just checking the "16x9" option makes it work correctly.
The only problem is I can't export chapter markers that way! So iDVD can either have correct aspect ratio or chapter markers, not both!
I'm pretty sure the timeline is set to anamorphic...

Anamorphic project playing as 4:3 in iDVD

Hi,
I'm not sure if the solution is on the FCE side or iDVD.
I created an anamorphic project (from dv footage) in FCE and exported as QT (not using QT conversion). When I click on the resulting file it plays beautifully in 16:9 format in the QT player. Then I created a 16:9 project in iDVD and pulled my movie into it. When I preview the project my movie is squished into 4:3.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Tom
Message was edited by: Swiink

http://www.fcpbook.com/Video9.html

Anamorphic in iDVD workaround

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