Aspect Ratio is wrong in AE Preview

If I bring an AVCHD into an after effects project the ratio is distorted in the preview panel. If i create a new composition it still is. Now, I know that this is not the preferred codec, so please don't go there. Because, if i rewrap/uncompress/convert (or whatever it does) the AVCHD first into a Cineform AVI file the Cineform AVI distorts the same way too.
It looks like it would look if you took 16:9 and tried to squish it into 4:3, you know cone heads and stuff, making people taller and skinner. If try via dynamic link from premiere CS5 (a project composed of Cineform AVI files) to AE CS5 it still does this in AE, but the PPRO project even with the AE comp in it looks fine.
How can I get AE to display correct aspect ratio?

from After Effects Help:
"To preview non-square pixels on a computer monitor, click the Toggle Pixel Aspect Ratio Correction button at the bottom of the Composition panel. The quality of the pixel aspect ratio correction for previews is affected by the Zoom Quality preference in the Previews category."

Similar Messages

Video aspect ratio looks wrong in Quicktime Player

When I export a movie as a Quicktime file (ending in .mov) and then play the movie using the Quicktime Player, the aspect ratio (4:3) of the movie looks wrong, as if it is "squished down" vertically. If I open the file in FCE, the movie looks normal.
The same thing used to happen with the .mov movie file that older versions of iMovie used to create; in Quicktime Player the aspect ratio looked wrong. In this case, if I open the original QT clips (created by iMovie during import) in the Player, they looked normal. It was only if I opened the .mov file created by iMovie that referenced all those clips (in the order they appeared in the sequence) that the aspect ratio was odd. If I open any of those items directly in FCE they look normal.
I think this is behavior of the Player and not a problem with FCE (or iMovie) or the video file. I'm just wondering why this is happening and if there's any way to make the Player show the movie with the correct aspect ratio.
Thanks!

Hi Tom:
Affected video was imported in one of two ways:
(1) From an old Digital8 Sony camcorder, using DV-NTSC 32Khz, directly captured into FCE.
(2) From a Canon GL2 camcorder, using Firewire Basic DV-NTSC (48Khz), captured using an old version of iMovie. The video clips are imported into FCE and rendered.
Affected video is either exported from FCE using Export>Quicktime Movie..., or is not exported at all but simply viewed in the Quicktime Player after capture. That is, capturing from within FCE, quitting FCE, finding the captured video, and opening it in Player.
Recall that the video aspect ratio also looks wrong when playing the Quicktime file generated by iMovie (which references but doesn't contain the actual video clips), but the ratio looks right when playing the actual clips found in the Media folder, within the iMovie project folder.
However, I also have some video that I captured from the Canon for a wedding, and when I play that captured file in Player, it does NOT appear to have the wrong aspect ratio, so I'm a bit confused why this might vary.
Thanks for your help.

MPEG Streamclip aspect ratio is wrong

I have copied a DVD to my desktop. I am using MPEG Streamclip to convert it to a Quicktime movie for access in FCP. I am Nick Holmes' tutorial (Convert Video For Use In Final Cut Pro). I am able to create the .mov file, but it comes out a bit squished. Seems that the aspect ratio is wrong. How can I figure which aspect to use in MPEG Streamclip? Is there any info in the VIDEO_TS folder that can help me figure it out?
One more thing... When I select Export to Quicktime, the frame size comes up set to 854x480 (16:9). And compression is Apple Motion JPEG A. If I use what the tutorial suggests (Apple DVCPRO50 - NTSC) it changes the frame size to 720x480 which is what is squishing it. Any suggestions is appreciated.
Thanks

"One more thing... When I select Export to Quicktime, the frame size comes up set to 854x480 (16:9). And compression is Apple Motion JPEG A. If I use what the tutorial suggests (Apple DVCPRO50 - NTSC) it changes the frame size to 720x480 which is what is squishing it. Any suggestions is appreciated."
The DVD is in anamorphic. Two options.
1 - if you don't feel like redoing it
Hit COMMAND J while the file is open in QT - and change the aspect ratio to match to 854 x 480.
2 - re export in Streamclip
Adjust that aspect ratio in MPEG Streamclip before you export - there is a 16:9 setting you can change in FRAME SIZE list on the left side of the Movie Exporter window.
pJ
Message was edited by: Doody

720 x 480 DV sequence export aspect ratio always wrong. How come?

Finally finished editing one of the sequences and want to export and test it,
But no matter what settings in QuickTime Conversion (or just QuickTime Movie) parameters I do (e.g., Size), the exported file always seems to be in the wrong aspect ratio.
I need to have the resulting movie burned on DVD for showing.
Any tips appreciated.
Sequence settings are 29.97 fps, 720 x 480, DV/DVCPRO NTSC, NTSC CCIR 601, 48 KHz.
Thanks.

Hi guys.
OK, I hate to use the words "I assumed" because you know you are going to get into trouble for saying them! But... I guess this is how the newbies like me learn the difference between assumptions about certain theoretical concepts and their real-world exceptions.
"I assumed" that in FCE/FCP that if I set a sequence's settings in the new "multi-format" timeline, that FCE/FCP would keep that sequence throughout the timeline, and automagically conform whatever clip formats that I put into it, into the sequence's formats. And therefore that I no longer need to worry about the original format of the clips, and just focus on using the sequence's settings as the final assembly format.
(Please advise if this assumption is incorrect).
Thus, my sequence settings above
29.97 fps, 720 x 480, DV/DVCPRO NTSC, NTSC CCIR 601, 48 KHz
combine footage from
1) HDV camcorder imported into iMovie 08 as 960 x 540 (the "lower resolution" option from iMovie '08 import), 16-bit @ 48 KHz (Big Endian), 25 fps
2) AVI files (DiVX 512 x 384, MP3 at 44.1 KHz, 23.98 fps)
The AVI DiVX footage is actually television program recorded content. The HDV footage (converted to 960 x 540 resolution by iMovie) is what I shot myself.
What I am doing is trying to cut in my HDV footage (home video) into the TV show's content to create a humorous entertaining video to show family and friends.
So after editing this thing for the past week, I am now ready to test on the target devices (iPod, DVD).
The edited cut plays fine in FCE's preview.
However, on export, the original TV show's content is in the wrong aspect ratio. That is, it is a bit wider, pulled out horizontally. Not significantly wider (e.g., not like 4:3 pulled to 16:9) but just not in the proper aspect ratio. I can't really tell if the superimposed HDV (that is, 960 x 540, not actually 1080i) footage is pulled out too (most of that is shrunk down or otherwise distorted, in the final assembly).
I have spent two days now exporting to many different formats, etc. but none of them seem to work. I just don't understand why. I would have thought that "forcing" the pixel dimensions using QuickTime Conversion's "Size" option would brute-force ensure the resulting video has the exact required dimensions and thus aspect ratio, but it does not seem to be my result.
Help much appreciated!
Thanks.

External Monitor Aspect Ratio Looks Wrong

I'm having trouble using my TV as another monitor with my new MacBook Pro. I don't really care whether it is mirrored or as a second monitor, but no matter what I do I can't get the aspect ratios right. I want to play videos on my TV, but when I put them fullscreen there, no matter what aspect ratio I've chosen, it ends up cropping the screen, as if instead of actually changing the aspect ratio, it has just blown up the screen from the wrong aspect ratio and let the edges get cut off. The (oldish) TV has a 1024x768 ratio, my laptop a 1280x800. They're connected by VGA cable. When I just leave them like that as separate monitors, the TV acts as if it's the same size as the computer and ends up cutting off the bottom and left side of the window. I've tried setting my laptop to 1024x768 as well as having them as separate monitors, and that changes the laptop screen, but still when I fullscreen a video it's cropped instead of resized, now on both laptop and TV. When I mirror them my laptop gets all stretched looking, presumably because it's taking on the TV's aspect ratio and then just stretching it out. It's like the only way it knows how to handle anything properly is if it's in its native 1280x800 setting. My old PC handles this without a problem (I think it ends up putting black bars top and bottom on my TV to make the ratio work for videos that aren't fullscreen, and in any case it doesn't do any of the weird cropping), and I thought Macs were for graphics people!

Hi
> Should I install the external monitor samsung driver (I do have the disc) or might it upset the Toshiba's own screen...
First of all the graphic driver is necessary and important to run and to use the graphic card with full performance and NOT the external monitor!!!
I'm sure that the external monitor software was not designed to run the graphic card but to enable and to control some external monitor options.
Anyway, you could try to install this delivered software but please understand that this software will not replace the installed Toshiba nVidia graphic driver.

The (new) Premiere pixel aspect ratio is wrong for my PAL DV cam footage

I've had a Sony TRV-950E DV-cam since 2003. I've been shooting DV PAL in widescreen.
I just bought Elements 12 to edit my footage, and discovered that the pixel aspect ratio for D1/DV PAL Widescreen has been updated to 1.46 (old value 1.42).
The theory behind this change is that video recorded on 720x576 is slightly wider than 16:9 and that the 16:9 portion is 704x576.
Unfortunately this is not correct for my footage! I've captured the video from my DV-cam (by firewire) and opened it in Premere and it is streched to be shown as 1050x576.
So I did a test:
I filmed a steady shot of a perfect circle and captured the video from the camera and opened it in Premiere. The pixel ascpect ratio 1.46 makes the display 1050x576.
The question is: Am I seeing this displayed as a perfect circle now?
This can be tested:
I make a picture of a perfect circle in Photoshop (square pixels) with size 1024x576. I imported this picture into the Premiere project, and match the two circles: The filmed one, and the Photoshop one.
They DO NOT match! The one on the video is slightly stretched in width.
So then I stretch the Photoshop picture in width to become 1050x576. I then import this picture into the project. And now I have a perfect match between the circles!
This means that my DV camera actually records a 100% 16:9 picture on all the pixels 720x576 - and not a slightly wider picture with the 16:9 part being in 704x576 (which is the reason for the change in pixel aspect ratio from 1.42 to 1.46).
I have some HD scenes that I want to import (and downscale) into my SD project also, and I also have a lot of still pictures.
Unless I can change the setup i Elements to the correct ratio 1.42, these stills and sqare-pixel-video (HD) should ideally be streched from 1024x576 to 1050x576 to match (become equally stretched as) all the SD footage.
How do I solve this?
I just bought Elements 12 three days ago.
(I just tried opening the captured video in Windows Movie Maker - and that program must use pixel aspect ratio 1.42 since the video is diplayed correctly as 1024x576 with a perfect circle)
Regards,
Tom from Norway

Tom
After much thought and exploration and experimentation, I have come to the conclusion that there is no practical purpose for doing anything other than importing your media into the project and editing/exporting. I find no distortion in doing so, be it in the video samples that you posted or in still models that I created for the pixel aspect ratio 1.422 vs 1.4587 for D1/DV PAL Widescreen.
If you have not already, please read the following about the Adobe DV Widescreen Pixel Aspect Ratio change from 1.422 to 1.456.
Please start in the first link which gives some get subsequent links in it
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/673877
http://www.mikeafford.com/blog/2009/03/pal-d1-dv-widescreen-square-pixel-settings-in-after -effects-cs4-vs-cs3/
Also, you may find the following article on square and non square pixels of interest. It uses the PAL DV Widescreen 1.422 pixel aspect ratio in its discussion.
http://library.creativecow.net/articles/gerard_rick/pixel_madness.php
Aside from the explanation for the rights and wrongs of the matter, this is what I actually observed taking your PAL DV AVI Widescreen and PAL MPEG2.mpg Widescreen into the same Premiere Elements 12 Windows PAL DV Widescreen project. Along with your video files were still images that I created in Photoshop Elements 11 Full Editor:
1024 x 576 document with a red circle on Layer 2 of the Layers Palette
1050 x 576 document with a red circle on Layer 1 of the Layers Palette.
The red circles were superimposed in creation. The difference in the pixel dimensions between the two are evidenced by Layer 1 content peaking through on the left and right.
The gpsot readout for pixel aspect ratio for each of the videos was
a. Your PAL DV AVI 720 x 576 Widescreen = 1.422
b. Your PAL MPEG2.mpg 720 x 576 Widescreen = 1.422
Each of the Photoshop Elements documents (circles) saved as .psd files 1050 x 576 pixels.
When all were taken into Premiere Elements 12 project manually set for PAL DV Widescreen, they looked like the following, no display of distortion.......
PAL DV AVI Widescreen 720 x 576 (now the pixel aspect ratio in Premiere Elements Properties was shown as 1.4587, not the 1.422 seen in gspot before import)
PAL MPEG2.mpg Widescreen 720 x 576 (now the pixel aspect ratio in Premiere Elements 12 Properties was shown as 1.4587, not the 1.422 seen in gspot before import)
Edit Menu/Preferences/General with check mark next to "Default Scale to Frame Size" was in effect.
As for the red circles stills (1050 x 576 to equate to the square pixel version of 720 x 576 widescreen) did not distort when brought into the Premiere Elements 12 Edit area monitor which is established by the PAL DV Widescreen project preset with the pixel aspect ratio = 1.4587.
The jpg version of the Photoshop Elements document (.psd) 1050 x 576 pixels (square pixels) looked like:
And, when this Timeline was exported Publish+Share/Computer/AVI with the DV PAL Widescreen preset, there was no distortion in the export. It looked undistorted as it did before export.
So, unless I am overlooking a key point here, I cannot see a reason why you cannot use the video sources that you presented for sampling as weil as stills with the 1050 x 576 pixel dimensions.
The only time I see any distortion possibilities is if you use a player that does not recognize the 16:9 flag that stretches the 720 x 576 to 1050 x 576 for display after encoding.
Trying to convert Premiere Elements 12 which uses the 1.4587 pixel aspect ratio for PAL DV Widescreen into a Premiere Elements 7 which uses the 1.422 pixel aspect ratio for PAL DV Widescreen is up hill in spite of creative thinking on your side.
Please review and let me know if you are seeing another different from what I am reporting with the samples that you posted.
Thank you.
ATR

Aspect Ratio looks Wrong

I import a mini DV home movie .avi (720x480)
When I play it with QT pro7, it looks wider than normal.
My computer screen has the same aspect ratio of 3-2 but if I play the movie full screen with QT it shows 2 black horizontal bars at top and bottom, confirming the problem.
It does not do tis if I play the same DV file with media player.

Another Question:
What is the best compression/codec/set-up to use to save DV files into QT if I want to preserve very high quality and be able to use itunes to view full screen and hopefully eventually something like airport express with a video port on my tv.

When I use lightroom to create a slideshow the aspect ratio is wrong when i burn it to DVD. What am i doing wrong?

I use Lightroom to create a slideshow and then export it to software to burn to DVD to play on a TV. When i view it on a computer the pictures are fine, when i view them on the TV the aspect ration is wrong. Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong please? Thanks

The template is a document in itself, it is not applied to an existing document whether it is a Pages document or a Word document converted to a Pages document.
You would need to either copy and paste content, using existing styles, or apply the styles to the converted Word document.
You can Import the Styles from an existing document and those imported Styles can be used to override the current document's styles:
Menu > Format > Import Styles
The process is simplified if the styles use the same names, otherwise you will need to delete the style you don't want and replace it with the one that you do want when asked, then the substitution is pretty straightforward.
Peter

Aspect ratio is wrong !

Ive just made an animation in after effects. the comp is set to pal dv wide screen 1.46
when I bring this in to my editing program (final cut pro) is sees the clip as 4x3. Ive checked all the fcp setting and there correct and Ive checked all the after effects settign and they seem to be correct
what am I doing wrong?
thanks for any help

if you create comps in AE with D1/DV-PAL Widescreen (locked 5:4) you don`t have to worry about nothing on render output. using the PAR correction Toggle is your friend when previewing, don't worry about the poor resolution whenever toggling PAR, it's just an still untested development fraud to get rid of it.
oh, sure, there was something: interpereting the footage before you start compositing in AE.

Aspect ratio is wrong ! please help!

Ive just made an animation in after effects. the comp is set to pal dv wide screen 1.46
when I bring this into fcp its in 4x3 I ticked the anamorphic box but nothing has append!
what am I doing wrong?
thanks for any help

Select the clip in the browser window (in list view), then scroll across the column headings until you see the Anamorphic heading ... is that column ticked for your clip? If it is not, then click in that column in order to add the tick. Then, or if it is already ticked, double click the clip to load it in the Viewer window. Does it display as 16:9?

Aspect ratio in preview & export wrong

I have QT.movies shot @ HDV 1080i60, 1440 x 1080. I just read an article in VideoMaker Magazine to take advantage of Apple ProRes 422, you can take your HDV video into Compressor and render to Apple ProRes files.
When I preview the .mov before I render it or even assign it an Apple Preset setting the aspect ratio is wrong and so is the rendered file.
Why can't I bring in a simple QT .mov and view it and output correctly from Compressor?

For future referernce: in order to view anamorphic/non-square material correctly the Preview window of Compressor 3, you need to (counterintuitively) uncheck the Square pixels toggle (available in the center drop-down).
However, that said, if you're transcoding to ProRes422, make sure you've adjusted the Frame Size setting in the Geometry pane of the Inspector. By default, the ProRes422 preset converts material to 100% of source but, since ProRes is a square pixel codec (and HDV is not) that won't work for you. So, adjust the Frame Size value to 1902x1080 and your transcodes should be all good...

Capture preset anamorphic - output aspect ratio wrong

My capture preset was dv pal anamorphic as the footage was taken on a widescreen camera. Footage looks fine in FCP6, but when I export a QT file, the aspect ratio is wrong. Why should this be and how do I correct it?

Hi Simon,
this is because Quicktime is showing the whole file, squashed.
What is your final destination? DVD? Web? Presentation? That will depend on how you will output the file. If you are planning to play it on an SD TV, go to your timeline and make sure you change the ratio to SD with a widescreen mask.
If you want widescreen to play correctly on a standard def tv, then you need to add the mask to it. If you are planning to put it on a SD tv with widescreen, the TV's aspect ration is changed to accomodate the file. So it is playing back correctly, it is the TV that will change. This is why dvds often have two different discs, one for SD and one for wide screen.
I hope this is helpful.

Aspect ratio wrong in slideshow on HDTV

I have connected my PB to my HDTV with a DVI to HDMI cable. OS X recognizes the TV as an external display and supports it at 1920x1080@60Hz. Even recognizes it as Samsung device. Aspect ratio is correct, and everything works fine: desktop, Safari, iPhoto.
All great until I run the slideshow in iPhoto. Then resolution goes to 1600x1200@60Hz and the aspect ratio is wrong (stretched horizontally).
After returning from slideshow mode, the res goes back to 1920x1080 and aspect ratio is fine again.
Actually, the main reason I wanted to connect the PB to the TV was to view my photos in slideshow mode. So this makes me sad.
Changing the iPhoto Slideshow Format from Current Display to 4:3 or 16:9 doesn't solve the problem. Appears to make things worse actually.
Any ideas?
Hardware is PB G4 15" 1GHz with 1GB.
Thanks!

I would post that one on the PowerBook forum, but I suspect that you may have reached a limit of a 5 year old software that predates HD tv.
Regards
TD

Aspect Ratio Issues in Premier Pro CS 5.5

I'm trying to produce a DVD for my daughter's school and my wife bought me a copy of CS 5.5 to help (thanks lovely wife!).
I made a number of rookie mistakes when originally trying to produce the final video, but I think I have managed to correct most of them. Sadly, the final product still does not play correctly on a DVD player.
Here are the attributes of the original source footage (from Windows):
And here are the settings from PP for a similar file (same settings, just a file from a little later in the filming process)
And finally, here are the settings for the sequence that I created by right-clicking on the footage in PP and creating a new sequence from the file:
The problem is this... The footage plays correctly in PP when previewed. It plays fine when exported as media and played on my PC, but when played through a media player (as a digital file) the aspect ratio is off and the file seems constrained horizontally, which pushes the top and bottom of the footage off screen (not sure I'm describing this well).
Also, when I use Encore to produce a DVD as a test, the same issue occurs. So I can only assume that the problem is the render from PP.
Can anyone help? Do you need more info to help? I'm getting frustrated... time for a beer while I wait for replies.
Thanks in advance

Once I realised that I'd made some mistakes with the processing, I started doing some tests with a sample piece of footage. This has allowed me a much shorter render time when testing the settings.
Here's what I did:
I took the piece of footage and imported it into a blank Premier Pro project (with no sequences). Then I created a new squence from the file (by right-clicking and selecting "create new sequence from file). Then I dickered with the footage, inserted some picture in picture and changed the speed of some of the footage (all things I intend to do with the final production). Then I sent that to a brand new Encore project created by sending the sequence via dynamic link.
Once I was in Encore, I made sure the project made sense (set the end action etc...) then I set it to build a .ISO file. I then burned that to disc (a standard 4.7Gb DVD-R) and I also sent the ISO to my DViCO TViX media player. Whether I play the disc on my Sony Blu-Ray player or the ISO on my media player, the aspect ratio is wrong. But if I play the same ISO or disc on my PC - it works fine!
I've yet to try it on another player, but I think there's something fundamentally wrong with my process, or the way I'm doing this.
Here's a piece of footage from a camera that had EXACTLY the same setting as the original footage (I used this piece of footage because it's straight from the camera - most of the files from the main camera are too big to share):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mocizf4d3vdx0y4/00037.MTS
(If that didn't work, I can try again...)

Unwanted moderate distortion of aspect ratio when exporting video

This seems to be a new problem for me, and I don't THINK I've changed any of my parameters. But the result is now wrong... Help!
I use my VCR to record from US broadcasts (good old fashioned plain old TV, NTSC, I presume). Then I transfer snippets onto my DV camcorder (good ol' plain DV, nothing with 16:9 or anything like that). Then I import my DV footage into iMovie HD 6.0.2. It imports fine and looks like a normal aspect ratio.
But when I export using the File > Export... setting, I get a Quicktime video which appears vertically squished. The faces are too wide, bodies are too fat.
Looking at the various aspect ratios, I see that the preview window in iMovie HD is about 720 by 525 -- there are no black bars or letterboxing, and faces and bodies look normal. But the output video is 720 by 480, which is (according to a quick Google search) a normal NTSC output. No cropping has taken place, and no letterboxing, either. So that's why it's squished. But...
So why is iMovie showing me something from right off my TV screen which is the wrong aspect ratio but seems to have the correct proportions? That would seem to imply that my good ol' TV and VCR are not actually operating in NTSC proportions... which would be extremely weird because the footage I happen to have recorded is from an old game show from the 1960s. Do I have some setting wrong somewhere?? Is there something fundamental I don't understand? Help! Like I said, this is a new problem with me and I don't recall having changed any import settings.

Thanks for your help! I had no idea that so many video processes use rectangular pixels. But I'm still confused. What I see on screen in iMovie (and most QuickTime stuff) looks fine, but what I got out of this last set of conversions looks wrong.
Obviously you used the Full Quality DV option which uses rectangular pixels, right?
Uh... I have no idea. I've spent a couple of minutes looking through the menus in iMovie and I don't see anything labeled "Full Quality DV". I'm not specifically trying to export in DV format; I'm trying to compress my NTSC format so that it plays back in nearly full size on my iBook laptop, which cannot keep up with Sorensen video or the H.264 (or two-sixty-whatever) codecs. I found that Cinepak CAN be played back at this size on my iBook. But Cinepak is a compression standard, not a video frame size standard, right?
What you are seeing is normal... 720x480 NTSC rectangular pixel DV should be scaled to 656x480 square pixels.
No, it's not normal. It doesn't look normal to the eye. It's not what normally happened to me in the past. It drives me nuts. By those three definitions, it's not normal.
I am not trying to export in a format that fits some video standard or TV set. I'm trying to export a QuickTime movie which will display properly when played back by QuickTime. So I'm extremely frustrated when iMovie (or something) takes a video clip from an NTSC source and for some odd reason squishes it.
When you say that "720x480 NTSC rectangular pixel DV should be scaled to 656x480 square pixels", I assume you mean that it should be scaled to that number of square pixels in order to display on a computer monitor with square pixels (i.e., basically all computer monitors) in a way which makes faces and bodies appear of normal proportions, right? Are you implying that the problem is that rectangular pixels are NOT being converted/resampled to square pixels, but that the conversion is being done on a (no-resampling) pixel-by-pixel basis? I'm just not sure I understnand the point you are making here.
Since I had different results in the past, there must be SOMETHING different about my current setup. After reading the link you suggested, I see that there are a HUGE number of possible complications out there. The main idea, however, is that I want to produce a QuickTime movie which looks the same as the preview shown in iMovie: Same shape of faces, same shape of bodies, just as it was when I originally viewed the footage on my television.
Thanks!

Aspect Ratio is wrong in AE Preview

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