Aspect ratio problem in QT

I'm trying to EXPORT a FCP project into a Compressed QT movie and it won't format properly.
The movie is anamorphic/letterbox. i believe I have set everything correctly. the size is 580/290 so it fits perfectly into the QT screen. I checked Letterbox. I did this before and it worked perfectly now I get the QT screen and within that is a black box and in the black box is the movie. I'm so frustrated and I have a deadline. what do I do? thanks

my folio…
message adding a document with 1024x768 size
message adding a document with 1024x1200 size…
what's the problem?

Similar Messages

Still no fix for aspect ratio problems

I was hoping this new version would fix the aspect ratio problems with importing clips other than in the DV codec, but alas, it was not to be.
My problem is that if I import a clip that is 720x486 (non-square pixels, uncompressed), iDVD doesn't interpret it correctly. It places the clip with small black bars (like a little letterbox) at the top and bottom of the screen, then scrunches the image vertically, sprinkling it with stairstep artifacts.
What's frustrating is that versions up to iDVD 4 didn't have this problem and imported clips in any codec beautifully. It's been a known issue for a long time.
Furthermore, Apple's solution is to convert the clip to a self-contained DV movie (hello, disk space!), which is also undesirable because of the quality loss and poor colour compression. After the latest QuickTime upgrade, exporting in DV doesn't work, creating a clip that is half-field and blocky.
Argh! This is a real problem because many of us use iDVD to make screeners for clients, and it looks unprofessional. It's also a very inaccurate and somewhat useless tool when the clips are of clean lines, titles, and smooth, solid graphics, which show the stairstep effect the most.
I'm at my wit's end having exhausted all other suggested solutions (and please don't tell me to use DVD Studio Pro instead). Anyone else come up with a fix or have the same issue?
Previous discussion on this issue here: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=204675&tstart=0

Sorry, but the answer is - for professional use, use
DVD SP
No, it is absolutely not the answer. EVERYONE I know in my circle of professionals uses iDVD for banging-out quick screeners of TV spots, film clips, dailies. In fact, it's one of the main reasons they added OneStep to iDVD. DVD Studio Pro is for authoring commercial-level DVDs, with a learning curve and pricing structure appropriate to that.
I'm not going to spend time learning DVD Studio Pro just to do quick one-offs, for one, and it's overkill anyway. Not only that, but it costs a lot more than iDVD.
The inablity to import a QuickTime clip -- on Apple software, no less -- is not cool, especially since it doesn't seem an excessive thing to ask (and it used to encode just fine). It's a very basic task considering everything else iDVD has been written to do, and crosscoding and re-encoding video is a basic functionality in QuickTime.
I'm not asking iDVD to prove the existence of dark matter in the universe; I'm just asking it to play a QuickTime movie properly. Which is what it's supposed to do.
There was a work-around, supplied by Apple, but it no longer works for me, so that's why I'm asking what worked for others.

H.264 pixel aspect ratio problem after update

Yesterday I updated Premiere Pro CC and Media Encoder CC to version 2014.2. But now I am having pixel aspect ratio problems with the H.264 codec when I export a 1080i50 sequence to PAL widescreen. The problem also seems to occur with other frames sizes.
I am using the same settings as usual with Aspect set to: D1/DV PAL Widescreen 16:9.(1.4587). However, VLC and Windows Media Player play the video with a 5:4 ratio. So it looks like the pixel aspect ratio information is not passed to Media Encoder or to the file.
This problem does not affect other codecs like AVI or MPEG-2, these are correctly displayed.
Is there anyone else having this problem? And more important, does anyone know a solution?

When creating files for computer/online playback (not editing), then best practice is to simply use square pixels with 1.0 Pixel Aspect Ratio, which will ensure that ALL players correctly display your video, no chance of problems.
Export as 1024x576 with 1.0 PAR and that is the square-pixel equivalent of PAL DV widescreen.
For NTSC users, I've seen it two ways, either 864x480 or 854x480.
Merry Christmas
Jeff Pulera

PRE7: Aspect Ratio problem even before opening source media file

Hi,
I am a newbie in Premiere Elements. Read a lot of threads with aspect ratio problems, but didn't find similar problem to mine, so decided to open a new discussion.
I am shooting video with Samsung HMX-H105 SSD camcorder, in 16:9 widescreen HD video.
When I try to make DVD from the MP4 file from the camcorder, it gets skewed even before opening it, when it is seen in the right hand pane with the Media file previews. I am not sure if somebody can understand what I am trying to tell so I have a screenshot of a video that I shot with my camcorder and a video that I have downloaded, shot by someone else with Samsung HMX-H20 in 16:9 HD as well.
So even when I start a new project in 4:3 and not 16:9 my videos always get stretched. This is why I think that maybe Premiere Elements doesn't understand the aspect ratio of my MP4 video files - it can be seen in the left hand side pane, where I have circled (with white elipse) the black stripes above and below the video.
Hope that somebody can help with my problem.

You ROCK
both of you
Thanks wine_snob for pointing me how to find the Interpret Footage option.
And thanks to Steve for solving my problem
In the "Interpret Footage" and "Pixel Aspect Ratio", the working video says: "Use Pixel Aspect Ratio from File: Square Pixels (1.0)"
but on my problem video it says: "Use Pixel Aspect Ratio from File: Other Aspect Ratio (1.778)", so I changed it to "Conform to: Square Pixels (1.0)" and now I have perfectly proportinal video for 16:9
Thank you once again!

Aspect ratio problem in Windows Media Player for DVD from DVD Studio Pro

So I made a DVD with DVD Studio Pro and it looks good in Apple's DVD Player, on an Insignia DVD player appliance and on Playstation 2. Both the movie and the deleted scene were 16:9 from camera to Final Cut Pro and they show that way in all these players.
But on Windows Media Player for Windows XP, the program thinks the movie is 4:3 and the deleted scene is 16:9. Nero's Showtime has the same exact behavior, but at least you can force aspect ratio on Nero.
Besides being longer, the movie is different from the deleted scene in that the movie was originally out of Final Cut Express on an older Mac and it was encoded big endian. The deleted scene was output from Final Cut Pro and encoded little endian. I didn't think it would make a difference, but I tried outputting the movie from Final Cut Pro on the newer Mac and it did come out little endian. I took that into DVD Studio Pro, got rid of the old VIDEO_TS folder and re-built the project, burnt a new DVD. Then I went back to Windows and...
...the same exact problem. Some of the people I give this DVD to will be using Windows Media Player to view it, which is why I want this to not be an issue at all. What am I overlooking?

Look, everyone here (who each have been creating DVDs for over a decade) is telling you the same story. WMP is buggy. Everyone in the industry knows that. Hardware manufacturers like Dell and HP, know that. Why don't you use the DVD player program that they put on the hard drive? Sure one "Hollywood" title works. Did I mention that WMP is buggy? Test a thousand titles, and I'm certain that you will find some discs have problems on WMP, and WMP alone. (And it isn't my assertion that Hollywood DVDs have issues in WMP, everyone is telling you that.) No one has a solution for this, except to not use WMP. Let me repeat once again, no one has a solution for this except to not use WMP. It is impossible to add any sort of programming to the disc that will detect which player is being used to play the disc and compensate for the problems of that player.
Let me put it this way, if you have a disc that plays fine on Zeus's device, and on Apollo's device, and on Hera's device, and on Hermes' device, and on Artemis' device, but you have problems with Athena's device, then logically, Athena's device has a problem... not the disc. Your own experience has proved this to be true. If you were having problems with every device used, THEN you could rightfully say that there is a problem with the disc.

Aspect ratio problem with AVCHD in iMovie 08

I am importing footage from a Panasonic HDC-SD9 into iMovie 08. the footage gets in there fine and looks great EXCEPT that the footage (all shot in 16:9) is squashed a little bit. in the preview clips below, it looks fine, but in the player above (and if I export it as a Quicktime file) it is squashed slightly. there are black bars above and below the footage, and (I'm guessing) were the video stretched to fill the entire area, eliminating the black bars, it would be the correct aspect ratio. I've tried importing footage form the camera supposedly shot in 4:3, and the same thing happens.
I know that I can simply do a quick edit in imovie, export it, import it into final cut pro, and stretch it back. however, I'm worried about losing quality, and more importantly, I don't know the exact ratio, since I can't even figure out what imovie is doing to the video to make it squashed, let alone in what manner.
the footage from the HDC-SD9 is AVCHD, and I understand there is something about square pixels vs. rectangular, but I don't know much about it. I have tried every iteration of imovie's limited aspect ratio settings, and I can't get it to work. I know it's meant to work well with AVCHD, so I'm assuming I'm missing something fundamental and simple. (some box to check to let imovie know I'm importing AVCHD?) it's maddening to see the footage correctly in the thumbnails, but squashed for (seemingly) no reason in the playback. can you help me out? otherwise I am going to film myself holding something that is a perfect square, then import it to imovie, then export to quicktime, then import the quicktime file into finalcut, then stretch it til the rectangle becomes a perfect square, and write down the settings for the future. seems ridiculously complicated, especially for the mac world.
I love imovie 08 (seriously, some of the new toys are just so amazing, and no render time at all!), and I love this camera. please tell me they can get along!

I think I'm having a problem similar to this. I'm using a Sharp MiniDV camera, and shooting in 16:9. When I used to import to other versions of iMovie it worked fine, but w/ iMovie 08 it is squashing and stretching the incoming video to more like 20:9 (I have no idea what the actual ratio is, this is just a guess). I tried changing import to PAL 25fps, but that didn't do any thing. Any other suggestions?

Aspect ratio problem with consumer camera and Premiere Elements 11

Hello everyone - I'm Steve. I'm new here. I do still photography on a pro level, digital and analog, but I am an absolute dummy with video...but then, I don't want to do much, just rudimentarily cut a few family videos, upload them, etc.
However, I can't get Premiere Elements 11 to output my self-shot clips in a correct aspect ratio.
My camera is a consumer-model Canon Legria FS200. I shoot video in a resolution the camera calls XP. The camera says they are 16:9, the camera monitor shows them as 16:9, and when I use the software (called Pixela Image Mixer) that came with the camera to import the clips to disk, I get mpg files that Windows (7) Explorer says are 720x576 pixel, and that VLC player correctly displays as wide-screen 16:9 without me having to tweak its display settings.
However, the moment I import them into Premiere Elements, they appear horizontally squeezed, and I can't seem to output them any other way, with or even without editing them in Premiere.
I tried to use the recipe given here: https://forums.adobe.com/message/5987538#5987538 , (replacing only NTSC with PAL because I'm in Germany), namely, setting the project preset set manually for PAL/Hard Disk etc/ Widescreen 48kHz and check force selected program settings. But no matter, Premiere displays the video in horizontally compressed form, with large black bars to the right and to the left.
On the export side, setting the output to PAL DVD Widescreen and setting the Pixel Aspect Ratio in the output settings to Widescreen does not help, either. Neither can I force VLC player manually to display the correct aspect ratio. BTW, audio is perfect all along.
This is about as far as I can see myself getting without help. Has anyone any idea?
Thanks a lot in advance,
Steve, from Germany

Steve
I see that you are now in the Adobe Premiere Elements Forum with your problem already solved.
I did not see any Why for what you encountered, so I thought I would give you my take on this.
Your Canon FS200 gives video with MPEG2 video compression with a .mod file extension. That .mod file extension can be found in use with some Canon as well as JVC cameras. The .mod file history with Premiere Elements (any version) is problematic. In some instances, the user needs to rename the file extension from .mod to .mpg before it can be imported, but not always. But, the .mod widescreen comes packaged with the aspect ratio dilemma, presenting as 4:3 rather than 16:9. The classical argument is whether Premiere Elements does not recognize a .mod file's 16:9 flag or whether the 16:9 flag got lost.
There used to be a utility contributed by an user to handle the file extension and/or aspect ratio issues. Now, the general fix is to import the file into Premiere Elements (in your case 11) with Add Media/Files and Folder/Project Assets. And in Project Assets, you right click the file, select Interpret Footage, and go to the Pixel Aspect Ratio section of the Interpret Footage dialog where you
(a) dot the Conform To:
and
(a) set the Contorm To: field to (in your case) D1/DV PAL Widescreen 16:9 (1.4587)
Once you are in the program and have the file on the Timeline, if any black edges, you can click the monitor to bring up the image's bounding box. Then drag on a bounding box handle to scale the image just to the point where the black edges are gone.
If you ever need the Adobe Premiere Elements Forum, maybe bookmark this link
Premiere Elements
You should expect to have this issue with any .mod widescreen file that you obtain from your Canon FS200 camera.
ATR
Add On...If you are depending on the program to set the correct project preset, you may want to check into what it is setting based on the properties the first file you drag to the Timeline. A manual setting of the project preset may be in order. Please see
ATR Premiere Elements Troubleshooting: PE11: Accuracy of Automatic Project Preset (New Project Dialog) Setting

Aspect ratio problems

I've built a DVD with 16:9 DV movies and menus made in Photoshop using first of all the PAL DV 16:9 preset and latterly a custom size in the ratio of 16:9.
My problem is that when I check the DVD using the simulator the menus fill the screen OK but the 16:9 DV media looks more lke 4:3. I noticed that while making menus in Photoshop using the DV16:9 preset that 'pixel aspect ratio correction' switched itself on and wonder if this is part of the problem. I've tried re-saving my menu pages with the correction unchecked but still have a problem. Is pixel aspect ratio correction just for display or does it affect what's saved. I won't get the chance to check a burned DVD until very close to my deadline so I don't know whether I have a real problem or not.
I suppose what I'm asking is what settings do I use in Photoshop to produce menus for a 16:9 project.
Help! Thanks!
Message was edited by: bladerunner1712

Thanks for your input, that clarifies things although I'm not sure I described the problem properly. I think that my Photoshop menus ARE being displayed properly and the problem is actually with my 16:9 DV movies or DVD SP itself. Here's what's happening ...
A 16:9 DV movie set as a menu background looks more like 4:3. The same 16:9 asset used as a button on that menu appears 16:9 (hurrah) but the same 16:9 asset used as the target of the button show up in the simulator as more or less 4:3!
I should have mentioned before that the problem only appears in the simulator and using the (sofware) DVD Player. Movies and menus all look 16:9 played on hardwrae players. What's going on.

Aspect Ratio Problems with iDVD

I am putting together a video presentation with video from several different sources. I have had a whale of a time getting the video to display uniformly at the same aspect ratio. I put all my separate clips into Quicktime Pro and set the aspect ratio to 960 X 540. FINALLY, in Quicktime Pro I was able to assemble the full video so that ALL the footage played in 960 X 540 and looked seamless. I thought I was in great shape.
Then......I thought I would test the video in iDVD because I need to burn about 40 copies of this presentation. Lo and behold, iDVD takes part of the video footage and somehow changes the aspect ratio of certain footage. Part of the video plays in a small postage stamp area in the upper left of the screen, while other segments play in full widescreen just fine. Obviously, my aspect ratios are still messed up somehow, even though the the entire video plays in full 960 X 540 glory in Quicktime Pro. I'm stumped.
Anybody run across this problem in iDVD before?

Wow, nobody qualified to help me with this problem?
I'm finding out, thanks to more research on my part, that iDVD does not like the aspect ratio of 960 X 540. The only reason I used that setting is because part of of my video has an iMovie 9 "trailer" and iMovie 9's "large" export is set to 960 X 540. The weird thing is iDVD handles segments of my video that is 960X540 just fine, but it completely bungles up the iMovie 9 trailer segment that is 960 X 540.
I have also found in further testing that iDVD does like a .move file in 853 X 480 and displays that aspect ratio in full widescreen glory.
Hopefully this information will help somebody someday avoid the headaches I have had.

Aspect ratio problem with original footage.

I use a Canon mini DV camera (MD160) that shoots in widescreen, and I do all my editing in iMovie 08, all projects are Widescreen 16:9.
No problems until now, but I imported footage the other day that came up squashed (pillarboxed) in 4:3 size. The thumbnails are normal size (widescreen), as they always have been, but the preview screen has cropped the footage to make it fit in my widescreen project. So I'm losing some of my shot.
What really messes me up is that this has happened to random pieces of footage from 6 months ago too, but some footage from last week is unaffected. It is NOT THE PROJECT that has changed, but the original imported footage in my event library, which was always widescreen. Even original shots I took with the iSight camera have changed to the squashed format.
And I obviously can't e-mail Apple, so what's going on? Is there any idea out there what caused this? And how do I alter original footage - I don't want to crop, so is there any way to stretch a 4:3 image into 16:9 - if I can, it will look fine, back to normal.

<font color="blue"The thumbnails are normal size (widescreen), as they always have been, but the preview screen has cropped the footage to make it fit in my widescreen project. So I'm losing some of my shot.</font>
The thumbnails use the current embedded "scaled" dimensions to create the aspect for the thumbnails. On the other hand, the project ignores the current dimensions and uses the embedded aspect flag to set preview display and export/share output.
If you then "move rejected clips to trash", it deletes the bits you don't want, but then converts the remaining section into a "mov" file. This is what has been happening to my footage. So basically I can't get rid of extraneous footage (60GB+ of the stuff!) without altering the aspect ratio of my movie. How do I stop this happening?
Thanks for posting this information. It seems that when the "kept" file segments are copied to the new file container, the aspect flag is not copied. Believe this should be brought to Apple's attention ASAP as an enhancement (or a bug since it does not adhere to aspect flag priority use in main routines). Will run my own test to confirm this and likely post my own feedback report. Suggest anyone else having this problem add their support to get this corrected as soon as possible.

Aspect ratio problem with Quicktime Conversion from FCE HD 3.5

I have a FCE 3.5 HDV project (16:9 aspect ratio) which I am trying to export using Quicktime Conversion for eventual web-streaming. I have tried various settings including "maintain aspect ratio" and the "letterbox" options. After every multi-hour attempt, the end result is just what I need, except the aspect ratio is always 4:3 and vertically squeezed.
What settings should I use for a small to medium sized version of my movie for streaming on a website, but in the correct aspect ratio? I'd prefer a 16:9 Quicktime frame, or at least a 4:3 Quicktime frame with black bars.

I too have been having some problems, same software. Export to iPod completely ignores the intended aspect ratio and is non-adjustable and squeezes the footage. It looks fine on the canvas but gets messed up on export. A 4:3 video that should be 640x480 ends up being 640x426, and a 16:9 video that should be 640x360 looks to be getting 640x426 as well.
Currently, my work-around is to export to DV file, then export to iPod. Being a double encoding, it is quite wasteful in terms of time and processing power. Is there something else I can do?

Aspect Ratio Problem (black bars on top and bottom in the preview window)

I have iMovie 08 and I have been shooting video on my new Canon HF100. It appears that in iMovie preview window my 1920x1080 (and even the ones I bring in in 960x540) videos appear to be in wrong aspect ratio - they are stretched beyond 16:9 ratio horizontally. The problem persists if I export the movie through Quicktime - the videos are still stretched. In the preview window in iMovie I have the right 16:9 box but it has black bars on to and the bottom. The clips themselves in the time line seem to be the correct aspect ratio.

Also I have found this on the export video screen which narrows it down a bit...
Here's how the source tab of that screen looks...
compared to the output tab, with the black bars that are my issue...
So where did I go wrong here?

Resizing Photos Aspect Ratio Problem Using Contraints

I am a photographer trying build a portfolio website. I want my pictures to be as large as possible for the screen on which they are viewed. I am using Flash Catalyst CS 5.5 with Mac OS X Lion. The problem I am facing when using the new constraint feature is that the aspect ratio of the pictures changes based on the size of browser. How can I have the photos maintain a consistent aspect ratio while still growing/shrinking with the size of the screen/browser?

In DV, both 4:3 and 16:9 material are the same number of pixels - 720x480. The difference is in the shape of the pixels. In FCP, unless the material is marked as anamorphic, it will assume the 4:3 aspect ratio.
If the original material was 16:9, when you import it into FCP, make sure
1) the sequence is set for 16:9 anamorphic and
2) you put a checkmark in the ANAMORPHIC column for the clip in the browser.
x

Quicktime X and 7 aspect ratio problems

I have scoured the net and not come up with a single solution to this issue.
I have hundreds of music videos, home videos etc in Quicktime 7 format. The ratio of these files varies at a pixel level, but are corrected in Q7 size feature.
It's not just an anamorphic issue, as many videos are cropped from a non anamorphic 4:3 'letter boxed' source.
Now QX does not display them correctly at all, which until recently wasn't the end of the world, but from the last update, iTunes began using the X ratio as opposed to the correct adjusted ratio, so music videos in iTunes, QX, the iPad, you name it, the videos created this way do not display correctly.
That basically is every video on my Mac created from the late 90's to recently.
Any ideas, solutions? How on earth can Apple do something so amateurish, and why is there no major uproar.

So what you're saying is, Apple are telling me "thank you for your loyalty in using our hardware since 1988, and building up a video collection based on our software, but we've decided to do a version of Quicktime that ignores the size tag you have being using for the last 14 years (I started video work on Quicktime in 1997), and screw any videos you did to this point, unless they had square pixels?"
Not exactly. I believe that what they are saying is that QT is growing old. The technology on which is is based was fine for the codecs and techniques of its time, but video technology is constantly changing and it is no longer practical or possible to keep making updates and patches that don't, in and of themselves, create new, more serious problems than they solve. QT X is based on technology designed to make this process of evolution easier and it is likely we will see many new changes over the coming decade. However, in the meantime, they have not done away with QT 7 or Front Row, both of which continue to display your files correctly even under Snow Leopard. I personally continue to use QT 7—mainly because I have it keyed for "Pro" use and prefer its functionality to the what I call "Not quite ready for prime time" version represented by QT X which likely appeals to first time Mac users.
New videos are fine, I just encode them to square pixels anyway and ignore any PAR nonsense at the encode stage, but then if the PAR value is what they are using now, why not allow an option in QX to set that, so at the very least I could resize the old videos to correct format.
Not sure if Apple would be willing to provide what amounts to developmental support for an application they are phasing out. Still, it wouldn't hurt to ask. If enough people should request such an enhancement, they might be willing to at least consider the possibility.
Re-encoding them is just not an option, incurring further loss, on videos that in some cases are already marginal.
While I stated that corrections are normally made during the encoding process, it isn't the only method of setting the PAR value. Unfortunately, it is the most accurate method.
My point with anamorphic is that it will simply change 4:3 to 16:9 if there were some option to hit a check button.
Actually, using modern encoders, you can utilize any custom PAR setting desired but I am usually more interested in other aspect ratios like 1.66:1, 1.85:1, 2.40:1, and 2.35:1 since most of my work is centered on the conversion of movies for use on my TV devices.
More flexibility is needed, especially from a platform that is supposed to be pro. Ever tried formatting videos for a vertically placed Plasma for exhibition work, on a video file that isn't square pixel?
Not as uncommon as you might think. I also layer over still or video backgrounds to frame the main video and fill the unused device display area.
I have videos for example that are 800 x 400 (due to an original source, or a crop from the source, but view at 4:3 with the size setting, as they should. Now they look ridiculous displaying at 2:1, and there is no way to change it.
I would normally employ masking here to avoid one level of re-compression.
The size option allowed it to be displayed as you wanted it to, after encode.
More importantly, the Size (Scale) option allowed you to avoid having to re-encode the file since it can be saved back to the original file container (assuming no other changes were made the forces a re-encoding of the file).
It worked, it was done as Apple wanted, due to the size option being the only way to do to non-square pixels, and now they say, nah, we're not doing that anymore?
You seem to be forgetting that when QuickTime was initially introduced almost 20 years ago, users did not have to worry about scalability options, low-compression, high data rate broadcast standards or anamorphic DVDs because there weren't any such work flows for the Apple/Mac platforms of that era nor could they handle them anyway.
So basically Quicktime now contains no ability to format non-square pixels, unless it is done at the encode?
True, but as hinted previously, Apple and QuickTime isn't the only game in town. Based on your question, I went back and played around with Subler. Had been told that this app would allow the user to embed PAR value but was never able to get it to work. Finally managed to get a 720x480 (636x480) encoded movie trailer to play back as an 852x480 display in both QT 7 and QT X on my Snow Leopard system. This proves that it can be done without re-encoding, but there do seem to be some limitations. For instance, since I normally encode using macro-block 16 dimensions increments and Subler seems to like increments of 12 pixels, some PAR and Size target values may vary by 4 pixels. In any case, you may want to Google the app and give it a try. You still have to process each file but not actually re-compress the data.
It is barely believable that they would do that.
Please excuse me, but I do have to chuckle here. It seems as if you feel that Apple has taken something away from you. I, on the other hand, tend to view it as not missing something I never really had. I do, however, agree that it would be nice if both applications were able to access/change both PAR values and display size values for better compatibility between old and new technologies.

Quicktime X Aspect Ratio problems.

I recorded films on my Samsung HMX-H100N camcorder and imported the files on to my macbook.
Having OSX Lion I am forced to have Quicktime X as a default for Final Cut Pro. MY camcorder
films in 1280x720 however the aspect ratio displayed in Quicktime X is 2275x720. The width is very
stretched out. I downloaded Quicktime Player 7 and the aspect ratio was displayed fine. Is there a way to
have Quicktime X display the correct aspect ratio?

Is there a way to have Quicktime X display the correct aspect ratio?
No. There are basically two ways to correct the problem. One is to re-compress the file and the other, in the case of H.264/AAC content in MOV, MP4, or M4V file containers, is to simply reset the PAR display value and/or the current display size dimensions.
In the case of recompressing the files, you export the file as either a non-anamorphic file (one in which the encoded dimensions of the file equal the display dimensions, in which case the PAR is 1:1) or you encode a valid anamorphic file which sets a non-1:1 PAR value and also stores the actual display dimensions for media players that require them.
Your main problem is that applications like the QT X Player and iMovie '08/'09/'11 use the file's PAR setting to display the width of the video given its height dimension while other applications like QT 7/QT 7 Pro, GarageBand, and MPEG Streamclip display the files based on the actual "Current Size" dimensions stored in the file. From what you've said, it appears that either the PAR value was either changed by your work flow or was originally encoded incorrectly for use by the QT X Player. Unfortunately, while QT 7 Pro can be used to correct the scaled display dimensions for a file having the wrong "Current Size" dimensions and correct PAR setting, QT X cannot correct erroneous PAR values whether or not the "Curtrent Size" dimensions are correct. In the former case, the QT 7 Pro correction will allow the file to play correctly in both QT 7 and QT X, but in the latter case the file will always play incorrectly in QT X and correctly in QT 7.
Luckily, in the case of standard H.264/AAC files wrapped in MOV, MP4, and/or M4V file container, there is a way to correct either or both problems. The question at this point is what kind of files are you working with at this point. In reviewing the manual for your device, it was unclear if the actual recordings are standard H.264/AAC files in an appropriate file container or AVCHD content which has to be process by some sort of included software processing before it is in the required compression format and file container type.
In any case, if/once the files are in the proper format and file type, they can be processed by a utility called "Subler" which is available online free but is supported by user donations. The work flow is essentially straight forward. You open the source file and select the the audio and video data to be included in the final file. You then select the video track, deselect the "Preserve Aspect Ratio", enter the "Scaled Size" for QT 7 playback, create the "Aspect Ratio" value of QT X playback by entering the QT 7 "Scaled Size" width value followed by the "Normal Size" width value, press the "Tab" (or Return) key to "lock in" the last entered value, and save the resulting file. This should create an M4V file which plays correctly in an QT or QT-like media players.

Horizontal bands and aspect ratio problems

Sorry to ask yet another question, but I'm stuck again....
Two major problems here:
1. Thick horizontal bands of distortion across the video when burned on a DVD and played back on both the computer and TV. It's like the video is chopped up into strips and each is offset a bit from the next. This is most noticeable when there's movement, especially when the camera is panning.
I've found a few posts on this around the board, but all of them were solved by exporting to quicktime instead of quicktime conversion, which I already did...any more ideas?? It plays fine in Quicktime by the way.
2. Aspect ratio issues. The video is 16:9 (it exported from FCE squished, which I solved following these instructions: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1431891&tstart=150 (using the dimensions specified by the second poster)), but it plays on both the apple cinema display and the widescreen TV with letterboxing. On the computer monitor it looks right, but there are thin black bands at the top and bottom (thinner than normal letterboxing), but on the TV it looks squished horizontally, with full letterbox bands. Any idea what's going on??
I'm using FCE HD (version 3.5.1) on a Mac Pro running OS 10.4.11. Any advice would be HUGELY appreciated!!!
Thanks in advance,
Claire

1. Regular standard-def video, shot on miniDV tapes in two different cameras and imported through capture in FCE. One camera shot in 4:3 and I zoomed in to make it 16:9 in FCE, but the problems are identical in the footage from both cameras so I don't think that's a factor. The file is now an .mov file exported to quicktime from FCE. DVD was burned in iDVD (version 6.0.4) using one of the widescreen menus, with the video added by drag and drop.
2. Same video as above, same DVD, played through a DVD player connected to the TV.
Thanks!
Claire

Aspect ratio problem in QT

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for