Capturing DV anamorphic to FCP4

A friend copied a DVD movie in Letterbox (not store bought) onto a DV tape for me to edit. When I try to LOg and Capture the footage, it will only show in the VIEWER in a square black box. i've tried changing the presets in several ways but i can't make the footage look normal letterbox. What do i do? Thanks andy

This is one of the more confusing things I've read in a while.
Exactly what format was the DV tape recorded in?
Have you logged and captured the footage?
Exactly what capture preset did you use?
Is the footage on your hard drive in a quicktime format?
What is the format of the captured video?
(catching the drift here?...)
report back.
cheers
x

Similar Messages

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.

Capturing SD anamorphic at 60 fps?

I made a custom capture preset for DV Anamorphic with a 60 frame rate, since there was no preset for this. But when I capture the clips display as 29.97 fps.
Does FCP not work with SD @ 60 fps? If not, I'm confused why the manual setting is even an option.
If it is possible to capture at this frame rate in SD please help me out.
thanks.

So Shane
A quick question in the same vein [2 parts].
Using a Sony HDR-FX1E HDV camera we want to achieve something in the order of filming at either 50 or 100 frames per second. Given our equipment limitations will shooting 1440x1080 at 50i with a shutter speed of 1/200 achieve anything like 100 frames per second shot. We, like Macongaman, are hoping to produce a shot that has more detail and less motion blur when its speed is slowed considerably in FCP?
And just as important would you still digitise the footage using either of FCP's following Capture Presets?
AJA Kona 3: 1080i 25 Apple ProRes 422 [even though the colour space is 420 for PAL HDV and the pixel res for this preset is 1920x1080 - no option for 1440]
and/or
HDV-Apple ProRes 422
And then edit into a Sequence with either of the following settings [for best real time performance and nil in-sequence conversions [in order of assumed preference]]?
AJA Kona 3: 1080i 25 Apple ProRes 422 [1920x1080]
and/or
Apple ProRes 422 1440x1080 50i 48kHz
and/or
HDV - 1080i50
and/or
Apple Intermediate Codec 1080i50
I know the first part of the question is geared toward a DV Rebels type forum but given your obvious knowledge on shooting it [or having this kind of footage delivered to you] and then dealing with it in post I thought it best to ask here.
And if anyone else can contribute to this also it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Cannot capture PAL footage in FCP4.5 or FCP5.0.4

I have a last-minute project which was shot on PAL. Tried to capture but there was no video coming thru the FireWire. Tried both FCP5 on my 17" PB and FCP4.5 on my G4 and got no video.
Also opened up old FCP3 PAL project on the G4 which handled many PAL projects and went to the L & C window, but again it saw no video. Would this have anything to do with the OS? Or QuickTime (I have QT7 Pro on 17" PB and
QT6.5.2 Pro on G4)?
Anyone else experiencing similar problems? Please help.

Forgot to add that I tried trashing QT703 Receipts package (I'm on QT704) but it didn't seem to help.
I never had problems with PAL projects before. What could be wrong? Please help

To capture in anamorphic or not?

Hi, I shot a few footages, most with camera's 16:9 setting on, some older footages are in 4:3. I'm confused on what setting to use. If the footages are 16:9, should I capture them with anamorphic settings? What happens if I don't? When I create a sequence, and I want it to be anamorphic, can I just drag and drop a regular 4:3 footage to it and will it convert automatically? If I use a 16:9 footage in a 16:9 sequence, does it automatically know that the footage is 16:9? Or if I use 16:9 footages, the sequence is automatically 16:9? Lastly, is the sequence setting used for the final output of the project, regardless of the different formats, resolutions of the footages?
Thanks for helping!
Tony

I'm battling insomnia, so I'll give this one a try...
Hi, I shot a few footages, most with camera's 16:9 setting on, some older footages are in 4:3. I'm confused on what setting to use.
Are you saying that from one tape - from a single camera - you've mixed 16:9 and 4:3 footage?
If that is the case:
Capture all your footage as 4:3
Comb thru your footage and make subclips for all your 16:9 footage. (If you've shot on DV, use DV Start/Stop Detect to speed things up)
With your Browser in List View:
Select all your (16:9) subclips and scroll over to the Anamorphic column.
With all your subclips still selected, Control-Click and select Yes from the contextual menu
Do not simply click in the column - that'll only affect one clip (and deselect all others)
If you did it right, all your subclips will now be Anamorphic 16:9
Decide how your want to mix your footage in order to determine if you need a 16:9 sequence or a 4:3 sequence
(Captain Mench has already told you what to do there)
If the footages are 16:9, should I capture them with anamorphic settings? What happens if I don't?
As the process above details, Anamorphic is a flag. Since it's not a codec - like, say, DV-NTSC or DV-PAL - once your footage is digitized (in the right codec) you can simply activate - or deactivate - that flag.
When I create a sequence, and I want it to be anamorphic, can I just drag and drop a regular 4:3 footage to it and will it convert automatically?
The 4:3 footage will appear with with black bars on the right and left. In the world of post-production, we call this windowboxing.
If I use a 16:9 footage in a 16:9 sequence, does it automatically know that the footage is 16:9?
So long as the flag is set in FCP's browser, the answer is yes.
Or if I use 16:9 footages, the sequence is automatically 16:9?
No, FCP works the other way around - the aspect ratio of the sequence determines how clips are displayed. If you want 16:9 footage to fill the frame - and look correct - drop it into a 16:9 sequence.
Alright, finally feeling sleepy...

HELP!! Audio Out of Sync in Anamorphic Capture... Any Help Appreciated

I've been having problems with the audio drifting when I capture anamorphic footage for longer than 10 minute segments. I've captured 4:3 NTSC DV tape to see if it was my GL2 and I also hooked up my camera to a monitor to playback the tape but the audio was in sync all the way through for both tests. Only capturing the anamorphic footage results in audio drifts regardless of any capture settings.

I am fairly new to iDVD 6 and iMovie HD (widescreen), but I an currently assembling a highlight DVD for my daughter's softball team. We are in mid season. I had been creating separate movies (per game). I extracted audio and/or added sound and video effects to some of the movies clips. Alas not only do the extracted (original audio) and added audio (outdoor cheer) disappear but also the video special effects (slow motion) are not maintained in widescreen but are pillarboxed when copied/pasted.
At any rate, I am have now created a compilation iMovie and will be dumping new footage into it as we go. Editing the compilation, as well as editing separate "save as" individual game movies.
I only had 2-3 clips that had been audio manipulated and shared those back to my video camera and then reimported from camera back to the compilation project. The extracted audio with separate tracks are now a single audio clip but at least I have audio during those clips.
To end this ramble, knowing the limitations of messing with audio and trying to cut and paste to different movies I will now create duplicate movies with a master having no audio enhancements.
Dave
Thanks, Len
I hadn't thought about this option. It seems like a
lot of work. I wish there was an easier way. I have
archived ("Shared" to full dv quality) to DVD-ROM
discs all the raw .dv clips AFTER extracting the
audio, hoping that I could use these clips to
assemble custom DVD-Videos in the future, without
having to "Extract Audio" a second time. The .dv
clips all play perfectly with the audio synced in
Quicktime. Of course, the clip's audio was in sync
before the "Extract Audio" was applied. This sync
problem ONLY rears it's ugly head with iDVD Video
discs (don't know about DVD Pro). Thanks again for
the suggestion.
iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Footage not capturing anamorphic

I have 24p anamorphic footage coming in from an XL2 that won't capture anamorphic. My capture settings are set to DV NTSC Anamorphic and it has worked before but now the footage stays 4:3. I have tried multiple capture tests with other settings and can't get the footage to come in Anamorphic. Any thoughts?

Actually, what worked before was that I just captured it anamorphic and I didn't have to set my sequence to anamorphic. That way it doesn't need to be rendered. I have checked the anamorphic setting in the capture settings but the clip isn't checked as anamorphic when captured.

5.1.4 update breaks HDV capture? Unable to Initialize Capture Device

Problem:
Final Cut Pro cannot capture standard 1080i60 HDV footage from Sony FX1 camcorder. FCP reports "Unable to Initialize Capture Device" when the log and capture window is opened. However, the footage CAN be captured in iMovie (which is interesting, and unacceptable). When HDV>DV downconvert option on camcorder is activated, footage CAN be captured as anamorphic SD, so the camcorder and FW do work.
The problem is occuring on a rock-solid FCP system that I use on a regular basis (mainly for SD editing). It has been approx 2 weeks since I last attempted a HDV capture, the system has been working great with SD footage (still does).
Factors that have changed to my knowledge since HDV capture was last functioning properly:
*Added a new external FW drive into regular usage (a different brand than normally used, no issues with it so far).
*Updated FCP to 5.1.3, and then 5.1.4 when that fix came out. All SD captures and work have been fine so far.
Here's what's interesting...I had a copy of the FCP v5.0.4 .app that I had saved an archive of prior to the crossgrade update. Guess what? I can load it up, and it captures HDV without any problems! With that in mind, this looks like an FCP 5.1.4 issue. But I am at a loss on how to proceed further in troubleshooting. Many thanks in advance for any assistance.
Matt Jeppsen
FresHDV.com
---NOTES---
What I have tried:
*Attempted capture with a different Sony FX1 camcorder.
*Swapped firewire cables and system firewire ports.
*Attempted capture with camera FW chained to an external HDD.
*Unplugged all other external firewire devices from the system.
*Trashed FCP prefs using FCP Rescue 5, created new project using Easy Setup (for HDV).
*Tried different variations of FCP A/V settings, tried all the HDV FW device control presets and the HDV AIC capture preset.
*Per instructions at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301852 I removed the numbered Quicktime pckg Receipts and re-installed the latest version (7.13). Post-install/reboot, I repaired Disk Prefs and Verified the disk using Disk Util.
*Have also attempted installing QT 7.13 2 and 3 times in a row, also trying disk prefs repair BEFORE the post-install reboot.
Final Cut Pro Audio/Video Settings:
Sequence Preset: HDV-1080i60
Capture Preset: HDV
Device Control Preset: Sony HDV Firewire
Sony HDR-FX1 IN/OUT REC settings:
*VCR HDV/DV: HDV
*COMPONENT: 1080i/480i
*i.LINK CONV: OFF
*TV TYPE: 16:9
*A/V->DV OUT: OFF
System/Software Facts:
*Final Cut Pro 5.1.4
*Quicktime 7.13
*PPC Mac G5 2.7 Dual (2.5GB RAM)
*35GB free on System, 45GB free on internal FCP Scratch disk
Final Cut Pro 5.1.4, G5 DP 2.7 (PPC) Mac OS X (10.4.8)

I think I figured out this vexing problem. I too was having the same issue. Check to see that your Quicktime is newer than 7.1.2. If it isn't you'll have to upgrade it. I only upgraded to 7.1.6 here because I was afraid of going to a really new version. http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime716formac.html. After I upgraded my quicktime, I ran software update and the Final Cut Pro 5.1.4 update appeared. I hoipe this helps.

AV capture problem (OS 9)

This may be rehashing an old common issue, but I haven't booted into OS 9 for a while, and recently tried importing some home movies from my camcorder using BTV Pro 5.4.1 in OS 9.2.2.
My problem is that the video will lag the audio after a few minutes of capture in the resulting .mov file. I was trying 640x420 capture, with the capture window in the upper left portion of the monitor set to 1024x768.
I was capturing to my external FW drive, which I thought would be fast enough. (I recently RAIDed my two internal ATA66-PCI drives in OS X, so I can't mount my internal RAID in OS 9.)

Ann, Welcome to the forums.
If you're importing DV 16:9, then you need to capture as Anamorphic.
http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/understanding_169.html
http://gregl.net/videophile/anamorphic.htm
Then make sure your sequence is also flagged as Anamorphic and you'll be good to go.

4:3 and 16:9 anamorphic messed up

Hi dear all, one of my workers messed up this big time. He spent about 30 hours on this project already, so we are trying to see if we can still save the project.
We shot the video with a HDR-FX1 DV 16:9. And captured with anamorphic as well. But when he was doing the editing, he opened a sequence in 4:3 format. So there are letter boxes above and below the 16:9 format video.
We tried to open a new sequence in 16:9 anamophic format, and tried to play with the settings a little bit. But when it's 16:9 anamorphic, the copied video becomes even flatter, the letter boxes above or below are still present.
Is there anyway that we could get rid of the letter boxes that was edited in a 4:3 sequence? A million thanks.

Try this on ONE clip first...
Right Click on it and REMOVE ATTRIBUTES... make sure DISTORT is the only thing selected.
If that works, select ALL the clips and do the same thing.
Oh -- you MIGHT want to duplicate the sequence before you try this. But that said, I think it will work.
Good luck,
CaptM

Shot in 4:3 and captured in 16:9

I made the biggest rookie mistake of my life and now I'm trying to be lazy and get out of it without having to recut. I shot some standard footage in 4:3 and as a habit of only doing 16:9 projects forgot to change the capture setting to 4:3 so my footage was captured in 16:9. Is there anyway without recapturing the footage to convert the 16:9 footage back to 4:3? I cannot believe I did that but am trying to get this project out the door because it was a freebie. Thanks for any advice.

David Bogie Chq-1 wrote:
but wouldn't the anamorphic distortion have been totally visible...
No. while you are capturing sd you always see the 4:3 full frame. as it is on tape. If the footage is anamorphic you'll see a 4:3 frame with tall people and objects.
When you capture as anamorphic the only thing you realy do is tell fcp to treat the footage as being anamorphic, because fcp cannot see the difference. Because both 4:3 and 16:9 are 720x576 (sorry, I choose PAL for exemple). So it's just a flag for fcp to know how to deal with it.
Change the flag and all is right again.
... I suspect it's not just plain old DV.
This whole story counts for all Standard Defenition footage. DV, digital betacam, xdcam, etc
Rienk

Anamorphic Exporting Agony (16:9 Pal)

Hello all,
A little while back I shot and edited a 11 minute corporate video. I shot it in DVPal 16:9. I had no problems editing it in FCP and exporting it using Quicktime Conversion, using the Broadcast (High, Med & Low) settings. The files came out widescreen 16:9 anamorphic, high quality image with pretty black bars on top and bottom.
The sequence presets are set to anamorphic and the video has been captured as anamorphic.
Now, the client asked for a shorter version with subtitles added to it. Easy, I thought. I used a couple of the sequences I used before. And in between them I cut together footage from two other sequences. So we have a sequence with nested sequences and clips. In the first video track I placed a white color bar (same as I had in the previous 11 minute video). On top of the footage I added the subtitles.
When I try exporting the final sequence I ALWAYS get a squished video. No bars no anamorphic just ugly squished agony. I have tried setting conform aperture in QT to production. I have checked and double checked that every video file is set to anamorphic. In the preview window in Quicktime Conversion I see an anamorphic image. What the heck is going on???
Using the custom frame size settings I can get a widescreen version if I set to 360 288. But the image quality isn't what it was before and I don't have the pretty black bars I like so much.
Please please... is there anybody out there who can help me out? I am at a loss here...
cheers,
Alaric
ps. the new video is 6 minutes long.
pps. this is the link to the site where the original video is posted, it was exported using the Broadcast High settings (i want it to look liek that!!)
http://www.ekvandoorne.com/04.html

Anamorphic video doesn't have black bars at the top and bottom. Anamorphic video is what you describe as "ugly squished agony" which is then unsquished on playback. If you're seeing this "problem" on playback, it's because the player doesn't know the video is supposed to be anamorphic.
What you actually want to do is export it letterboxed, which is not anamorphic.

I need help with Capturing error message

I shot some DVNTSC footage in widescreen on my sony Handycam.
I set up my final capture presets to capture DVNTSC Anamorphic. When I try to capture I get an error message saying... Dropped frames were detected in my video footage.
Final cut gets all hung up and won't capture a thing.
Can anyone help me with this problem?
Thanks

What David is saying is that it's not recommended to capture to your internal drive. It's already running the OS and the software, trying to write video to it at the same time can often cause, imagine that, dropped frames.
The second setup you mention is also not recommended. USB hard drives transfer data in bursts, instead of firewire's stream. This can lead to, imagine that, dropped frames.
And finally, the firewire drive and camera attached to the same FW bus will essentially double the data rate needed, and is not recommended, as it will cause, imagine that, dropped frames.
The solution you should be looking for is a express/34 card with an external SATA attached to avoid the bottlenecks you are experiencing.

Losing Anamorphic flag (bug?) in FCP5

Hi all,
Working on a FCP5 set, I have a small problem (bug?).
Material captured as Anamorphic (DVCPRO50)
Working in Anamorphic sequences.
All is fine.
But when importing (File > Import) clips from other projects (in which material was captured as anamorphic) FCP5 does not recognise the anamorhic 'flag' and makes it 4:3.
Well, no problem. I know this one, so before inserting this imported clip, I set the flag to Yes (anamorphic).
I now insert this anamorphic clip into the anamorpic timeline.
Still everything works like a charm,
UNTIL I Match frame this clip from within the sequence. The clip which is anamorphic in the timeline matches to the same frame in the Viewer, but only in 4:3 !!! ???
The browser still says 'anamorphic', but the Viewer shows a 4:3 picture and inserts as 4:3 (so pillarboxes) in the anamorphic timeline.
Is that a bug?
Rienk

Interesting, though could this be an issue with DVCPRO50 material?
I ask because I'm unable to reproduce this with DVCPRO25 and DV/DVCAM material captured in Anamorphic, as well as QT Movies (of said captured material) created by FCP (and then reimported).
I also tried QT Conversion, then reimported, but I'm not able to reproduce the issue with Match Frame.

Anamorphic setting and chapters lost during export

Hi, I know "not another anamorphic thread"... but I cant find my solution anywhere so any help would be much appreciated.
Ok let me explain what happend from start to finish. Recently I have been capturing anamorphic SD footage off of DV tapes using FCP 6.0.6. Everything was working smoothly. I would capture, then I would edit and add markers then export to QT movie. I would then take the edited anamorphic footage into DVDSP 4.2.1. DVDSP would recognize it as anamorphic and I would burn my wide screen dvd with chapters in place.
However I had to randomly capture a VHS last week and ever since everything has not been working as it did before.
Now what happens is this: I capture the the SD anamorphic footage off the DV tape. The capture works correctly, the capture is anamorphic. Then I bring that correct footage into FCP do my editing and add chapters and export using QT movie. The exported footage appears not anamorphic and squished (skinny). If I try to bring that export into DVDSP the program recognizes it as 4:3 squished and my chapters are missing.
What the heck is going on????
All my settings appear correct. I am selecting "Current settings" and "chapter markers" on export. I have even manually selected "anamorphic" on export. Nothing works. I literally have hundreds of SD anamorphic DV tapes to put on DVD and this hiccup is driving me crazy. I have trashed the preferences, trashed the project. Started fresh several time and NOTHING has helped.
Thanks

@joey848
The method you describe is a work around that I have been using, but it still does not address why the work flow has changed. My FCP markers always worked in DVDSP until I transferred that VHS. They always worked, I have a stack of about 75 DVDs I made using the markers created in FCP. Also in DVDSP I never had to manually change the DVD to 16:9. DVDSP would recognize it as wide screen an automatically adjust to fit properly. Now it always sees the footage as 4:3 unless I manually adjust it. I can make it work its just several extra steps, and when your talking about 100s of dv tapes you are looking at A LOT of wasted time.
@Doody
I am not working with iDVD I am working with DVD Studio Pro
I appreciate the responses, but neither really solve this mystery.
Thanks anyway

Capturing DV anamorphic to FCP4

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