Export to Letterbox w/16:9

I looked...
Once again I am confounded by the lack of ease Apple has built into FCP for exporting from an HDV timeline to letterbox.
I don't get it. Seriously. This should be MUCH easier to accomplish. I waste more time screwing around with exporting 16:9 footage (HDV) than anything else.
I've got a 1080 HDV timeline that I need to export to Quicktime as standard def letterbox.
Thanks for any help.

Though many will take a 16:9 clip and copy it into a 4:3 timeline to letterbox, I use Compressor to downconvert hi-def material. It does a great job.
First of all, export your sequence as a self contained QuickTime movie (Export QuickTime Movie, leave settings as Current Settings). Then take that movie and put it into Compressor. If this is for Broadcast, Under *Other Workflows/Advanced Format Conversions/Apple Codecs* select *Apple ProRes for* either interlaced or *progressive material* as appropriate to your clip. Go to Geometry, set your Frame Size to 720x480, then under Padding, select Custom and set Top: 60 and Bottom: to 60 (the way I arrived at this is this: For square pixels, the output would be 640x480 for SD, 640x360 for letterbox. The difference in the height is 480-360 or 120. Divide that by 2 and you get 60 top and bottom).
Save your preset, and then Submit... I've set up my Octo and Quad to do virtual clustering, so I when I submit, it will take advantage of all processors.
If you're going to the web instead of broadcast, no need to pad the output with letterbox, just set the output size as appropriate and choose the codec you need.
Does that help?
Patrick

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Export with Letterbox

Anyone know how to export with letterbox in FCP? I have a widescreen image that I want to put on the web. Want to make the video 340x240 but formatted with a letterbox so I can see the whole image without it be squeezed. The check box in FCP during export for letterbox does not seem to work. I’ve tried many times.
Any ideas what to do?
G5 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Kevin:
You can do it using Compressor. You can start duplicating one of the existing presets and then go to the Filter options and you'll find Letterbox one.
Alberto

Why are exported movies letterboxed?

I'm looking at the video clips I imported into my computer, and they are the same aspect ratio as my screen, filling it up when I choose to play it in Full Screen. However, once I put the video in Premiere and then export it, the video becomes letterboxed, both vertically and horizontally, so that when I play Full Screen, the video is smaller and surrounded by a black frame.
Why does it do this? And how do I change it so that it stops letterboxing my movies? Any help would be appreciated.
PS I don't really know if this is still considered letterboxing.

When I started the project I just took whatever the default settings were, which as I'm checking now is NTSC-DV-Standard 48kHz. I'm looking more into it since you suggested this, so I'll let you know if I find anything else.
As for how I got the video. It's from my Canon Vixia HG20. I imported them to my computer first, and then used Premiere to take the files that were already in my computer. As I stated in this thread: http://forums.adobe.com/message/3360868#3360868 , I couldn't import directly from the camcorder to Premiere.

Export without letterbox

I have seen similar questions throughout the discussions, but none of the answers seem to be working...
I am trying to export a quicktime file (H.264 compression) that was shot in 16:9 with an XL2 and I cannot get rid of the letterbox. I have adjusted the "Size..." setting (as the user manual suggests) a bunch of times (720X405, etc...) and still keep getting the letterbox when I view the exported file.
Basically I would like the export to look like the widescreen trailers that you seen on the web (like on apple's trailer site).
Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Thank you for youre response.
Does exporting with a letterbox and then cropping later degrade the quality? The only solution I have come up with is to remove the distort attribute under remove attributes for each clip, and then scaling it correctly under the video track of the quicktime export... it just seems like there should be an easier solution. And I am not sure if this method degrades the quality more than it should...

ON EXPORT WIDESCREEN/LETTERBOX GOES AWAY?

Everything when I am editing looks good, it is in widescreen etc. I shot HD with a 1080i 60. When I go to capture using the Easy Setup for 1080 60i everything looks fine, and when I edit everything is fine as well. Its just when its time to export whether I use quicktime or compressor, the final exported video is stretched and is no longer in widescreen or contains the letterboxing. If anyone could help with this I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks,
DP

I use compressor, and export the same way I always have done so I am confident it doesnt have anything to do with the export settings, I feel it is something so simple like im not doing something I need to do because its in HD or something along those lines. When it did work however Everytime I added any video, I had to render it. Now when I add video to the timeline, it doesnt need rendering unless an effect is used on it. Maybe I captured differently than the first time as well. Im confused and please if you think its something very obvious dont hesitate to say it, expect it being the simplest problem when it comes to me and FCP. Thanks!

Premiere Pro project setup and exporting 16x9 to 4:3 letterbox

I need to export a 16x9, 720/30p CS3 project, for final viewing on a 4:3 projector in letterbox. *This project is about to kick off with a VERY short deadling and the shooters keep changing their mind about whether they're going to shoot in 720/30p or 720/60p. I need to plan for both to be safe. How will this effect things in my original 16x9 project setup if they give me both 720/30p and 720/60p video? And what about exporting for letterbox viewing in 4:3 if this occurs? I mean, if I start a project in 720/30p with CS3 and they bring me 720/60p video as well as 720/30p video, will I have to start a new project and start editing everything all over again, and vice versa? Also, how will this effect my final letterboxed 16x9 product? **I also have to provide this to the customer in 16x9 DVD format.

Sorry, but you are at the wrong forum. The Premiere forums are here:
http://forums.adobe.com/community/premiere
This one is only for discussions on the forums themselves.

Unwanted letterbox when exporting

I am editing a short film in four different segments on four computers. Three of them export in wide screen and one of them exports in letterbox. The film is all the same quality, what do I do to get rid of the black bars?

Check item properties for the sequence that's letterboxed. Most likely it's 4:3. Change the setup to anamorphic. Then copy and paste the content from the bad sequence to to the good. The clips will be distorted but use the remove attributes function to reset the distortion value.

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.

Exporting HDV to Small Quicktime Movie

I need to export an HDV sequence (1440x1080) to a 320x240 Quicktime movie. Can anyone please help me on how I can export this and maintain the aspect ratio. I have tried to export it using the Quicktime conversion, but it comes out squished. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. I am currently using Final Cut Pro 5.

Why 320X240? It's a 4:3 aspect ratio, and the only way you'll get your 16:9 images in that size is to letter box it in a 4:3 sequence, then export that letterboxed movie... Or use a pan and scan technique (cropping the original) and fill a 4:3 aspect ratio that way... but you can't get a 16:9 aspect ratio of images to fit right in 4:3 aspect any other way... other than to export as a 16:9 movie.
You can in QT conversion, select it to be letterboxed using the H.264 codec too I think if it must be that size. I think 320X180 would come out right using compressor instead...
Jerry

Compressor 3.5.3 won't letterbox or remember saved Padding settings

I'm taking a screen capture out of ScreenFlow into Compressor 3.5.3 and I cannot get it to letterbox to 16 x 9. I'm not new to Compressor and have tried everything I can think of and done numerous searches searches with no success.
-Original Pro Res 422 file is at 1600x1000
-Inspector/Geometry tab is set to: Cropping- Custom, Dimensions- 640x360 Custom 16x9, Padding- Custom
(I've tried many times, but the Padding setting of 16x9 won't stay. I hit "Save", click on another preset, come back and it's returned to "Custom". This is likely connected to the problem, but re-booting the program doesn't help).
-Inspector/Filters tab: Letterbox- Type: Matte or Scale (neither works), Position- Center, Output- 16x9
(This doesn't work either. The settings do get saved, but no letterboxing.)
-Inspector/Encoding tab: Use x264 encoder.
Am I missing something simple and obvious? I can easily export from QuickTime 7 or even from ScreenFlow directly and it works as it should. The reason I choose Compressor is simply to save my settings as a preset since they aren't retained in QT 7 when I create a different type of export.
I don't have to use Compressor. In theory, it's just to save me time, but after an hour and a half, it's faster just to jot down my settings and then re-input them into QT 7 to export with letterboxing.
Thanks,
Dave

Russ,
I switched the Padding setting back to: "Preserve source aspect ratio" and it worked this time. It was probably the first thing I tried without success, but it's fine now.
I did notice that after numerous export tests that the final quality when viewed in Quicktime was slightly different when I used the padding vs. having the padding and Filter Letterbox settings both on. Oddly enough, it seemed a bit better when using both. This could just be a bit of randomness in that every single export will be of slightly different quality, but it is easy to see a difference when you take an exported screen capture at 640x360 and view in full screen mode. Anyway, I guess it's all working now.
Thanks,
Dave
P.S. I'll check back on this thread later in case you have anything to add.

Letterboxing in FCE HD

Hey all - good to be here!
I'm editing 16:9 HD video in Final Cut Express HD, and I have a problem exporting to letterboxed 4:3.
I'm outputting to file for devices with 4:3 screens such as iPods and mobile phones, so I really need to be able to letterbox my 16:9 footage. There doesn't seem to be an option for this, and the only 4:3 files I can output end up squashing the video.
Any ideas?

Put your widescreen edited sequence into a 4:3 sequence and export for iPod from there.

16:9 Letterbox

hi guys, i shot some 16:9 footage the other day, captured it in FCP and then dropped it on the timeline. it gave me the desired letterbox look. I then shot some more 16:9 footage today, but when i dropped it on to the same timeline it hadnt got that letterbox look?? I havent changed anything so not sure what the problem is. can someone please help me, its driving me crazy. Cheers.

I have no recent experience with iDVD. When I did last use it it didn't work properly with anamorphic material and you had to export a letterboxed sequence from fcp. To do this you nest your anamorphic sequence into a regular 4:3 one and you'll get a letterbox.
OR you can use a free app called anamorphicizer on your anamorphic fcp export which will apparently make it work, although I have no personal experience, and I seem to recall seeing some posts recently claiming that it no longer worked with the latest idvd.
The better solution is to use compressor and dvdsp. In compressor use the appropriate 16:9 dvd preset for the duration of your film and in dvdsp make sure that your disc and tracks are set to 16:9 letterbox. This will result in a disc which plays full frame 16:9 on a widescreen tv and 16:9 letterbox on a 4:3 tv (as long as the end user has their dvd player correctly set up that is).

HDV compression not letterboxing

Howdy, folks!
I've searched the boards here, but am unable to find the answer to my question.
I'm shooting HDV footage, capturing and editing fine, but when I try to output to SD w/ letterboxing, as is requested, the video is always squeezed. What the heck is going on?
Sequence settings: 1440x1080 (HD 16x9; Pixel Aspect Ratio is HD (1440x1080) and anamorphic is NOT checked; QT Settings for Compressor are HDV 1080i60
Thanks, ahead of time!

I misspoke. The footage is P2 size (960x720) and the sequence settings are appropriately HD 960x720 (16:9) w/ a Pixel Aspect Ratio of HD 960x720 and Anamorphic is NOT checked. The QT Video Settings are DVCPRO HD 720p60. There is absolutely no problem editing the footage with these settings.
I've tried toggling Anamorphic, exporting "use Letterboxing if necessary", in the QT Export settings I'm using DV/DVCPRO - NTSC w/ dimensions of both 4:3 and 16:9 and a size of the same. None of this seems to letterbox the final output.
What I mentioned previously was a sequence issue when either dragging or pasting the footage into a 4:3 sequence - somehow half the footage letterboxed in the timeline, yet the other half became squished.
Two problems, neither of which I can figure. You guys are definitely putting me on the right track, and I appreciate it! Any thoughts on this new info?

Sequence settings ratio error - project ruined?

Hi all. Am new to video editing but an old hand at Cubase, Logic etc, so was able to pick up Final Cut quite quickly, and have just finished editing my first vid. However, think I may have made something of a faux pas regarding resolution.
The raw footage I started with was H.264, 1920 x 1080.
As instructed by the camera guys, before I did anything with the footage, I used MPEG Streamclip to convert it to Apple ProRes 422, still at 1920 x 1080.
Unfortunately, I started editing it in Final Cut without changing the project settings to anamorphic 16:9, which means when I export the video, it's horizontally squashed with the dreaded letterboxes on the top and bottom. Trying to change the Sequence Settings in Final Cut leads to a very broken looking video and lots of 'unrendered' messages.
As the source footage IS in the right format, I thought it would be simple enough to swap the resolution in Final Cut, but apparently not. Is there any way around this, or is the project basically no good (unless I export with letterboxes).
Thanks in advance.

Make a NEW sequence. Drag a video clip from the browser into the new sequence (don't copy and paste). It will ask you if you want to conform... say "yes".
Now copy and paste everything from your old sequence into the new one.
Select your video clips, and go to Modify>conform to sequence...
If you have any effects applied or lots of tracks, you'll probably need to render... and if you have any key framing, i'm pretty sure you will need to make adjustments by hand.

Sequence settings for 2.35:1?

I have some footage that was shot in 16:9 24p on a HVX200
I want to put it into a timeline that is 2.35:1 in order to:
1. Play around with the 2.35:1 ratio
2. Get a really "wide" screen look.
What is the best method to do this? I know I will be cropping the image but I want to do it anyway.
I was thinking that it can't be as simple as setting my resolution to 1920x817.
The output will be to DVD as well as internet.
Thanks~!
-Fraky

Fraky wrote:
Cool.
For DVD, I export out with the matte included AND letterboxed? Or remove the matte first then export as letterboxed?
No. The matte will be your letterbox. DVDs can only be 16:9 (1.78:1) or 4:3.
mish

Export to Letterbox w/16:9

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