Final Cut Pro 7 - Letterbox and stretched picture from ****! HELP!

Question

I've edited and saved hundreds of projects without a Letterbox and stretched out picture. All of a sudden I edited and save this project and I can get rid of the letterbox. PLEASE HELP! It's awful!

Answer 1

You are editing HD video shot in HDV anamorphic 16:9  on a Standard Definition 4:3 timeline.
Is this your intention? FCP is scaling the video to fit in the 4:3 aspect ratio - hence the letterbox.
If this is not what you want, you need to create a new (empty) sequence. Go to the menu File > New > Sequence.  Drag a source clip of your footage to the new sequence, and you should be prompted by FCP to match the sequence settings with the source footage. Click yes and you should now have a sequence that matches your source footage and the letterboxing should be gone.
To save your existing work in the letterboxed sequence and move it to the new (correct) sequence, do the following:
Remove the clip you used to set the sequence settings on the new sequence so that it is empty.
Return to your incorrect sequence and click anywhere. Type Command + A to select all the clips. Type Command + C to copy them.
Switch to the new, empty sequence and click anywhere in it. Type Command + V to paste all the clips to the new (correct) sequence.
If the video does not display correctly in the new sequence, click anywhere on the timeline of the new sequence. Once you have done that, type Command + A to select all the clips.
Control-click on anyone of the selected video clips, and from the drop down menu choose "Remove Attributes"
When the Remove Attributes pane opens, check the boxes for Basic Motion and Distort (if they are not grayed out) and then click OK.
You should be good to go.
MtD