Is anamorphic widescreen possible in iMovie 09?

I am editing HD footage and am trying to create a DVD that will play on SC and HD tvs without losing the 16:9 aspect ration. Any suggestions would be appreciated,

Yes.
It sounds like you want to do "letterboxing". To do this, try the following:
1. Click on the project you are working on.
2. Select File->Project Properties.
3. Set the Aspect Ratio to "Standard (4:3)" and click "OK".
4. Click "Edit Project" (if you aren't already in that mode).
5. Hover the mouse close to the beginning of the first clip you have in your project, and you will see a sprocket wheel button with a down-arrow on it. Click on that button.
6. Select "Cropping & Rotation".
7. On the preview pane toward the upper left, there are two buttons: "Fit" and "Crop", and "Crop" is probably already selected. Click on "Fit", and click "Done".
Voila!
You may have to repeat Steps 5 through 7 for as many clips as you have in your project.
This feature is not very well documented in the help. The help talks about how to do this when adding NEW video to the project, but if you've already added video to the project and want to switch it, I couldn't find anything that explains it. Perhaps Apple will want to address this? Or perhaps it is explained somewhere that I couldn't find?

Similar Messages

  • 16:9 Widescreen / possible?

    I have iMovie 5.0.2 and IDVD 5.0.1
    I just finished editing a widescreen DV movie in iMovie with no problems. When I drag it to iDVD it is in the 4:3 ratio. IF YOU CAN EDIT IN WIDESCREEN USING IMOVIE 5 WHY CAN'T YOU ALSO EDIT IN WIDESCREEN IN IDVD 5? WHY AREN'T THEY COMPATIBLE WITH ONE ANOTHER? WHY MAKE POSSIBLE IN IMOVIE THINGS THAT IDVD CANNOT HANDLE? THIS DOES NOT MAKE SENSE TO ME..... I have done searches to find out what to do. I downloaded Anamorphicizer and dragged the iMovie file in and get a message "unknown error". I tried to "share" to Quicktime and get the message, "movie cannot be sent to Quicktime because of an unknown error. This is a one hour video that I have spent days editing. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

    Have you read this: Anamorphic widescreen in iDVD 5 at http://capital2.capital.edu/admin-staff/dalthoff/widescreen.html

  • Creating anamorphic widescreen dvds

    Does iDVD (in combination with iMovie) now produce anamorphic widescreen DVDs from a 16:9 camcorder source?
    I'm currently using iLife '05, and the DVDs it produces are not anamorphic widescreen, which means when I play them back on DVD Player, they have a 2" border on all sides of the screen.

    Andrew,
    You are talking about two different issues with iLife 05 - Importing anamorphic video into iMovie HD (in iLife 05) and then burning anamorphic 16:9 DVDs with iDVD.
    Many 16:9 cameras work great with iMovieHD. I even created anamorphic 16:9 DV files with both iPhoto and PhotoToMovie that also worked great with iMovieHD (05). However, some cameras do have the pillarboxing issues you pointed out and Matti referenced. I do not know whether or not this was fixed for your camcorder for iLife06.
    The second issue iLife05 has is how it creates 16:9 anamorphic video in iDVD5. Actaully this does work correctly! It's only the conversion of the anamorphic 16:9 to letterboxed 4:3 for 4:3 TV's that is an issue. If you take a "good" 16:9 anamorphic movie in iMovie and transfer it to iDVD5, it does encode as anamorphic - it just doesn't set the flag right for display on 4:3 TVs.....they are full screen 16:9 anamorphic DV for 16:9 displays, and play correctly on my 16:9 plasma TV at the normal WS setting with no distortion, just like commercial WS DVDs. If this were not an anamorphic signal, I would have to use the "zoom" setting, which is how I view letterboxed cable shows. If you read David Althoff's site carefully, you will note that iDVD5 can use 16:9 encoding, but the playback flag is not forced to letterbox it for 4:3 displays.
    Now I'm not saying that you haven't had the issue of getting 4:3 encoding....and your 2 inch border does suggest that! I think your main problem is the import of the movie into iMovie in the first place is creating 4:3 video, and once you've got that, iDVD isn't going to fix it.
    You need to make sure that your start a 16:9 WS DV project, and then import your video with the preferences "unchecked" as Matti suggests.
    And what kind of camera do you have???
    John B.

  • Anamorphic Widescreen Not Working

    I have anamorphic widescreen movies that play correctly in QuickTime, but when I play them directly in iTunes, they play in the anamorphic aspect ratio instead of their intended aspect ratio. Does iTunes just not understand anamorphic? It's hard to believe that such a mature program just wouldn't know how to play anamorphic widescreen, especially since Apple has it working with QuickTime. I've looked for settings, but can't find any that would fix this.
    Phredd

    While I am at it: Is it possible to make your own menus in iDVD or do you have to relay on the build-in themes?
    Hope these help & good luck:
    http://www.creativemac.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=66079
    http://www.creativemac.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=67633
    http://www.creativemac.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=29770
    http://www.dvdthemepak.com/idvd.html
    http://creativemac.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=31388

  • Changing sequence from 16:9 widescreen to anamorphic widescreen

    I am working on a short video clip shot using 5D Mark II - 1080p. I am editing on FCP 7 and want to change my sequence from 16:9 to anamorphic widescreen without any distortion...anyway this can be done? All my raw files and transcoded file are 16:9.
    Thanks
    Sid

    sure.  fcp will automatically adjust this when you edit a clip into the sequence, so after changes the sequence settings, simply edit a source clip at the end of the sequence.   Does it display correctly?  If so, select the clip, copy, and then select all the other clips in the sequence, hit option-v (paste attributes) and make sure just basic motion and distort are checked.  Should fix everything.  Then delete that clip you added at the end of the sequence.
    Oh yeah, probably a good idea to duplicate your sequence before doing this, in case you make a mistake (or if I've made a mistake - nah, that wouldn't happen).
    good luck.

  • IDVD won't trigger anamorphic widescreen flag

    After I edit in FCEHD and export to quicktime and then put that quicktime in IDVD it doesn't put it back in anamorphic widescreen... is there anyway to fix this?

    OK... I went into my Pro apps and took notes. This is what works for me (in iDVD 5.0.1). I tested on a short 20 second video clip.
    While in Final Cut Pro (5): Export/Using Compressor...
    In Compressor Preview window, select file in pop-up on upper-left side of window.
    Click on the Batch window.
    Click on Setting button and choose Advanced Format Conversions, then DV NTSC Anamorphic.
    In Inspector: Click on Encoder button. Click on Video: Settings button and choose DV/DVCPRO-NTSC from pop-up. In Compressor section, Select Quality-Best, Scan Mode-Interlaced, Aspect Ratio-16:9, click OK. If you want to save this as a Custom setting (you should) click Save As... and give it a name like "Widescreen." It will show up at the bottom of the Setting pop-up in the Batch window next time you need it.
    Back to the Batch window. From Setting, select your Custom setting. Then select Destination. Then click Submit.
    Batch Monitor opens and shows progress. Double-click the file created in your destination location. Mine will show 720x405.
    Simple, eh? I did that without consulting a manual.
    I hope it works for others!!!

  • Anamorphic widescreen

    I have video (DV) in 4:3 but also shot one wrong in anamorphic widescreen.
    Can I import the anamorphic into FCE into the same sequence where the 4:3 on is?

    thanks Tom.
    I assumed it would be letter-boxed -> that means I could enlarged a little to move the letter box out of the screen as long as the video looks acceptable.

  • Importing widescreen video to iMovie HD?

    I recently imported some old MiniDV video, from a Panasonic PV-DC152 into iMovie HD. The video was shot in the Panasonic's 16:9 mode (which is basically a 4:3 frame, with the top & bottom masked off). When I dragged a clip to the timeline window, it popped up a dialog box saying "letterboxing".
    But, the results of that were not what I was expecting. Rather than cropping the black bars, and treating the video portion as 16:9, it seems to have stretched the whole 4:3 frame to 16:9. So, the black bars are even larger than before, and the video is stretched.
    Is there some other way to tell iMovie what type of video is being imported, so it will use the proper 16:9 video portion? Ideally, I would like to make an anamorphic 16:9 DVD from this video.
    Thanks in advance for any pointers!

    I messed around with this a bit more.. I was still not able to get iMovie to convert my masked 16:9 into true 16:9, but I figured out a bit more about how iMovie operates.
    - In the Preferences area, you can en/disable "Automatic DV Pillarboxing/Letterboxing". I am not sure in what scenario this would be useful. But, for my usage, it's better to turn it off. I guess this is used when you have 16:9 video that you want to make into 4:3 (or vice versa), because otherwise you do not need letter/pillarboxing.
    - When opening a new project, you can select DV or DV Widescreen. While my video was intended to be 16:9, it was recorded in a 4:3 frame (letterboxed). So, the best setting for me was "DV". "DV Widescreen" stretched my video horizontally.
    If there was a way to vertically stretch the video back to the correct aspect ratio, DV Widescreen would have worked nicely (and presumably it would allow output to an anamorphic 16:9 DVD through iDVD).
    I also have the previous version of FInal Cut Express. Maybe I'll check that and see if it allows any more control over aspect ratio manipulation.

  • SD file "becoming" anamorphic widescreen...?

    I work at a university and we currently shoot performances in SD and capture to an older G4 with FCP 4.5 (multi-cam through a Grass Valley switcher, converted to firewire for capture through a JVC miniDV deck, if any of that matters). Anyway, I'm using the standard preset captures (NTSC Firewire DV, or whatever the basic one is) and everything appears fine on the capture system. However, we transfer it to a computer in our lab running FCP7 (new iMac) to edit and burn to DVD, or whatever delivery method we need.
    Anyway, the problem is, when we open it in FCP7, the frame is stretched to widescreen. Checking the format of the clip, the anamorphic field is checked. Unchecking this corrects the issue. Looking at the preview in the finder back on the G4 it was captured on, it is still stretched to widescreen, but opening it up in FCP4.5 it is 4:3 (and the anamorphic field is unchecked). I've double-checked the capture preset we're using and any reference to anamorphic is blank. How does it become anamorphic the moment you look at it outside of the version of FCP it was captured in (while even still on the capture system's Finder), yet returns to normal when you bring it back into that version? And more importantly, what am I overlooking to change so I don't have to constantly change it once we get it down to the edit suite?
    Message was edited by: Rikakiah

    Fairly certain I'm not...
    When I check the clip's info (right-click on it in the bin) on the G4 machine (with FCP4.5), anamorphic is unchecked. I opened up the Easy Setup and the current setup was Custom (but no anamorphic--was custom because it was set up from the DV-NTSC setting, but device control changed to non-controllable device since it's a live source). Opening up the Capture window and going to the Capture Settings tab showed Capture/Input as DV NTSC 48kHz (not anamorphic).
    I went ahead and just reset the Easy Setup and changed it to non-controllable device again, in case something was screwed up and it just didn't show. Guess I'll try to record something and see how it turns out now. Worst case, we'll just always uncheck anamorphic once we get the clip into the FCP7 editor.

  • Is anamorphic really possible in iDVD?

    I have a 16x9 iMovie 6 project, which I've imported into a 16x9 iDVD 7 project. After I burn the DVD, when I play it on a 4x3 TV, the image is not stretched, but the sides are cropped off. I have tried many of the workarounds posted here to fix this, including using MyDVDEdit. This has worked OK in the past, but I upgraded to iDVD 7 because I was told that this bug had been fixed. I'm very disappointed to see that it is not. I know that it is not a setting in my DVD player because other widescreen DVDs I own letterbox just fine. Is anyone else experiencing this?

    when I play it on a 4x3 TV, the image is not stretched, but the sides are cropped off.
    It sounds like the default setting of your DVD player for 16:9 content is 'Pan and Scan' instead of 'Letterbox'. Check the set up setting for your player. This is what I had to do.
    I assume the DVD plays correctly in your Mac with Apple's DVD Player.
    I know that it is not a setting in my DVD player because other widescreen DVDs I own letterbox just fine.
    They have the widescreen flag on the disc set to always letterbox. There is no right or wrong on the issue. Some people don't like the black bars at the top and bottom. It's an easy 'fix' in your player to change to 'Letterbox' - far easier than playing around with editing the information on a DVD using MyDVDEdit and reburning it.

  • Is this effect possible in IMovie? (and what is it called?)

    Hello, I have no knowledge, but I imagine it is some extreme filter or anamorphic lens.  I love it and want to be able to do it!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSkeQkb8NMo  
    From a "spaghetti western" i believe...
    Thank you

    this is no filter, just distortion.
    in FCPX, there's a Transformation tool allowing this.
    For iMovie, we need the free tool MpegStreamclip.
    export your clip/project from iMovie
    open that file in MpegStreamclip
    export, settings: 'wrong' aspect ratio, instead 16:9, I manually chose 4:3 (960x720)
    re-import that back to iMovie, insert into 16:9 sequence - presto!
    … from Porsche to Beatle! …-

  • Is cutting possible in iMovie HD 6.0.3?

    Hi everyone,
    I have recorded some live TV footage with a PVR hooked up to my MacPro.
    I am trying to cut out the commercials.
    I browsed through the Help section of iMovie HD 6.0.3 but I found no answer. Maybe I missed the info.
    Is it possible to cut out parts of MPEG-2 Video in iMovie HD 6.0.3?
    Rio.

    Hi til man,
    Thanks for your response. The video file I end up with from my recording live TV or from VHS to DVD with myTV.PVR is actually an MPEG clip.
    I dragged it into iMovie HD 6.0.3 and I can play it there. But I don't know how or if it is possible to cut out parts of it with iMovie HD 6.0.3.
    I also tried a friend's Elgato software EyeTV 2.3.3 which works great for editing but the ConvertX for Mac that it came with give me a lesser quality video than the myTV.PVR. It's a shame that the myTV/x software that myTV.PVR came with cannot perform any editing because the video quality (picture and sound)is better.
    Anyway, thanks again for your reply.
    Rio.

  • Is this possible in iMove '08? (Multiple videos on screen)

    Hi,
    Firstly, I apologise if this thread has been made before. I have no idea what to search for, because, whilst I'm sure there's a term for the effect I'm curious about, I have no idea what is it.
    I'm just curious as to whether it is possible to put more than one video on screen at any given time in iMovie, in a grid or similar arrangement - a bit like the Ode to Joy cover on Youtube.
    Thanks in advance,
    Angus

    No, but you can do this in QuickTime Pro.

  • Anamorphic widescreen or letterbox output to iDVD?

    I'm kicking myself.
    We recorded our footage of a school play in 16X9 mode, edited tape to tape then, imported to a Final Cut Express project set to NTSC Anamorphic mode in "Easy Set-Up" and now can't figure out how to get widescreen or even letterbox output to iDVD.
    The video appears letterboxed in FCE's preview window. But for kicks, I exported a short clip and burned an iDVD of it and it was streched on my set-top dvd player and 4X3 TV.
    If the widescreen version would be truly anamorphic and appear letterboxed on standard (old) 4x3 screens, but actually scale up and fill a new widescreen monitor that would be great.
    But at this point I'd accept a good, old-fashioned letterboxed version of the video. HDtv users be damned!
    Any help? Hacks? Etc. P.S. I also posted this question in the FCE forum where someone suggested I ask it here.
    Doing this on a 1Gig Powerbook with 1Gig of ram. iDVD 5 and FCE 2.?

    Scalzmoney,
    The link on the previous post will work for you, I have done this.
    First use the Anamorphicizer
    http://homepage.mac.com/sith33/FileSharing34.html
    to make iDVD5 see your movie as anamorphic. (iDVD5 is only looking for WS projects from iMovieHD, and this app does the trick for FCE/FCP projects)
    Once this is done you'll fill up 16:9 TVs, and the video will letterbox on some 4:3 TVs/players combinations, but will appear "squished" on some 4:3 TVs/players. Changing the settings on some DVD players will help, but not all.
    That's where you need David A's "cookbook" as listed & linked your first reply, above.
    I've hacked several DVDs this way. For example, if I make a WS DVD without the cookbook, it plays as letterbox on 2 out of 3 DVD players in my house (not counting Macs). The cookbook fixes it for that last DVD player, a PS2.
    John B.

  • Is split screen possible on iMovie HD?

    I've just been fooling around with version 5.0.2 and I can't find any way to do a split screen effect. Is it possible to combine too clips together in any way other than a transition such as a wipe?

    Yes, as Bengt describes. Here is how to do it in Quicktime Pro:
    Organise the video clips and/or stills that you want to superimpose on to your main video clip, by having these in separate, individual iMovie projects (no matter how small). It helps if these are in the exact length/time you want later.
    Now start with the clip in your iMovie project on to which you want to superimpose one of more smaller video clips or stills. Lets call it Main Clip. Export this (share) to Quicktime Pro in DV (full quality). make sure it has the same aspect as before (Quicktime tends to default to 4:3. If you want 16:9, read on).
    In Quicktime, with this project open, select File ~ Open File. Select the iMovie file (in your movies folder) of the first clip/still you want superimposed. This will open in its own QT window. Select Edit ~ copy. If it is a movie clip then select all ~ copy (or you will only get one frame!). Switch back to the Main Clip window, and click in the scroll bar where you want the extra clip/still to appear. Choose Edit ~ Add to Movie.
    You can repeat this as many times as you like, if you want to build a 'Video Wall', i.e. have several superimposed clips/stills on the same Main Clip.
    Do not worry that the new clip overlaps or covers up the Main Clip, at this stage.
    Choose Window ~ Show Movie Properties. The Properties Dialogue appears.
    You will see a list of video (and audio) tracks. Track one will be the Main Clip, track 2 your new added (superimposed) clip. Click track 2, then click visual settings. From the Scaled Size pop-op menu, choose percent. Then type 50 into the first box. If Preserve Aspect Ratio is turned on you won't need to type 50 into the second box. You have made the pasted footage appear at one quarter its original size. The inset is now hugging the top-left corner of the Main Clip. If you want, you can type numbers into the Offset Boxes to shove it away from that corner (there are 72 pixels to the inch).
    If your original Main Clip was required in 16:9, unclick (de-select) Preserve Aspect Ratio, and type in 1920 in the first box, and 1080 in the second, in Video Track 1. This will not affect video track 2, but if that is also wanred in 16:9 repeat for that track.
    You can superimpose, 3, 4, or more such 'overlaps' on the same clip, and spend a happy afternoon tapping away for each track in the Offset Boxes until you have got them all in the right place! You can even overlap them, if you can remember (or note down - hire a secretary to take notes) which track you want on top etc.
    Save the completed QT file. Import the completed file into a new iMovie project. Import this into the original iMovie project, substituting the old clip you copied to QT as Main Clip for the new fancy clip you have made.
    You will probably need to experiment a bit with the above. I know, it took me two days to master it the first time. Result: in the Wedding Video I made, during the Best Man's speech, he is relating a story about his brother (the groom) breaking his surfboard in half and swearing at the Atlantic Ocean whilst hitting it with his broken surfboard. While he is saying all that a superimposed video appears of the groom doing exactly that - a video I took 14 years previously! Moreover, the wedding video is in 16:9, but the inset clip is in its original 4:3 aspect!
    Cool or what!
    Have fun!

Maybe you are looking for