Is the canvas something like "the final output"? Or is that the viewer?

Question

I am making a video of my HD footage i shot with my Full HD Camcorder (Sony HDR-SR12).
When i go through te timeline and play something, it shows fully in my viewer, but in the canvas i get only a selection of the full image (it seems that it is zoomed in)... So, my question is, do i have to "make the video smaller" by choosing image+wireframe in the canvas? Because i am afraid that when i output on to a DVD, i will also get the zoomed-in video? Or is the Viewer the "final output?"... I am getting crazy, because i can't let two or more clips play after eachother in the Viewer, right?
Also, what is the best way to output my full HD footage? (without loosing to much quality) Just click "Export -> Quicktime Movie"? Wil quicktime not lose the HD? Thanx...

Answer 1

The canvas always displays the final result and quality of your editing in the current sequence in the timeline; the viewer is just a way to monitor single clips (not the composition of clips as in the canvas) and displays the quality of the clip usually before you edit it into the timeline.
This is important, because if (for example) your sequence (in the timeline) is a standard DV while your captured clips are HD, when you look at a clip in the viewer opened from the browser, you watch it at +HD quality+, when you drag (edit) the same clip into the timeline it is down-converted to the +DV lower quality+; and this is what you see in the canvas. Instead if you open a clip from the timeline (not browser) in the viewer, you see the exact same quality as in the canvas, but only for that single clip. So the best way is to always check quality in the canvas, since it shows the result of all your editing, conversions, and composition, as it will show up in the exported movie.
Now, to really verify the result in the canvas you must also make sure to:
- use Fit to Window (from the small zoom button on top of the canvas window) when you want see the full frame and its composition, but not the final quality
- instead use 100% (same button) to see the final quality for HD
- or even better connect the firewire output to an HDTV through a HDV deck (or camcorder) for HD, or to a standard TV through a D/A converter (or camcorder) for standard DV. The advantage of this solution is that you see the final result on the final output device while editing, without having to burn DVDs to check it (and this is almost mandatory when you import images and want to have control over interlacing artifacts).
When you export to iDVD you always use Export/Quicktime Movie even if you burn the DVD on different Mac; if the burner is on the same Mac you can uncheck the Make Movie Self-Contained option, so the file will be smaller and the export faster; otherwise you leave that option checked, and the file will contain all video and audio media necessary for burning (but the file much larger, and export much longer).
One more note: the Image+Wireframe option in the 2nd small button on top of the canvas (or also viewer) window allows you to apply changes to the frame size and position directly in the canvas without using the Basic Motion control of the viewer; in any case, whatever change you apply and you see in the canvas will be reflected also to the exported movie.
My guess in your case is that you are using a wrong (standard DV) setup for your sequence even if you captured HD, and that probably you zoomed in too much so that both the canvas and the exported movie show a small portion of the original frame.
I hope this helps a bit
Piero