Letterbox stretching aspect ratio dvx100a help!!!

I shot video on my dvx100a camera in letterbox mode. My manual says letterbox means 16:9.
In FCP I captured using easy set-up NTSC and 48KHZ 720x480.
Maybe that is wrong?
Anyway I noticed the image looks stretched in the viewer. If I uncheck anamorphic in all my clips the image looks normal. But when I export video edited this way to FCSP or just to quicktime I have black bars not only on the top and bottom but also on the sides. It's not terrible but the image is a box within a black box or - how do you say? floating on black.
Is there something I'm doing wrong? I tried capturing with 48 KHZ anamorphic and got the same thing.
Anything I can do? And if there is something I can do, does that mean I need to recapture all my video using a different capture setting?

I own the DVX100B, essentially same camera. In Letterbox mode, those black bands are already burned into the 4:3 frame. The manual states "Black bands are recorded at the top and bottom of the image."
Therefore, I would guess you should capture as ordinary NTSC 48K. Then you can scale the image up into a 16:9 sequence if you want but it will degrade the picture accordingly. But at least your aspect ratio won't change.
The Panasonic DVX100A/B is a great camera but you should not film using Letterbox mode. You could try the Squeeze mode, but the best method for getting 16:9 from the DVX100 is buying an $800 Anamorphic lens adapter. I outfitted both my cameras with one. This allows you to use FCP's NTSC 48k Anamorphic capture preset to get the best 16:9 from that camera. But if you must have wide screen, try the Squeeze Mode. Good luck.
Hope that helps.
Eddie

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Compressor stretching Aspect Ratio from 16:9 to 4:3

I have just recently gotten an Canon HG10 HD Camera. I have been using Roxio Toast 9 to convert the AVCHD files into HDV files. In Final Cut Pro the files look GREAT in a 16:9 ratio, but when I bring the movie into Compressor AND DVD Studio Pro, the aspect ratio is stretched Vertically to a 4:3 ratio. Please help me figure out how to keep the aspect ratio correct!

I tried that and I got the same result. I really need to figure this out.

Working with several video formats aspect ratios need help...

Hi folks I have searched around quite a bit but I need more specific advice based my situation...I am editing a docu about Japanese biker gangs shot on several different SD cameras:
MY FOOTAGE
1.Sony Vx-2000 fitted with a Century Optics 16:9 converter lens bayonet mounted
2.Canon Xl2 shot in 16:9 mode
But I also have:
ARCHIVAL/ACQUIRED FOOTAGE
1. Contributor's camera SD 4:3 aspect ratio
2.Contributor's camera SD 16:9 aspect ratio
3. Transferred from VHS into SD 4:3 aspect ratio
I would like to standardize the aspect ratio for the project but I am getting confused as sometimes the footage shot on the sony (which should be true 16:9) appears elongated vertically at times.
Are my settings off?
Also, I have "title safe" wireframe on in the Canvas and the images all exceed the outer box. I don't have a TV so it's hard to check what (if anything) gets
lost. I guees most TVs can handle 16:9 without letterboxing....
Do I have to worry about that? Which box should I crop to if I letterbox? The out or inner? Or the outside of the screen? Should I just letterbox the whole project?
BTW eventually I am planning on Uprezing the project to HD using Magic Bullet when outputting.
The overall question is: Who has experience dealing with multiple aspect ratios in one timeline? Can you offer any advice on a work flow to output successfully?

Sorry to butt in, haven't read the entire thread.
Suggest you plan from the beginning to create one timeline but encode for two separate output formats.
Standard procedure for bringing multiple formats is to convert them to a single format as they are ingested. Decide early what the timeline format will be and transcode everything to that codec before anything is brought into the timeline.
When your project goesgolden, export a single self-contained movie and take that to Compressor to create release movies that will be played on Blu-ray, SD DVD, online, or in Power Point, whatever you need.
bogiesan
Message was edited by: David Bogie Chq-1

Letterboxing and Aspect Ratio problem

I'm authoring a feature film DVD. All menus and movies are 16:9
When I play the Simulator in "16:9" everything is fine.
When I play the Simulator in "4:3 Letterbox" my menus are letterboxed as desired, however every movie is for some reason squished into 4:3.
Any ideas?
The Video Asset box in the Inspector tells me all my movies are 720x480 16:9.
All tracks show in the Track Inspector as display mode 16:9 Letterbox.
All Menus show in the Menu Inspector as Aspect Ratio 16:9
Also of note, one of my tracks is used both as a movie and as a motion menu. Although it's the same track, with the simulator in 4:3 it's correctly letterboxed as a menu, yet squished as a movie!
I exported from a 16:9 Anamorphic project in FCP (as a QTmovie set to Anamorphic NTSC DV) and imported straight into DVD Studio Pro. (I've noticed on these forums most people go through Compressor. I didn't. Would that be the cause of my headache?)
The movies display in my QuickTime Player as 16:9 clips with a size of 853x480

The Simulator is very far from accurate. Burn a disc, then pop it into a DVD player.

16.9 Aspect Ratio - URGENT HELP

I have FCP X and had footage shot on 16.9 that is displaying wide screen format into 4.3. I cannot find any place in the software to get it to read and or comform to 16.9. HELP!!!!

hi,
you can change the aspect ratio of your project. Close the project in quesiotn so you can see the list of all your projects. Highlight but dont open the one you want to change. Make sure the Inspector window is open, then click on the icon of a spanner in the lower right. From there you can change the aspect ratio to something more 16x9 in flavour.
hth
adam

Dvd studio pro aspect ratio, any help would be awesome!!!

Hey mate, I have a quick question with finishing off my DVD.
What are the best settings for creating a normal dvd.
I have created a long film using my Canon DSLR, I have exported my film through compressor in 16:9 and imported it in DVD studio pro. I have used the 16:9 letterbox settings in DVD studio pro and burnt a disk, and when I play it back some DVD players make it look like it is squished horizontally so that everything looks fat, some dvd players automatically adjust and some you have to change some settings to make it look normal. What is the best way to make it look standard widescreen and not require any adjustments on the DVD players.
Am I correct in saying that by exporting it as 16:9 in compressor it makes it widescreen and then by selecting 16:9 in DVD studio pro it doubles the letterbox format and then looks squished, hence I should select 4:3 in DVD studio pro? Not sure here.
I would really appreciate any help anyone can give me, my film is stuck as a result of this problem. PLEASE help me.
Cheers mate,
jez

Hi Jez,
You should post this to the Final Cut Studio board since it doesn't involve Final Cut Server.

Aspect Ratio in Quicktime

I have been creating a showreel of work in iDVD6. It has all been going swimmingly, except that the Quicktime Movies that I have exported from FCP and imported into iDVD, which are 16:9, are coming out squashed 4:3 (i.e square pixels. The menu and sub-menu pages look great in all their anamorphic glory. I just can't get those dang Quicktime movies (i.e the content) to play in their true 16:9 aspect ratio. Help?! I can only guess(/hope) that there is something very simple that I have overlooked.
Thanks in advance.

This is actually an iDVD issue.
You need to add a "wide" udta atom to the movie. Lucky for you, there is a little utility out there to do this for you: The Anamorphicizer
http://homepage.mac.com/sith33/FileSharing34.html
Run your QT movies through that, and import the resulting versions into your demo reel, they should appear in widescreen.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Letterboxes, Stretching, and Aspect Ratio...

So heres my problem...
I'm filming on a Sony HD camera (in DV because I dont have the hard drive space for HD right now or the processing power sigh) in 16:9 aspect ratio.
I import it into FCP through iMovie because I can just tell it to capture everything easily and walk away while it does its thing.
Now, when I open a clip from a bin its cropped at a 16:9 ratio (thats good... no letterboxes or anything, just the footage like that). Thats what I want. However, I can't get it to show like that in the viewer. It always has letterboxes, and its stretched when I don't choose Use Square Pixels.
When I convert to a QT movie, its still stretched lengthwise.
I'm assuming I'm doing something terribly wrong here, but not being completely versed in FCP (yet) I'm having trouble fiddling around trying to get this to work. Do you have any ideas?
(o yeah, I have it set on DV-NTSC Anamorphic... which I assume is what I want...)
Thanks for anyhelp you can offer

All right,... my embarassment level is pretty high right, now... having posted three times as of now .... but my problem wasn't as resolved as I thought it was.
I got rid of the letterboxes (yay) but I still have to deal with the pixels. Its fine in the canvas and the viewer when I click Square Pixels, but when they are off or when I convert to quicktime, they turn off and its stretched tall into a 3:2 ratio
Ideally, I'd like a 16:9 ratio for the quicktime movie.
Do you have any ideas (again)?

Won't preserve aspect ratio letterbox?

Hey,
I have a cannon hd camera that films in 1920x1080 which is a 16:9 aspect ratio if I understand correctly. I'm trying to export this video size to a 640x480 using the quicktime conversion. From what I've read online and in the manual if I check "preserve aspect ratio", "letterbox" it should put two black bars on the top and bottom so that the video itself isn't stretched to fit into the 640x480. However, though I've tried many times, the exported video always comes out stretched. Is something turned off that I don't know about? Is there a problem in the software?
Thanks for the help if you can solve this puzzle.

I'm having the same problem and it's driving me nuts. I have HD footage and I'm trying to save a small sample as a demo. I want to email either a 16:9 clip or a 4:3 letterboxed clip. No matter what dimension I export to, it ends up as 4:3, even when "letterbox" is checked. For example, if I export to 720x480 (4:3), it's squashed. But if I export to 720x480 (16:9), it's squashed AND I have black bars ON THE SIDES! So I'm telling FCE to go from 16:9 to 16:9 and it converts it to 4:3 and then puts black borders on the side? How does this make any sense??
When you say "Place your edited widescreen sequence in a 4:3 sequence" what do you mean? I don't see sequence properties that control the aspect ratio.
Also, what should the compression type be? Like I said, I'm just trying to export a small 30-second demo clip. All of my exports are turning out 40+ MB. If I do a straight Export->Quicktime movie (no conversion) then my 30 second clip is more like 400MB.

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

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!

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

Aspect ratio on widescreen tv - letterboxed

This has been brought up before, and there always seems to be the same answer…'its a setting on the tv/dvd to correct to play 16:9'…I have an SD widescreen anamorphic video that displays on tv as letterboxed and stretched, but yet the main menu of the dvd from DVDSP4 displays perfectly. There is no setting adjustment for display on the DVD. The display setting on the tv is set to 16:9. I'm baffled here. How can the main menu display right but the vid asset is stretched and letterboxed? I worked in FCP6 and exported to QT movie….from there I dumped it into DVDSP4 and created what I thought was a standard 16:9 dvd. Thoughts,…ideas…suggestions?

You also have to mind the display setting on the DVD player appliance.
At home I have an Insignia (Best Buy) DVD player and a Playstation 2. Both of these appliances were originally hooked up to 4:3 TVs, and now they're hooked up to 16:9 TVs. Just to make matters more fun, the Playstation 2 has a setting that applies to games and a setting that applies to DVDs. On the Insignia player, using the SETUP button on the DVD player's remote control, I set the display to 16:9. If I watch a 4:3 DVD on it (such as an old Bresson movie) I just change the TV's display setting (the TV's Dynex, also from Best Buy) and I haven't touched the DVD player's settings in years. Some Hollywood DVDs from 2009 and earlier have the previews at 4:3 and the main movie at 16:9, a mild nuisance.
In short, my advice to you is to make sure that both the TV and the DVD player are on the same page, so to speak, on aspect ratio. If that doesn't work, you might be dealing with a holdover glitch that also affects Windows Media Player; let us know the brand of your TV and DVD player.

Resolution, Aspect Ratio & Black Bars! How to stretch screen?

Hi!
I have a HP HDX 9200 series laptop computer with an ATI 2600 HD XT and running latest Windows 7 Beta and I first noticed that my games didn't streched to full screen when they weren't using the native resolution on the LCD screen (1680*1050), so, let's say, when running one of them in 1024*768, I get two huge black bars at the side! Now, this didn't happen with previouses OSes (Vista). Then, I noticed that the same happened if I went to change the Windows resolution to 1024*768, I would get the same bars at the sides while being in Windows!
I tried downloading latest ATI W7 drivers to see if there was an option or something to stretch the image, but I couldn't find one.
Can you please let me know how to make the screen scale to the whole display, even if it isn't in the native resolution?
Thanks in advance.

HERE'S THE SOLUTION TO THE ATI BLACK BARS PROBLEM
It took months for me to find this on the web, so I thought I would share it here, the first hit for 'ATI Black Bars windows 7' on Google.
1) Open Catalyst Control Center
2) Use the drop down box at the top to click on Desktops and Displays
3) At the very bottom where your monitors are displayed, click on the little black arrow and click "Configure". Note that if configure does not appear, you are clicking on the wrong black triangle (you must use the one in the very bottom section).
4) This will bring up properties for that display. Choose "Full Screen" or "Maintain aspect ratio", whatever your preference. If you are getting black bars on all sides, you are likely on "Centered".
5) IF THE OPTIONS ARE GREYED OUT, as they were when I first tried this, the workaround is to lower your display resolution before attempting the above. Once you have changed the setting, you can return your display resolution back to whatever you like and the setting will remain as your display changes (movies, games, etc).
Hope that helps!!
This DOES NOT WORK for DirectX9-based ATI graphics devices on Windows 7. In fact, there is currently NO SOLUTION to this problem if you are using a DX9-based ATI graphics device on Windows 7.
ATI has refused to release any proper Windows 7 drivers for their DX9-based devices, so if you are running Windows 7 with such a device, then your only choice is to install the "legacy" Vista driver onto Windows 7.
If your computer is a laptop, this situation is made even more convoluted by the fact that ATI's driver packages refuse to install on laptops unless you use a third-party utility called "ATI Mobility Modder" to first modify ATI's driver package. Apparently ATI wants you to get the driver from your laptop manufacturer, but since most laptop manufacturers have not bothered to release newer video drivers that really isn't a reasonable expectation on ATI's part.
There is a bug in ATI's "legacy" Vista drivers on Windows 7 which hides the scaling/stretching options that should be present. Normally you would find these options under the "Notebook Panel Properties" node of the treeview in the Catalyst Control Center. They show up there fine using the same driver on Vista on the same hardware, but they are mysteriously absent when using the same driver on the same hardware on Windows 7.
It looks increasingly unlikely that ATI will EVER update their "legacy" drivers for their DX9-based graphics devices. It looks even more unlikely that they will ever develop proper Windws 7 drivers for these devices. Instead they are focusing all their efforts on their newer DX10-based devices and drivers.
This leaves users of laptops with DX9-based ATI graphics in a particularly frustrating and stupid situation.  DirectX 9 graphics devices are perfectly adequate for running Windows 7, and therefore they should have proper Windows 7 drivers released for them by the manufacturer (ATI). I shouldn't have to buy an entirely new laptop just so I can get a DX10-based video device just so I can get the stretching/scaling options in Windows 7. If this were a desktop PC, I could just swap out the video card, but that's not an option on a laptop.
Therefore, it falls on Microsoft to either (1) put pressure on ATI to fix their broken "legacy" Vista DX9 drivers to add back the scaling/stretching options when running on Windows 7, or (2) add an OS-level user option (independent of drivers) that can be used to control the resolution scaling/stretching.
My specific situation:
I have an HP Compaq 6910p laptop with the ATI Mobility Radeon X2300 graphics chipset (DX9-based). I am running Windows 7 x64 RTM. Neither ATI nor HP supply an official Windows 7 driver for this graphics chipset, and the driver supplied by Microsoft is bare-bones (no advanced options/settings like ATI's Catalyst Control Center offers). So I installed the latest (9.11) ATI "legacy" Vista x64 CCC package (after using ATI Mobility Modder to modify it so it will actually install on the laptop).
I run a lot of classic video game emulators and older games that use old 4:3 resolution modes like 800x600 or 1024x768. When they switch into these modes, I get huge black borders around all edges of the screen (top/bottom/left/right) and a tiny little viewable area right in the center of the screen. I have to squint to see anything. What I want -- and I don't think it's an unreasonable expectation at all -- is for the image to be stretched to fill the screen WITHOUT being distorted to change the aspect ratio. In other words, when I switch to any 4:3 mode (like 800x600) I expect the image to completely fill my screen vertically (all the way to the top and bottom edges) but with black bars along the left/right edges so that the aspect ratio is still truly 4:3. This is how I was able to make it work with Vista on this same laptop before, so I expect to be able to do the same thing using Windows 7. Unfortunately there is currently no way to do that, which completely destroys my abillity to use lower resolution modes comfortably on this laptop at all.
Well you can work past that actualy, but the option is annoying to do everytime since when i go to a lower resolution everything becomes blurry and so on.
Heres what you do when you use a dx9 graphics card.
1. lower you resolution one step down. I use 1680x1050 so i went to 1600x1024.
You should have the black bars lower bottom on the side different to everyone.
2. Since CCC dosnt give the scaeling option under "Notebook & Panel Properties" in Advanced View
    you change to basic and do it under Quick Settings.
3. take "Notebook & Panel Properties" on the right side in the box click on " Resize the desktop to fit the display panel" and click go change it to "Resize to fit the display panel"
NOTE. the trick is that it changes back automaticaly to "Do not resize" when you have your maximum resolution that is recommended by W7 thats why you need to take some other resolution.
I know its annoying to change it all the time but its the best there is right now and atleast you got the games fit to the screen and you can change the resolution back each time but then you got to do the resize with CCC again when you want to play some games.
Hope it was a help to you.

Aspect ratio issues with SD box and no help from Verizon

I just renewed my 2 year contract which included a free box but a billing screwup resulted in repeated charges for the box. A CS rep credited the account and said I had the wrong box and she would send out a new one.
i had a 7100 Motorola HD box. I have an older television set (that cannot control aspect ratio) and I have never had HD service but this was the box I was sent by Verizon as part of my contract. Why they felt it had to be changed I don't know, but ..... the box they sent was a 2500 SD box which does not give me an acceptable picture.
It's totally random. Some channels are 16:9. Some are overzoomed 4:3. The FIOS channel bar at the bottom is partially off the screen and the content is clipped around the edges. Commercials are totally random in size and appearance.
The # key on the remote does not work. There is no option in Settings to change the aspect ratio.
CS was ZERO help. They concluded that I had to either deal with the scattershot image sizes and clipped image content or go buy another television. SERIOUSLY VERIZON?
I couldn't get an answer as to why the box I was sent by Verizon as part of my original contract that provided a perfectly acceptable image had to be replaced with a box that doesn't provide squat. I have had Verizon service for approximately 7 years with this same television and this is the first time I've been given a box that can't produce an acceptable image and a remote that can't resize. So why now?
This smells like a bait and switch, or an attempt to get customers to pay for an upgraded box for a service they don't want just to get an acceptable picture. I live in an urban area and there is plenty of older equipment in these homes. So are customers like myself just being told even though you pay a significant amount of money for a Triple Play you are only getting 2 parts of the service?
I find it hard to believe there isn't some way to make the box or the remote change the image size. Can anyone help?

why do so many topics go to private section? we need to see how it's responded to in case we have the same problem..
but yes, our 2500 sd box, basically the 4:3 standard non HD box broadcasts to fit a 4:3 TV.. now some channels will have the black bars on top and bottom to accommodate the 16:9 aspect ratio.. you'll notice this if you run the 2500 box on a flat screen.. if you have it in 16:9 ratio on a flat screen it looks stretched.. the only way to watch regularly is in 4:3 mode.. which basically has the image with bars on all sides.. or you can zoom it and lose a portion of the image.. but it's because the box thinks you're using a 4:3 sd tv so the boxes appear on top and bottom so it can still fit the wider image it's filmed in.. so with flat screens you need the HD box i guess.. unless there is something i'm missing but there isn't a setting that i can find to change how the box exports the image for a flat screen or 4:3. I know the HD boxes have an 'SD Override' option.. which i guess tells the box you're not using a 4:3 tv anymore.. but that option is not on the 2500 SD box.. believe me i looked.. but this is all in reverse for your issue anyhow as you're having trouble with the SD box on an SD TV... which yeah, if you run SD the quality of picture is not as good as the HD programming.. so please let us know what they say to do for you.

Forcing the aspect ratio (stretching) in QT Player?

Hello,
I want to set my quicktime player to always stretch my video, be it 4:3 or 16:9 source material, to a certain pixel size so it always perfectly fills the screen. I have found the following posting by Adam:
"In Quicktime Pro you need to go to Menu Bar/Window/show movie properties/video track/show visual/transformation settings and change the pixel or percentage rate, not forgetting to uncheck preserve aspect ratio."
This DOES work for the currently open video..but I want this to be a fixed setting in QT Player for every movie file I open.
(In case you are wondering - I want to use QT Player inside Front Row to play DivX movies that are 4:3 on my 16:9 Widescreen and always fit the screen).
VLC and MplayerOSX can do it, I am sure QT Player can, but how do I set it?
Thanks in advance!

In QT-Pro, you can ask it to play full-screen...does that stretch to fit?
There is a QuickTime script available that will mark the movie to "Play full screen on open". Might that also help?
Another option...you could write an AppleScript that would allow you to open a movie and then programmatically resize it to fit your screen.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Aspect Ratio of Letterboxed DVX100 Footage

I'm wondering if anyone knows what the exact aspect ratio would be of DVX100 footage with the widescreen matte turned on. In trying to measure it in Final Cut, applying the 1.66:1 and 1.70:1 mattes don't do anything, but the 1.78:1 matte crops off a slight additional amount of any shot. Using Compressor, the 1.75:1 matte also crops off slightly more footage than was originally matted by the letterbox.
If it helps, here are the numbers that Compressor provides:
Using 1.66:1 matte crops the top and bottom to a value of 47. Using a 1.75:1 matte crops the top and bottom to 57 and selecting 'Letterbox Area of Source' crops the top and bottom to 54.

I can't tell you exactly what aspect ratio the DVX100 with the widescreen matte turned on. I can tell you what a 4x3 matted aspect ratio should be. It should be 4x3 1.77777778.
Figuring this out in NTSC broadcasting specs is a little misleading Eg: 4x3 1.33 native equates to 720*486=1.48148148148 or 720*480=1.5 due to non-square pixels. Conversion to square pixels helps. 640*480=1.33333333. for 16x9 640*360=1.77777778.
I wouldn't rely on a correct line count coming out of the camera or out of Final Cut without a profressional grade scope ie: Tektronix.
So, if what you're trying to do if place mattes to match your video I would suggest creating the mattes manually to line up with the existing mattes.

Letterbox stretching aspect ratio dvx100a help!!!

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