Letterboxed miniDV --- Anamorphic DVD

I've been doing a lot of reading on this, and it seems that for 16:9 material,
one should never letterbox. Instead one should set up the DVDSP project as 16:9 anamorphic,
and let the players figure it out. According to Larry Jordan, 16:9 monitors will
show full-screen and 4:3 monitors will show letterboxed.
So what to do is the original shoot was letterboxed SD?
If I make a normal DVD with it, the letterboxing preserves the aspect ratio,
but I've got so many wasted pixels on all four sides.
How about this workflow?
Convert to 16:9 SD in FCP (sequence settings to 853x480, NTSC PAR),
use the motion tab to scale up 119% so that the image fills the screen,
export with same settings, compress, then bring into a 16:9 DVDSP project,
set to 16:9 letterbox.
I'm thinking that it's better to get the image big before the super-lossy mpeg2 encode.
Whaddya think? Am I being a complete idiot?
I wish the DP had shot SD anamorphic....
Thanks for your help.
Les

stuckfootage wrote:
Job > New Job with Target Output
Interesting. For me, it's greyed out. Actually, the advice in your first post
(combine all the processes into one job) seems more straightforward.
However, I think I should just make room for a complete set of
anamorphic masters, as you suggest.
Since we seem to be getting our wires crossed because of it, a quick lesson in Compressor terminology is in order: A job corresponds to a unique source file and it's represented by the round rectangle within the Batch window. A target is the individual setting (DV-NTSC Anamorphic, for instance) within the job that produces an output file. The DVD presets in Compressor 3, for instance, contain 2 targets (one for video, one for audio).
So, to reiterate what I said, earlier, after you've placed your movie (say Letterbox.mov) into Compressor - giving you one Job (and the rounded rectangle) - slap on the DV-NTSC Anamorphic preset and adjust it as mentioned. Then, with that target selected, Job > New Job with Target Output from the menubar. Otherwise, yes, it'll be grayed out.
Once you've created your new job - which will use your anamorphic DV movie as its source - and have gotten the second rounded rectangle, slap on the appropriate DVD preset(s).
But yeah, as I said at the beginning, you can do this all during a single encode (target) - MPEG-2 for DVD - but you'll have to be diligent about adjusting all parameters correctly. It would suck to miss a setting and have burned away those hours.
And I'm happy to help. Let us know if things don't go according to plan.

Similar Messages

PAL letterboxed to NTSC anamorphic DVD

I'm trying to figure out a good workflow to go from a PAL letterboxed
QuickTime movie to an NTSC anamorphic DVD. A rather depressing assignment.
Using Compressor, I started with the DVD: 90-minute Best setting.
In the MPEG-2 Video Format section, I selected NTSC, 29.97, 16:9, top first.
Turned on all the frame controls--set to better or fast,
and set Source Inset (Cropping) to 16:9. That works, but there are some
nasty interlacing artifacts.
Am I doing something absurd here?
Would it make more sense to split the workflow:
first deinterlacing, then resizing and changing the frame rate,
followed by the MPEG-2 encoding?
I could split the process up with a New Job with Target Output,
or I could do all the "mastering" in Shake, and just use Compressor
for the MPEG-2 encoding.
Any words of wisdom would be most appreciated.

OK, I figured out a great workflow, and I'd like to share it.
1. Compressor: Setting: DV PAL Anamorphic
a. Encoder: Video Settings: Frame Rate Current, Scan Mode Progressive, Aspect Ratio 16:9
b. Frame Controls: Resize Better, Output Fields Progressive, Deinterlace Better, Adaptive Details Off
c. Geometry: Source Inset: Crop 16:9
2. Cinema Tools: Conform to 23.98
3. Compressor: Setting: DV NTSC Anamorphic
a. Encoder: Video Settings: Frame Rate Current, Scan Mode Progressive, Aspect Ratio 16:9
4. Compressor: Setting: DVD: Best Quality 90 minutes
So, to summarize, I used Frame Controls to do the heavy lifting of resizing and deinterlacing, and avoided the issue of retiming by conforming. Since the footage was progressive, converting to NTSC was easy, and didn't require Frame Controls. DVD looks nice.
And the cool thing about the new Apple Forum Format is that I can answer my own questions!

Anamorphic DVD Jitters on 4x3 TV?

Any help asap would be greatly appreciated. Here is my problem that I'm having -
I created an 16:9/anamorphic DVD (both track and menu are 16:9) and are set to do letterboxing when played on a 4:3 screen. The DVD plays great in native widescreen when played on a PC or hooked via dvd player to a widescreen tv. My problem comes in when playing the disc on older cheap 4x3 tv's.
What happens when I play on the 4x3 tv's is I get a jitter in the playback of even the menus. It does letterbox fine like it is suppose to, but you can notice the entire image moving up/down a pixel or 1/2 pixel. I feel like i'm convinced it can't really be an interlacing field issue problem because it looks perfect on 16:9 tv's.
Any ideas?
Could it be the jitter is caused from older equipment (tv) having a hard time converting and displaying to letterbox?
Thanks for any advice!
-Chadwick

Can't say for sure, but I'd guess that your theory is correct - it's the TV having a hard time. You can test this (of course) by trying different player/TV combinations.

ITunes Movies vs. non-anamorphic DVD: which is better?

Here's how it is: I have the movie 2010 on DVD. It is widescreen, but only letterboxed - it's not anamorphic (i.e. it's not enhanced for 16x9 televisions). As a result, whenever I watch it, I have to zoom in on the image, which kills the quality pretty bad.
My question is, since 2010 is available to buy from iTunes (I'm intentionally ignoring the HD version since it's only available to rent, not buy, and I want to buy), should I buy that and throw away the DVD? Since the DVD is not anamorphic, and I have to zoom the image to watch it, would the iTunes version be of better or worse quality?
(since I can only assume that the iTunes version of this movie is 'anamorphic' in that sense - i.e. it doesn't need to be 'zoomed')

jeff@pixelrally wrote:
Problem solved: the USB-2 cable was the choke-point.
I was transferring the LR4 catalog to a jump drive using a USB-3 cable that had backwards-compatibility to USB-2...
I think he means, "I was using a USB2 cable or drive with a USB3 interface (or vice-versa)." This limits you to about 15-20 MB/sec write transfer speed (i.e. limited by USB2 file transfer speed and not the drive speed). USB3 external drives have about 50-60 MB write transfer speed, or about 3-4 times faster than a USB2 interface (or USB2 cable) transfer.
That would explain this: "ended up taking an hour or so," and "Copying it to my newer machine went way faster: less than 20 minutes!"
60 / 20 = 3x

Make anamorphic DVDs display at 16:9

Another piece of fearless freeware. Ever wished your domestic DVD recorder could record anamorphic 16:9 and play it correctly, without squeezing, cropping or letterboxing? Ever made a project in iDVD only to find the menu was 16:9 but the project was 4:3 on playback? And found that no amount of button pushing would fix it? Anamorph is the answer. It's especially useful for film and video professionals distributing dailies that originate at 16:9.
Anamorph takes your existing DVD and, with the help of the amazing DVD2OneX2, performs laparoscopic surgery on the DVD files that determine aspect ratio, converting them to full 16:9 display in NTSC and PAL.
Anamorph creates a brand new disk image which you can burn immediately, or burn later using Disk Utility or the very handy Anamorph Burner. It uses the open source mkisofs (included) to create a new image with its anamorphic bits set the way you want them.
This is a time-limited release that's being constantly improved. Your feedback is welcome. Enjoy!

****, you've been busy! thanks again

MiniDV to DVD transfer via iMovie and iDVD?

I own a Sony DCR-PC9, which is a digital tape video recorder (MiniDV) circa 2001. (yes I know, time to upgrade) I have about 20 tapes to transfer to DVD. I am using iMovie to import and edit the video and iDVD to burn the DVD. Digital tape is not HD of course and I really do not know what resolution it is. All the tapes were shot in 4:3 (vs. 16:9) so I know I will have some issues with bars on the sides. My real questions are:
1. How do I make sure that I import the highest quality image I can from the recorder into iMovie? I do not care about the size of the file.
2. I have no problem actually importing and editing but the DVD I create is very poor quality when played on a new LCD HD TV. Is that just the way it is? A “bad” source (digital video tape) being played on a brand new TV? Is there something I can do either in iMovie (editing) or iDVD (compress, not compress, upconvert, etc.) to make the DVD quality better? I really have no knowledge of what “compress, not compress, upconvert, etc.” mean and I threw those in there as I see those words all the time. It seems as though there is some choice in how the DVD is burned in iDVD. Are there other products that can improve the video quality before it is burned to the DVD?
I am not interested in making any fancy edits, adding titles, etc. I just want simply to get the digital video tape on a DVD but with good quality. I did plug the video recorder directly into my new TV and as expected, the quality was not good. Am I just doomed because I have a “bad” source (digital video tape) being played on a brand new TV?
Thanks in advance for your help.

Your camera is a miniDVD camera with FireWire. It is 4:3.
Have you tried the OneStep DVD approach in iDVD? (Look in the iDVD HELP for OneStep).
This will let you transfer your video content to a DVD without using iMovie.

Backup from miniDV to DVD

Hello.
I don't speak english very well but i'll try.
I need do it a backup of my videos. I have a sony miniDV, and i don't have a big hard disk. I have a external dvd recorder, a Lacie, and work very well.
To not have buy more video cassette, i would like to transfer or do it a backups of my videos.
I think only i must import the videos to the program and save it? or i must do it anything else? how is the process?
is my first time in that subject, and always prefer to ask.
thanks anyway.
sag

Hello sagenev....
If you are backing up your media to DVD, firstly, you must NOT encode the miniDV media into mpeg2 (the format associated with DVD for playback on a domestic DVD player).
You should put your DVD into the recorder, but treat it as a DVD ROM, in other words, you just treat it as a storage medium.
The main problem is capacity.... a DVD disc will store 4.7Gb of information. 1 hour of miniDV takes up approximatly 13Gb, so off the top of my head, the DVD disc will store around 20 mins of DV media.
So... as long as none of your media files are larger than 4.7Gb, you can simply drag the files from your capture scratch to the DVD icon on the desktop, and burn a disc...
J

16/9 anamorphic DVD pulses dim and bright

Making of DVD with 16/9 anamorphic:
-Mini DV video shot with DVC 30 Panasonic in 16/9 anamorphic.
-Edited in Final Cut Express 3.0 (running Tiger 10.4.6 on a single 1.8 G5).
-Exported in Quicktime (7.04) as a reference movie.
-Dragged resulting Final Cut Express Movie File onto Anamorphicizer.
-Imported resulting QT reference movie .mov file into iDVD.
-Chose 16/9 theme, burned to DVD.
-On playing the DVD, I noticed that the light pulses dim and bright. I didn't see that with the video in FCE.
Any ideas?
Thanks, Fred

The pulsing light comes from my computer playing the DVD. On a DVD player, it is perfect (as long as I set the mode correctly). Actually, both attempts create playable DVD's:
FIRST:
-Mini DV video shot with DVC 30 Panasonic in 16/9 anamorphic.
-Edited in Final Cut Express 3.0 (running Tiger 10.4.6 on a single 1.8 G5).
-Exported in Quicktime (7.04) as a reference movie.
-Dragged resulting Final Cut Express Movie File onto Anamorphicizer.
-Imported resulting QT reference movie .mov file into iDVD.
-Chose 16/9 theme, burned to DVD.
SECOND:
-Exported to QT conversion, using QT Pro and Apple Intermendiate Codec. Set 1920x1080 size. Result is wonderfull quality, and very big file size 9+ GB. Used iDVD (16/9) with this file, and it fit on a DVD disk.
So both methods work, although the quality seems better on the second. So it is when I play the DVD back on my computer that the pulsing occurs (aspect ration fine). I have tried changing the deinterlase on DVD player, but I don't see too many other settings to change.
The important thing is that the burned DVD's do play fine on a DVD player (aspect right, no pulsing light). Thanks for everyone's help on this.

Convert letterbox to anamorphic 16:9

How do I convert letterbox 16:9 sequence to anamorphic 16:9?

CraigK760 wrote:
How do I convert letterbox 16:9 sequence to anamorphic 16:9?
If you are indeed talking sequence - and not captured clip(s) - toggling on the checkbox for Anamorphic in your Sequences Settings doesn't give you what you need?
Now, if this question was prompted by you accidently editing anamorphic clips into a 4:3 sequence, converting the sequence (as mentioned) will result in distorted clips with the letterboxing preserved. To correct that issue, select all your clips, then press Option-Command-V to bring up the Remove Attributes dialog and select Distort from the left-hand side Video options, then click OK.
If your clips were indeed anamorphic, everything will look correct. The only exceptions are things like freeze-frames created from the Timeline (those will have to be redone).
Or is your scenario something else?

MiniDV to DVD question

I'm new to DVD SP. A friend has asked me to take 15 miniDV tapes and put them onto a DVD. Using FCP and transferring to DVD SP. How many tapes (at one hour each) can a single DVD hold?
thanks!

Hi Dylan,
It's up to you.
You can go as little as 90mins / Single Sided, Single Layer up to 170 mins depending on the content of the mini DV and the quality you are prepared to accept (Using Compressor).
These days DL aren't that expensive so you can almost half your disc needs on top of that.
Good Luck

How do I transfer miniDV to DVD?

I have a 2.8GHz intel dual core IMac with OS X 10.7.2 and 4G of RAM. Using firewire and to read a miniDV Canon camcorder, I simply want to transfer the tape to DVD. I do not need to edit the tapes. The miniDV tapes are 60 minutes, and the DVD is 120 minutes (4.7GB).
I tried using Imovie, but it breaks the miniDV tape into as many clips as I had started and stopped recording. I spent 20 minutes trying to select each clip and drag it up into a project window so I could transfer to iDVD. That is a very time consuming process.
Next, I tried the simple DVD within iDVD. That worked simple, except, it filled a DVD with only about 20 minutes of video from the tape; then I could not find any way to continue recording onto another blank DVD.
Isn't there a simple way to transfer the miniDV on my iMAC without buying any more software?
Thank you in advance.
Steve

iDVD is the best way.
Purchase iLife 11 (or iLife 09) (includes iDVD) on disk.
IDVD is a wonderful piece of software and well worth the low cost of $40.
http://www.amazon.com/Apple-MC623Z-A-iLife-VERSION/dp/B003XKRZES/ref=sr_1_1?ie=U
http://dealmac.com/lw/artclick.html?1,527850,1872219
IDVD is specifically designed to work with iMovie.
With iDVD you can easily and quickly create DVDs with menus and graphics almost on the level of what Hollywood can do.
http://www.apple.com/findouthow/movies/idvd.html

Fastest way to import MiniDV to DVD while breaking into clips?

Hi,
I have just started using my iDVD 5 on a Mini Mac with 512MB. I simply want to have the video on the tape broken down into clips and burned to a DVD with minimum manual intervention, simple menus (clip thumbnails), and fastest results. I had a Sony Vaio before and it was very simple and quick to so so. My first attempt took over 6 hours. I did not want to use oneclick DVD because it does not break the video into clips. I used magic iMovie, and selected simple menues, but "burning" just took for ever. My questions are:
1. Is DVD 6 faster than DVD 5?
2. Can I perform a "oneclick DVD" which also breaks the video to clips?
3. Is there a way to speed up the burn? Menu rendering took forever, are there simple menus which take less time. Video decoding took forever, can I download the video in another format (Mpeg4, etc.) which makes decoding shorter? Any other ideas?
4. What I am trying to do is simply have copies of all my tapes onto DVD's, but at the same time break down the video so that I can combine pieces from different tapes to make nice movies/DVD's. Am I using the right tools?
Thanks for your help.
Maher
Mini Mac

Welcome to the discussions...
Let me preface this by saying I am not an expert with the iLife apps (or any any app really!).
1) Don't know. But see point four.
2) Not that I know of.
3) Not really. You want to stay in DV for as long as possible. Rendering out to DVD for delivery of content only. If you choose any other format other than DV you actually increase the amount of work since the material needs to be in the DV format to begin with.
4) It is not a good idea to "archive" footage for later editing onto a DVD. As you have discovered, creating a DVD means compressing, thereby loosing information. Tape is the best way to save DV info. You could import the clips you want, create a movie of just those clips and send it back to tape for archiving.
In essence, you only want to create a DVD from DV files after the files have been edited to your liking. You don't won't, or rather shouldn't, create a DVD via iDVD of files to go back and later edit. In terms of media management (which really seems to be what you are looking for) FCE will offer better ways to organize clips while FCP will not only offer better ways to organize clips but give you the ability to capture only the clips you want by marking in & out points and doing a batch capture.
Rendering is processor intensive so the best way to speed up rendering is to buy a faster computer! 512MB of RAM is actually a bit on the low side for a Mac and editing. 1GB would serve you better but not have a significant impact on rendering times. LaCie does make a device that offers near real-time rendering however iDVD will not work with pre-rendered files.
http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10498
Mike

What are the ideal specs for a DigiBeta master tape when authoring a "widescreen anamorphic" 16:9 SD DVD (original aspect ratio is 14:9)?

I just received the masters for a new SD DVD. I would like to author a "widescreen anamorphic" SD DVD horizontally squeezed widescreen image stored in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio DVD image frame. (On 4:3 displays, mattes should preserve the original aspect ratio. On 16:9 displays the image will fill the screen at the highest possible resolution.)
Below I've listed the specs of the Digi Beta master tapes the producers have sent to me for digitizing. I'd like to know this: What are the ideal specs for a DigiBeta master tape when authoring a widescreen anamorphic SD DVD, using material with an original aspect ratio of 14:9?
I've also listed my guesses below. Please let me know if my guesses are right. If not, please suggest alternatives (and if possible explain why.)
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS OF EXISTING MASTER:
Tape: DigiBeta
Original Aspect Ratio: 1.55 (14:9)
Vid Rate: 29.97 fps
Pixel Aspect: NTSC - CCIR 601
Frame Size: 720 x 480
Anamorphic: Full-Height Anamorphic (16:9 image displayed in letterboxed, non-distored 4:3)
Display Format: 4:3 Letterbox
MY GUESS AT IDEAL TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS (for a DigiBeta, that is):
Tape: DigiBeta
Original Aspect Ratio: 1.55 (14:9)
Vid Rate: 29.97 fps
Pixel Aspect: Square
Frame Size: 720 x 540
Anamorphic: YES
Display Format: 16:9 Anamorphic (horizontally squeezed widescreen image)
Please feel free to ask for clarification or further information you need to answer my question.
Thank you so much in advance for your help!
Best, Noetical.
BTW, I can't wait for the day when everything has gone digital and we get digital intermediates instead of tapes to digitize!

Hi Nick...thanks for taking the time to reply to my question.
Nick Holmes wrote:
What you have there is a mess.
NTSC pixels are never square.
NTSC is 720x486, even when it is Anamorphic.
You shouldn't be using an already letterboxed master to make an Anamorphic version. Get the master that was made before the letterboxing stage.
When you make an Anamorphic DVD it should display as 16:9 full screen automatically on widescreen TVs.
The same DVD will automatically letterbox on 4:3 TVs.
Um yeah...duh. That's exactly what I was trying to explain in the preface of my question. I'm sorry if I didn't make it clear...all these things you mention are the reasons I'm putting together a list of the technical specs of the DigiBeta I need so I can have them send that instead of the stupid letterboxed version.
Look, I'm sending this request to some intern at their offices in England, asking for a master with which I can make an Anamorphic DVD. They already sent me this master, which as you and I both agree is an idiotic asset to use for these purposes. As such, I was hoping for advice on a more precise way of requesting the master that I need than asking for "the master that was made before the letterboxing stage." Upon reflection, perhaps I'll just do that. If you or anyone else has a suggestion about something I should add to my request that would improve the odds of them sending the tape I need, please repond. Thank you!
BTW, It's been a long time since anyone has responded to something I've written or said as though I'm an idiot. I remember now that I don't really like it. (Moving along...)

DVD/Blu-ray authoring, flickering issues, letterbox

Hello friends,
I've used these forums in the past, and you have always been so helpful. Although it's been a while and the interface has changed drastically on these forums, for the worse I'm afraid, it's good to be back here learning from the masters.
I'll make these points and queastions direct and with little proxy:
1. My film is in a 1920X1080 timeline. 422 Pro Res. 23.98fps. 16X9. Shot it on a Canon 5D Mark II. I put a widescreen 1.85.1 mask on all of the footage. When I export to quicktime and play the video on my Macbook, it plays with significant letterboxing (which is what I like). I assume it does this because my Macbook monitor is not widescreen.
But, when I use Compressor and burn a H.264 Blu-ray, and play the film on my HD TV: no letterboxing, no mask, nothing. Just boring HD video with no cinematic look. I guess this is because the tv is widescreen like the footage so the footage fits on it.
So the question lies: is there anyway to view my mask or letterbox on a DVD with a widescreen or HD TV? Without losing quality or distorting picture?
I've tried messing with every setting in Compressor, like cropping, panning, letterbox filter. None of it works. Panning seems like it compresses the video. And I can't go as far as using a 2.35.1 mask, because we stupidly didn't shoot for that originally. Anyway, I thought a 1.85 mask would be enough to show on TVs.
Another thing I tried was nesting my 16X9 sequence into a 4X3 sequence. That gave me letterboxing. But then I was stuck in 4:3 when I would try to export -- so I tried changing the sequence to Anamorphic, exporting, still stuck in 4:3. I guess if I could someone change this letterboxed 4:3 sequence back to 16X9, I will have successfully solved the problem. But perhaps I would have lost HD somehwere along the way.
Basically, I want the bars. I want the cinematic look. How do I acheieve it? So much for no proxy, huh?
2. A supplemental question: I've got some vertical vectors in my film, like lines or doorways, bed posts... that flicker on DVD and blu-ray. I've heard using a directional blur works. 2 out of a 100. At 3 effect level, or something. That doesn't seem to fix the problem. Any other way to stop this distortion?
3. And lastly, I've got a couple of outside shots / daylight shots that have a real just general flickering problem. I don't know why. I've tried the flicker filter in FCP, but that doesn't seem to do anything to stop the jarring flickering. Any ideas on how to rid my film of this flickering?
Thank you, in advance, for any solutions or suggestions. I am much oblidged and my skills are humbled in this forum of Final Cut knowledge.

Duplicate post. Please do not start another thread on exactly the same topic when you have one running.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/17706564#17706564
x

16 x 9 anamorphic or letterbox?

From CS3 I rendered out a short film to DVD at 16:9, 29.97, NTSC.....
The original files in Premiere files are 1920 x 1080 so I can still render it to Blu-Ray.
My question relates to some film festivals projecting the movie from Digitbeta and Beta SP, which I assume I can somehow transfer to.
However, they ask the Digital Aspect Ratio. ....16x9 (letterbox) or 16x9 (anamorphic).
Since my original files are widescreen 16x 9, which would the digital aspect ratio be, letterbox or anamorphic?
Near the top, on the right hand side, is where they specify the aspect ratio: http://www.sdff.org/pdf/SDFF.%202010.%20Entry%20Form.pdf

Your dvd will be anamorphic. (squised)
Letterbox means widescreen within a 4x3 screen with black bars top and bottom.

Letterboxed miniDV --- Anamorphic DVD

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