Maintaining HD frame size and compressing to MPEG2?

Hi all...
Doing my first DVD Pro project and learning... Here is my problem... The quicktime files coming out of FCP are 720p and I´d like to maintain that size when doing my SD DVD. In Compressor I choose the setting "Best Quality DVD 90 minutes" and when adding that setting to the file to be converted I see that the frame size is 720 x 576, of course the resulting conversion looks great but in a different frame format. I go to the codification tab. I tried to change the sequence use to HD DVD or generic in order to change the video format to 720p, but the resulting file won´t be importable into DVDPro, and the SD DVD sequence use won´t let change to the 720p format or any other... Cam somebody give me a hand please?
Thanks a lot....

The quicktime files coming out of FCP are 720p and I´d like to maintain that size when doing my SD DVD
But 720p is HD - not SD, so how are you going to reconcile that fact? Hmmm?
Since DVD is standard definition only, if you want to deliver a DVD disc that will play in DVD players it MUST BE standard definition.
If you want to deliver HD content on optical disc, you'll need to create a Blu-ray disc, and of course, you'll need a Blu-ray burner.
-DH

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What do the "Automatic" settings do for Frame size and Frame rate in Compressor 4.1.1?

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Hi, in addition to Russ's advice for the VIDEO PROPERTIES in the Inspector, you might consider the "automatic" options being proposed by compressor.app V4.1.x as OPTIMAL for the destination codec you have specified that deviate (or differ in some way) form the MASTER (source) from where your are transcoding. There's no real TECHNICAL detail. These UI values simply are passed as parameters to the codec. The image/audio results can be PREVIEWed ofcourse in the compressor.app V4.1.x UI (Current PAne) ... us the slider and the timeline to determine final taste!
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FWIW.
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Mylenium

Frame size and compressor

I had captured a mini DV movie in another program as an .avi file. When I import this file as is into FCE, its properties show in the browser as:
frame size 720 x 480
compressor DV/DVCPRO - NTSC
data rate 3.6 MB/sec
I then used MPEG Streamclip to export this .avi file into a QuickTime file in 3 different ways. The methods, and resultant properties as they show in FCE, are as follows:
Test 1:
Compressor = Apple DV/DVCPRO - NTSC
Frame size = 720 x 480
Data rate = 3.6 MB/sec
Test 2:
Compressor = Apple Intermediate Codec
Frame size = 720 x 480
Data rate = 2.5 MB/sec
Test 3:
Compressor = Apple Intermediate Codec
Frame size = 640 x 480
Data rate = 2.3 MB/sec
Observations and questions:
In the FCE canvas, Test 1 and Test 2 look pretty much identical. Test 3 looks very slightly horizontally stretched compared to the other tests. Or, as everything's relative, Test 1 and Test 2 look very slightly horizontally compressed compared to Test 3. By the way, I placed markers in each test clip at the exact same frame to get a good comparison. Then I jumped marker to marker while looking at the canvas.
QUESTION 1: Is FCE in fact handling these clips differently due to the different frame sizes?
When I play the clips in QuickTime Player (not pro), Test 1 and Test 2, which both have frame size 720 x 480, are horizontally stretched. Test 3, frame size 640 x 480, is normal. The differences between the stretched and the normal are much more pronounced than they appear in the FCE canvas. When I open the ORIGINAL .avi captured clip (720 x 480) in QT Player, it is normal, not stretched like Test 1 and Test 2 which have the same 720 x 480 size.
QUESTION 2: I know this isn't the QT forum, but is this normal behavior in QT Player?
When I open iDVD version 7.0.3 from iLife '09, the only one of the three test clips that appears in the media browser is Test 3.
QUESTION 3: Does anyone know why? I posted this in the iDVD forum; nobody replied.
I then put the three test clips on the timeline in FCE and exported the sequence as a QuickTime movie. When I play it in QT Player, it is (gulp) stretched; ALL of it, not just the Test 1 and Test 2 portions. The finished .mov file DOES appear in the iDVD media browser; when I preview it there, it is STRETCHED.
QUESTION 4: When I export .avi to QT files in MPEG Streamclip, what compressor should I choose for use in FCE?
QUESTION 5: When I export .avi to QT files in MPEG Streamclip, what frame size should I choose for use in FCE?
QUESTION 6: Why are FCE and QT Player handling the differences in frame size in different ways? FCE shows a very slight difference when viewed in the canvas, whereas QT Player shows a drastic stretching when playing the clips.
Thanks for your help.

jla930 wrote:
QUESTION 1: Is FCE in fact handling these clips differently due to the different frame sizes?
Apple Intermediate Codec is reserved to transcode HD content (from HDV or AVCHD). Don't use it for Stand def DV-NTSC nor PAL.
QUESTION 2: I know this isn't the QT forum, but is this normal behavior in QT Player?
There is a setting in quicktime player pro under movie properties (command-J) to select the correct aperture option. That's enable the correct aspect ratio when movie is opened with quicktime.
QUESTION 3: Does anyone know why? I posted this in the iDVD forum; nobody replied.
That's because all cool members are here.
I then put the three test clips on the timeline in FCE and exported the sequence as a QuickTime movie. When I play it in QT Player, it is (gulp) stretched; ALL of it, not just the Test 1 and Test 2 portions. The finished .mov file DOES appear in the iDVD media browser; when I preview it there, it is STRETCHED.
See question #2
QUESTION 4: When I export .avi to QT files in MPEG Streamclip, what compressor should I choose for use in FCE?
DVCPRO50-NTSC for standard definition and Apple Intermediate Codec (1080i60 or 50 or 720p) for HD.
QUESTION 5: When I export .avi to QT files in MPEG Streamclip, what frame size should I choose for use in FCE?
720X480 for SD, 1920X1080 or 1280X720 for HD
QUESTION 6: Why are FCE and QT Player handling the differences in frame size in different ways? FCE shows a very slight difference when viewed in the canvas, whereas QT Player shows a drastic stretching when playing the clips.
See question #2
Michel Boissonneault

Export QuickTime file with new audio and maintain the file size and quality as the original.

I shot some footage for a client yesterday and ran into an issue. To make a long story short I have QuickTime mov files shot with my Panasonic GH4 that have a buzzing sound in the audio track. I have clean audio from a recorder that can be sync'd. Is there a way for me to do this for the client and deliver them as the same QuickTime file but with the clean audio and keep the file size close to the original and not have quality loss in the image?
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I found some related search results for this but they pertained to "Best quality" for export. I am not sure how the varying options work but I don't want to create files that are considerably larger, just not less quality.
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Thanks,
Cole

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Hmm,
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My frame size on play back has suddenly got narrower and I can't change it

I'm relatively recent to final cut pro 10 but I've edited several projects recently, they all automatically went to wide screen and when I exported them, the video filled the entire screen. This week I edited a new project and exported it and now there is a black frame around the video instead of it filling the screen. I then noticed that on my older projects the playback screen on final cut pro filled the entire window in widescreen and then on this new project it didn't, but instead two grey strips on either side made it wide screen.
So now anything that I export does not fill the screen. I can't find anything that helps me change back the settings. I don't even know how it changed in the first place, any suggestions welcome.

The software is designed so that the first clip edited to the timeline will determine the project properties – including the frame size and shape – unless you specify custom. If you edit a 4x3 clip into a 16x9 timeline, it will not fill the frame. Instead you willmget bars on each side which is called pillarboxing.
When I create a new project here is what I get for choices:
Final Cut will set automatically.
Or I can use Custom settings and set them myself.
You can also verify that the settings are what you want in the Share dialog when you export.
Russ

Compressor mucking up frame sizes? Totally confused. Help!

Here's the situation.
I have some 720x486 (NTSC-CCIR) 16:9 23.976 video (nice, yummy, uncompressed 10-bit) in Final Cut.
I want to compress this for DVD.
But no matter what settings I use, Compressor mucks it up.
If I use the Apple-provided MPEG-2 5.0Mbps 2-pass 16:9 setting, I get a 720x404 file.
If I uncheck 16:9 in the compressor settings, I get a 640x480 file.
Changing the output format to NTSC makes no difference.
I have tried just about every combination of settings available, and cannot get compressor to stop changing the frame size -- and btw, the "frame size" feature is always grayed out.
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G4 1.44DP

Actually, I did a fair bit of searching, just didn't hit on the right keywords. Such is search.
Thanks for the info. The tip in the thread you mentioned about MPEG StreamClip was a good one, it confirms that the output is actually 720x480.
For QT Player and Final Cut to not properly describe the native format of the files is outrageously stupid. And Final Cut still cant bring in the .m2v file and use it without mucking it to 720x404. Sigh.
Okay, the basic question is answered. Now for a subtle one, oh wizards.
My source video is CCIR-601, 720x486. MPEG-2 for DVDs is 720x480, oh so slightly different.
If I use the Apple preset, it converts the 720x486 to 720x480. The question is, is it clipping the top and bottom 3 lines, or is it scrunching (which will cause a slight vertical resolution loss)?
Changing the preset to crop the top and bottom 3 lines also gives 720x480, which I assume means there's no scrunching (at the cost of a very slight distortion, which nobody will notice). So this is what I'm leaning towards doing, but I'd like to be sure.

Importing PPT files in PAL sequence...can't adjust frame size

i've been working on DV PAL sequences with imported powerpoint
files. I'm very disapointed with the result (it bleeds and is pixelised) and noticed that the .jpeg frame sizes i imported are either 720 * 540 or 960*720 ( i tried converting through power point on 2 different Computers, one Mac, one PC).
I can't seem to change the frame size when converting the slides in PPT.
Could that be why the end result is so disapointing and does anybody know if adjusting the frame size is possible in PPT?
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Tee.

Thanks Kevin for your suggestions.
Good idea but i just have too many slides to import, and won't be needing to highlight them. They're mostly used in split screens, which makes the plain old PPT slides less boring.
I've read many posts, and do understand that PPT in FCP just doesn't yield satisfying results, but my results really bleeds, and i wanted to make sure i had all the settings working at my advantage.
As i stated earlier, I noticed my imported JPEGs were 720x540 while my sequence is PAL Anamorphic.
I finaly figured out how to change the PPT export settings that seemed to have constrained proportions on frame size, and blocked for NTSC settings. Changing the "page set up" i could then get 720 * 576 (or more of course).
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But the result is still as bad, even with higher dpis.
The Grab solution also gives me the bleeding.
It of course looks a lot better on the TV i use as an external monitor, but end edit is to be viewed on computers.
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Reduced frame size results in increased file size (?!)

Hello
I am trying to decrease the resolution of my HDV video to a smaller size, to put in on Viddler. The format there apparently is width="437" height="370".
I exported from FinalCut into a QuickTime file, the file size is 485MB.
Then I used QuickTIme Pro to change the movie into the above frame size, and add a letter box.
The resulting file is over 6GB in files size! How can this be? I used no compression and these settings: no compression, millions of colours, Best Quality, Apple Lossless sound, 48.000MHz, Mono.
The reason for not compressing is that Viddler will compress on its servers (into Flash).
Any hints? I must stay under 500MB to upload the file to Viddler.

I am trying to decrease the resolution of my HDV video to a smaller size, to put in on Viddler. The format there apparently is width="437" height="370".
According to a Viddler "staff" member on their forum, the player is 545x408. Therefore I would try one of the following:
544x408 (4:3 aspect) 544x306 (16:9 aspect) (closest match disregarding macro blocks)
512x384 (4:3 aspect) 512x288 (16:9 aspect) (long file up-scaling macro-blocked)
576x432 (4:3 aspect) 576x324 (16:9 aspect) (short file down-scaling macro-blocked)
I exported from FinalCut into a QuickTime file, the file size is 485MB. Then I used QuickTIme Pro to change the movie into the above frame size, and add a letter box. The resulting file is over 6GB in files size! How can this be? I used no compression and these settings: no compression, millions of colours, Best Quality, Apple Lossless sound, 48.000MHz, Mono.
To me, a "QuickTime file" is anything you can stuff into an MOV file container, or a more loose definition, anything compatible with the QT Player and currently installed QT components. With regard to going from 485 MBs to 6 GBs, your file size is directly related to the total (audio + video) data rate used for compression. Not compressing a video makes it bigger while the higher the compression, the smaller the file.
The reason for not compressing is that Viddler will compress on its servers (into Flash). Any hints? I must stay under 500MB to upload the file to Viddler.
Since the target for the Flash target conversion is 448 kbps (400 kbps video + 48 kbps audio), the same staff member recommended H.264 multi-pass video compression at 768 kbps and AAC mono audio compression at 64 kbps with a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz. Splitting the difference between the staff recommendation and your apparent worry about quality loss during re-compression, I would suggest this as a maximum level of compression and likely try a total data rate in the 1500-1600 kbps range which should yield something on the order of 12.25 MBs/min for output for initial tests. You can, of course adjust rates up or down depending on the duration of your file upload in order to meet the 500 MB limit and satisfy quality considerations.

Scale to Frame Size not perfect

I am working with DV and HDV. I am scaling the HDV to frame size and it works pretty well, but there is a thin black verticle line on either side of the frame. This vanishes when I go back to a DV clip, and reappears when I go back to a scaled HDV clip.
Any ideas on how I can remove these lines/expand the image?
Many thanks,
Doug

In case it's not abundantly clear from the first three posts, PPro is behaving correctly. Scale to Frame Size adjusts the size of the source so that one dimension fits within the sequence's dimensions. In the process, it maintains the source's image aspect ratio. Therefore, if the image aspect ratio of the source does not precisely match that of the sequence, then space will be left along the sides or the top and bottom.
As Ann pointed out, HDV is exactly 16:9, whereas widescreen DV is not. Hence, narrow pillarboxes.
What you seem to be expecting, at least implicitly, is for PPro to not only scale the source but also stretch it to fill the frame completely.
You have two options to eliminate the pillarboxing:
Use the Scale effect with "Uniform Scale" option enabled, in which case you'll end up effectively cropping off the top and bottom.
Disable Uniform Scale and then bump up the Scale Width, which stretches the image.

Widescreen frame size question-720x404?

When I bring 16:9 widescreen material into Compressor and I use the 16:9 presets, the settings within the program tell me I'm going to get a 720x480 result with an anamorphic pixel aspect ratio.
However, when I open the .m2v result in Quicktime and get movie info, the file appears to be 720x404.
I've been told that Quicktime is just showing me an optically correct frame size, and therefore is just narrowing the height from 480 to 404. I'm not quite sure that I believe this yet, however, because it's actually telling me that that 720x404 is the "Normal Size" of the movie.
I don't want to be losing vertical resolution if I can actually use the full 720x480 frame. Does anyone know what's happening here?
G5 Dual 2.5 Mac OS X (10.4.9)
G5 Dual 2.5 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Hi:
If you did follow the correct encoding workflow (and I think you did!) everything will be fine. The problem is with QT and MPEG2 playback component:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302075
Hope that helps !
Alberto

Final Cut Pro 7 Slow Render, Frame size changing

I have a sequence open with the following properties:
29.97 fps frame size: 720 X 480, Compressor: DV/DVCPRO - NTSC, Audio Rate: 32.0 KHZ
The Clips I'm editing with have the following properties:
29.97 fps, 854X480, DV/DVCPRO - NTSC, 32.0 KHZ
Everything was going smoothly until this one clip I dragged in with the exact same properties changed it's frame size. There had been two perfect black bars on the top and bottom of all the shots up until this one clip that changed frame size and covered up those black bars. It's also taking forever to render any small edit I do with that troublesome clip. I was thinking it might have to do with the difference in frame sizes from the sequence properties and the clip properties. I tried to change that by clicking: 1. Sequence 2. Settings.... and changing the width and heigth but it wouldn't let me. Anyone got some tips?

Where did you get that footage? 854x480 is a display size. It sounds like your footage was ORIGINALLY anamorphic DV. Which is actually 720x480. You would need to tell FCP that the footage is anamorphic, either on ingest, or by checking the anamorphic column in the browser-- EXCEPT that somehow the clips are baked in to a non standard size-- like someone exported them at the anamorphic display size. You would do this for example if you were making a file for projection or computer use, where the anamorphic flag would not necessarily be recognized. But you normally would not do this if you were still working with the footage in an editing program.
You might also note that the top clip above is set to less than 100% scale.
What happens if you select all in your sequence and Edit>remove attributes>basic motion and distort?
Quite a mess you've built for yourself, or someone handed you.

How do i undo my changes in sequence settings? (the frame size)

I have ran into a very frustrating problem. I have FCP 7 and my footage i am editing is HDTV 1080i. With this footage i have to change the frame size to 1440 by 1080 and in another instance i change it to another frame size. The problem is that i made a mistake with one of the frame sizes and i dont know how to undo the mistake. If i enter in a new frame size, the video will only add on to my mistake frame size instead of replacing it. The only way i see fixing this is redoing everything...but there has to be an easier way...any help?! Or am i unclear?

Select the clips that aren't filling the frame correctly, and then right click on one of them to select "remove attributes". From the dialog box that will open, select "basic motion" then click OK. This should take care of your problem if I'm reading this correctly.
Jerry

16:9 Frame Size Setting

I'm working on a film installation with 2 x 4:3 sized Video Streams that will stream alongside each other in a 16:9 format presentation (leaving a thin black border top and bottom)
I want to finally export a HD Sequence (1920 x 1080, 29.97fps, Apple ProRes 422 Compressor, Square Pixel Aspect Ratio) onto HD for projection
but the Sequence Settings box only gives the following options:
960 x 720 (16.9) --- but 960 divided by 720 = 1.3333 !
1280 x 1080 (16.9) --- but 1280 divided by 1080 = 1.185 !
1440 x 1080 (16.9) --- but 1440 divided by 1080 = 1.333 !
I have 2 questions:
1. Why do the given options listed above not equal 16:9 when i divide the length by the height ? (very confusing) even though 1280 X 1080 looks correct in the canvas
2. What Frame Size and Pixel Aspect Ratio Should I be working in to get the final desired HD 16.9 export without compromising the quality by blowing my 720 x 480 size frames up to fit into the 16.9 canvas ?
thanks so much for your advise !

The problem you're likely seeing is due to the fact that you're trying to change the sequence settings of an HDV sequence or something like that. Instead of doing that, go into the browser and hit CMDOPTN to create a new sequence from sequence presets.
From the preset list choose prores 1080i.
Andy

Maintaining HD frame size and compressing to MPEG2?

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