"Preserve Aspect Ratio" Bug w/ DV Export

Hi,
I searched around and found no mention of this behavior, so figured I'd post what I discovered. There is a subtle bug in QuickTime when you convert to DV and check "Preserve Aspect Ratio" in the Size options. It's intimately connected with how QuickTime scales DV for display on screen.
DV resolution is 720x480, but with rectangular pixels. So some scaling is done to display the image using the computer screen's square pixels. The height to width ratio of a DV pixel is 1.1, so the correct resolution (i.e. no distortion of the image) to use on screen is about 654x480. But wait! QuickTime plays back DV at 640x480, and it's not distorted. What gives?
QuickTime knows the correct scaling factor and is actually displaying the image at 654x480, but it's chopping 7 pixels off the left and right sides to fit it in a 640x480 window. (The effect is even more pronounced with anamorphic 16x9 DV - 11-12 pixels get lopped off either side.) It's only a display issue - the pixels are still there, they're just not being drawn. It's a subtle effect you never really notice, and you get distortion-free playback.
The problem occurs when you need to export some video to DV that's not a standard aspect ratio (like the 2:1 clips I was converting). When you check the "Preserve Aspect Ratio" box, QuickTime scales your video to the 640x480 display area, keeping the original aspect ratio like it's supposed to. BUT it then proceeds to take the full 654x480 frame and encode it to DV. You end up with a very thin black border on the left and right, and ironically the aspect ratio you wanted to preserve is ever so slightly squished!
You never see the problem in QuickTime Player because of the display scaling trick, so all looks well. But bring the converted DV into iDVD or Final Cut and you can see the black border. (Again, it's more pronounced with anamorphic widescreen.) "Preserve Aspect Ratio" thus only exactly preserves the aspect if the only thing you're going to use to view the video is QuickTime. It is subtle, but if you're compositing the converted video with DV from another source it can be bothersome.
Hope this proves helpful,
-Robb
Dual-Core 2 GHz G5 Mac OS X (10.4.8) QuickTime Pro 7.1.5

I've seen the border in Final Cut. This is good to know - thanks.

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