Squashed Aspect Ratio on Photos in iMovie HD 6

I'm at wits end in trying to solve this annoying issue... while working on slideshows in iMovie HD 6, all the photos that I import from iPhoto become squashed. It appears that their aspect ratio has been adjusted to account for the widescreen project (It's set to DV Widescreen, as it'll be played on widescreen displays).
I have the automatic letterboxing turned off and I've tried re-importing the photos, but nothing I do seems to help - as soon as I start to work on something else it automatically resizes the picture.
Sure, the camera adds a few pounds, but iMovie is adding a few hundred at this point. Any suggestions?

Yes, Mac OS X 10.5 introduced this bug to iMovie 6. I don't know any fix for it inside iMovie.
Anyway, IMO the best app to compose slideshows is Photo To Movie. It allows you to export as .dv (remember to use High Quality export setting so it the output is slightly blurred so it doesn't flicker on a TV). Then import the .dv to iMovie.

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HT1338 I have a problem with the aspect ratio of photos as they appear on iPhoto. They are not correct. On the original photo people were fat and squat. I tried rotating and they became long and narrow. Neither correct.

I have a problem with the aspect ratio of photos as they appear on iPhoto. They are not correct. On the original photo people were fat and squat. I tried rotating and they became long and narrow. Neither correct. Any suggestions?

Sounds more like a problem with your Display Resolution than iPhoto.
Go to: Apple / System Preferences / Displays and in the Resolutions list select,
1280 x 800 if you have a 13" MacBook Pro
1400 x 900 if you have a 15" MacBook Pro
1920 x 1200 if you have a 17" Macbook Pro

Aspect ratio distortion when exporting iMovie '08 xml to FCE 4

Hi, I'm working on a small piece which I started in iMovie '08. Now that I have selected all the content for the piece I have attempted to "share" as Final Cut XML. However, when I import that file into FCE 4 the aspect ratio is all out of whack. Does anyone have suggestions about how to resolve, or place to look?
Thanks in advance for the help!

Found the answer here if anyone else has the same problem: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10239568&#10239568

Aspect Ratio Problems when Copying IMovie Clips

I am a relatively new user of Imovie. I copied a series of clips from a second movie and pasted them onto the end of my first movie. I shot the video for both movies with a video camera set up for 16:9. Normally my movies display at a standard aspect ratio on my computer but are stretched to the proper 16:9 ratio when I play the movie or DVD on my TV. When I copied these movie clips from the second movie, they pasted as letterboxed clips onto the first movie. When I play the movie and corresponding DVD on my HDTV, I still have the letterboxed top and bottom bars on the clips that I pasted from the second movie into the first movie.
I am looking for any suggestions on how to fix my movie to get a consistent aspect ratio throughout the movie and get rid of the letterboxing.
Thanks for the help.
Tom

Thank you for your answer.
Is there any way fix this or do I need to go all the way back and re-import the video from tape?
Also, when you mention pillarboxing, that means to me the black borders on the right and left side. I am getting letterboxing on the top and bottom of the picture.
Thanks,
Tom

Premiere Pro CC 'single frame' export squashes aspect ratio

Hi,
When I used the single frame export button to export a single frame from my timeline, the 16:9 ratio gets squashed in.
The image has a play button graphic on it and that should be round but it comes out oval.
When I import the image into Photoshop, it looks normal 16:9 but when I save it as a jpeg and open it up, it's still squashed.
I would be so grateful if someone could help me sort this out.
Cardamada

Thanks Jim for your quick reply. I am still wondeirng if there is a better way. The footage I am editing is 1920 x 1080 DSLR footage. Anytime I export a frame from Fnal Cut Pro it does it fine. I moved over to Adobe recently and I'm suprised that it's not working. I wondered whether there was a way to change my export settings so that it exports with square pixels from Premiere Pro. Meanwhile I will try to follow your instructions re square pixles and photoshop.

Figure out cropped photo's new Aspect Ratio

I am looking to get a custom sized metal print of a photo that I cropped in Lightroom. For custom sizes, the printing software requires that I enter the height/width in inches. How can I figure this out in Lightroom?
I know that, in the crop window, I can select a certain or enter a custom aspect ratio and it will constrain the crop box to that aspect ratio. But how do I do the opposite? That is, when I free-hand crop using the crop tool, have it tell me what the aspect ratio the photo now falls into is, even if it involves decimals?

The Info Overlay (toggle "I") can be set up to show you the post-crop dimensions in pixels. The same information can be had in the Metadata panel in the Library module. If you know the pixels and the pixels per inch (ppi) at which it will be printed, the size in inches is easy math. If you really want the aspect ratio (which is long side divided by short side), do the division yourself. A 3155x3786 pixels image has a ratio of 1:1.2 or 5:6 and at 300 ppi would make a 10.517 x 12.62 inch print.

Quicktime x displaying incorrect aspect ratio

Hi,
I have a strange display issue with QT X which is occurring on both my MacBook Pro and Mac Pro.
Quicktime X is displaying all movies in a squashed aspect ratio. For example a 640x360 movie is displayed (actual size setting) as 640x340. The same movie displays correctly in QT 7 Pro. The same movie also displays in the correct aspect ratio in iTunes.
What QT X appears to be doing is displaying the images squashed by 20 pixels. for instance a 1920x1080 actually displays as 1920x1060. The image is not trimmed just squashed into a frame that is 20 pixels too short. It happens with all movies including ones downloaded from Apple.
any ideas anyone?
Thanks

Are other people are encountering this distortion?
I'm not and I routinely convert and proof 4 to 12 files a day as part of my processing activities. In addition, neither test files download from the trailers area nor files sent me for examination seem to display this aberration.
I wonder if it is something to do with the transport commands moving from underneath the frame to within the picture area.
Not sure what you are referring to here. If referring to the controls which are visible when the cursor is hovering above the player window, they have nothing to do with changes in the display dimensions as detailed by the "Inspector" window on a properly functioning system.
I'm not sure this is the issue
Have explained the basic mechanism governing the normal display of files played in the local players. Basically, either the problem is in the file itself or the problem is in the manner in which good files might be playing in a corrupted or software conflicted player. Comparing playback under different user accounts or on different systems might reveal if the problem is local to your account and/or system. If you don't have a secondary system available locally, posting a test file for comparison by others might determine the problem source.

Aspect ratio problem with AVCHD in iMovie 08

I am importing footage from a Panasonic HDC-SD9 into iMovie 08. the footage gets in there fine and looks great EXCEPT that the footage (all shot in 16:9) is squashed a little bit. in the preview clips below, it looks fine, but in the player above (and if I export it as a Quicktime file) it is squashed slightly. there are black bars above and below the footage, and (I'm guessing) were the video stretched to fill the entire area, eliminating the black bars, it would be the correct aspect ratio. I've tried importing footage form the camera supposedly shot in 4:3, and the same thing happens.
I know that I can simply do a quick edit in imovie, export it, import it into final cut pro, and stretch it back. however, I'm worried about losing quality, and more importantly, I don't know the exact ratio, since I can't even figure out what imovie is doing to the video to make it squashed, let alone in what manner.
the footage from the HDC-SD9 is AVCHD, and I understand there is something about square pixels vs. rectangular, but I don't know much about it. I have tried every iteration of imovie's limited aspect ratio settings, and I can't get it to work. I know it's meant to work well with AVCHD, so I'm assuming I'm missing something fundamental and simple. (some box to check to let imovie know I'm importing AVCHD?) it's maddening to see the footage correctly in the thumbnails, but squashed for (seemingly) no reason in the playback. can you help me out? otherwise I am going to film myself holding something that is a perfect square, then import it to imovie, then export to quicktime, then import the quicktime file into finalcut, then stretch it til the rectangle becomes a perfect square, and write down the settings for the future. seems ridiculously complicated, especially for the mac world.
I love imovie 08 (seriously, some of the new toys are just so amazing, and no render time at all!), and I love this camera. please tell me they can get along!

I think I'm having a problem similar to this. I'm using a Sharp MiniDV camera, and shooting in 16:9. When I used to import to other versions of iMovie it worked fine, but w/ iMovie 08 it is squashing and stretching the incoming video to more like 20:9 (I have no idea what the actual ratio is, this is just a guess). I tried changing import to PAL 25fps, but that didn't do any thing. Any other suggestions?

Wrong aspect ratio when importing photos

I have done different movies (16:9 format), never had any problems. Since yesterday, I am not able anymore to integrate photos in the right aspect ratio. In the preview they appear with the right ratio. When I integrate them and the rendering starts, they first get back to a 4:3 format with black frame on left and right side (during the rendering process) and then get teared to wide (like a doubled 16:9).
Does anybody know why?? I have nowhere read anything about this problem...:-( Thanks!

Yes, this seems to be a problem with Mac OS X 10.5 (or maybe some QT version) and 16:9 (PAL and NTSC) SD projects. 4:3 projects are OK.
But I prefer to use Photo To Movie to compose iMovie slideshows anyway because its quality is and has been better.
http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/iMovieHD_6_bugs.html#jaggystills

Camera vs. imovie aspect ratio

When I shoot video with ipad in landscape orientation, it is shooting at 4x3 aspect ratio and when I look at the video in the photo album I see what I saw when I shot. When I load the same video into iMovie at 16x9, I see a wider shot with content that I did not see when shooting. Is there a way to either shoot at 16x9 so I can see what's on the periphery or to crop the video to the 4x3 that I originally shot in iMovie? It seems crazy that it would work this way, I must be doing something wrong.

Congratulations, you have outgrown the baby camera and now need to shop for the adult video camera . . . um, I mean a real camera. On a real camera you can set the aspect ratio, and a whole lot of other stuff that you are gonna love. Here is a video on a site called Vimeo which will tell you some of the main reasons you should leave the iPad camera to taking selfies and upgrade to an actual video camera, video capable point & shoot, or DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) which has the ability to change lenses. http://vimeo.com/17853047
But to answer your question more basically, you would spend more money on software and effort doing a pan and scan hack job than you would simply using a camera on which you can set the aspect ratio so that each shot looks the way you intended it to when you turn your dailies into your masterpiece.
And if your spouse asks you why you felt the need to spend money on a new camera, look them straight in the eye and say, "Because with this camera I can manifest the awesome filmmaker nature which I innately possess."

Importing from iMovie 08 to FCE4 - aspect ratio!!

Hello All,
I have clips recorded in iMovie 08 (captured from built-in iSight cam) which I'm trying to import into FCE4. Using the standard FCP XML export in iMovie and opening in FCE4, the aspect ratio of all clips is lost.
I am using the built-in iSight cam to record a video blog (please don't give me flack about not using a dedicated cam), is there a way to preserve the 16:9 aspect ratio from iMovie? I have used the motion settings on the clips to attempt to restore the original aspect ratio (-33 seems to be close), but this seems terribly unscientific and mostly guess work. Thanks.

In the browser (view as list) check the Anamorphic Flag associated with both the imported clip and your sequence: both should be set. My guess your sequence is not 16:9, in this case you only have to set that flag in the browser to fix it.
Setting Aspect Ratio = -33 in the Motion tab restores the right proportions of the original video but creates top and bottom bands in a standard 4:3 video and reduces the original video vertical resolution. The anamorphic flag, instead, fixes the video aspect ratio without losing video quality.
Hope it works
Piero

Removing Black Bars on iMovie Projects (Aspect Ratio / Resolution Problem)

Hey folks,
I jusr recently recorded a video using fraps on my PC while playing World of Warcraft. I've transfered this over to my mac to import into iMovie and upon importing the file (using a DV Widescreen profile) there are two black bars on either side of the video.
I believe this is because my monitor is using a different aspect ratio (max resolution is 1680x1050, in otherwords not 16:9 as the profile indicates).
How can I configure iMovie to conform to the aspect ratio of the origional imported video? I know if I import the video and get it edited to the final version I want to encode, there is an option using the Divx codec to remove these bars - But i'd like to keep the video using the H.264/.Mov standards (Divx looks like crap IMO!)
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
- Evan

Hey folks,
I jusr recently recorded a video using fraps on my PC while playing World of Warcraft. I've transfered this over to my mac to import into iMovie and upon importing the file (using a DV Widescreen profile) there are two black bars on either side of the video.
I believe this is because my monitor is using a different aspect ratio (max resolution is 1680x1050, in otherwords not 16:9 as the profile indicates).
How can I configure iMovie to conform to the aspect ratio of the origional imported video? I know if I import the video and get it edited to the final version I want to encode, there is an option using the Divx codec to remove these bars - But i'd like to keep the video using the H.264/.Mov standards (Divx looks like crap IMO!)
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
- Evan

Dreadful handling of 3:2 aspect ratio photos by Photos App on 5S with IOS 7

When you view photos that have 3:2 aspect ratio (a common standard from digital SLR cameras) in the Photos APP on the Iphone 5S with IOS 7, the software attempts to set each photo to fill the screen. This in itself is extremely annoying, as the top and bottom of each photo is cropped, and there is no setting to stop this happening (i.e. to view the photo in its original aspect ratio with the black bars on the left and right). However, there is a further irritating "bug" that means that each time you swipe to the next photo, it adjusts the position of the cropped photo giving a jump in the picture with every swipe. This makes viewing multiple photos by swiping past them a completely negative experience, as there is a complete lack of smoothness to the visual experience. By contrast, photos with aspect ratios that give wider black bars on each side are retained in their original aspect ratio (e.g. the ones from the phone's own camera) - but for some reason once the bars get smaller, the software chooses to resize the photo to fill the screen. The fact that it does this for the standard SLR photo aspect ratio (not to mention a standard setting of many digital cameras) of 3:2 is really unfortunate. A setting to stop any attempt to resice a picture (i.e. to view in the original aspect ratio no matter what that ratio) is clearly needed. Additionally, a fix for the judder on each new photo is also required once it does fill the screen.
Anyone else noticed this - and any suggestions until it is fixed?

I've noticed it, too. It's very annoying. I am a "semi-professional" photographer (meaning every once in awhile someone pays me to take photos for them.) and I put many of my DSLR photos on my phone. It's a big pain to have to resize them on-screen each time. Wish there was a fix,

Still Photo Aspect Ratio Confusion

Apologize for asking a question on this topic as I have been through the forum and realize the topic of aspect ratio comes up often. I have not however seen this question answered. Quick background:
-Working with HD Video footage imported as SD as I am burning non-HD dvd's and I have heard the conversion in IDVD and Toast from HD is not great;
-Using photos imported from Aperture in FCE;
-Sequence is NTSC anamorphic as I want 16:9 but without HD;
My question is about the aspect ratio of still photos when I bring them into the timeline. I have experimented with saving photos in different aspect ratios: 853x480 and 720x480. When I import into FCE the 853 shows a square pixel and the 720 shows a NTSC pixel. From what I have read this is due to the way FCE interprets the aspect ratio and assigns an pixel aspect. When I view each in the viewer they both look correct when I click the corresponding pixel aspect from the top of the viewer. It is when I move these to the timeline that I get confused. The 853 gets an adjustment of 18.52 and the 720 gets an adjustment of 33.33. What do these adjustments actually represent? Is it a percentage, a number of pixels, something else? When I read about it in the Manual it seems to state that FCE adjusts for the difference between the still and sequence, but then why does it adjust the 720 since it has the same pixel aspect as the sequence? I then tried changing the Pixel aspect of the 853 in the browser to NTSC and moving it to the timeline. I get the same 33.33 adjustment. The 33.33 does not look correct in either of them, but when I change it to 18.52 it looks correct (with the pixel aspect at square, with it not checked it looks "skinny" or squished).
Only thing I can think is that it has something to do with the anamorphic adjustment and the squeezing that goes on with it as 18.52 as 853 (widescreen) is 18.47 percent wider the 720.
At this point I am really not sure how these will display when I make a dvd and display on a widescreen tv. I would prefer not to do this by guessing or looking at the picture, but instead by understanding what FCE is doing and making sure I have the settings and adjustments correct.
Sorry for the long message, but would really appreciate any advice

Michael,
sorry to disagree, but for sure I was not clear, and the topic is quite complex. So I decided to provide an overview (as much as I can...) of the various combinations of clips inserted into various sequences with all settings - possibly on my web site (I'm afraid other posters are getting bored about all this math).
But since this is taking quite a bit of time, let me just tell you now where I disagree about your findings. When I'll have my overview completed I hope that will better explain what I mean.
_Your point 1_.
I'm pretty sure you (unwillingly) are importing your 16:9 square pixel NTSC clip into a +4:3 CCIR pixel NTSC sequence+ (not your original 16:9 anamorphic NTSC sequence). Please check your sequence settings by selecting the sequence in the browser in list view and reading the Frame Size, Pixel Aspect, and Anamorphic fields.
a. If your sequence is in fact +4:3 CCIR pixel NTSC sequence+, by applying the formulas you get:
- PARclip for +16:9 square pixel NTSC+ clip = 853/853 = 1 (as for any square pixel clip)
- but PARseq is not 1 (as you write) but 640/720 (square/actual pixels) = 0,8888
- Adjust = PARseq/PARclip = 0,8888/1 = 0,8888.
- Since Adjust is <1 Motion Aspect Ratio = - 100* (1/0,8888 -1) = -12,5 as you experienced on FCE. BTW this means that the imported clip has to be squeezed vertically by 12,5% (as opposite of horizontally).
b. If your sequence instead really is +16:9 anamorphic NTSC+ as you seem to imply, then 18,52 is correct as you confirm yourself with "Agree that in the four cases you list it agrees...": it is in fact the 2nd case in my 4 cases list.
_Your point 2_.
Here I suppose the sequence is +16:9 CCIR pixel NTSC+ which has PARseq = 853/720 = 1,1852.
But I'm not clear what you mean by "720/640 NTSC clip". My guess is that you mean a +4:3 CCIR pixel NTSC+ clip,
then PARclip = 640/720 (square/actual pixels) = 0,8888
then Adjust = PARseq/PARclip = 1,1852/0,8888 = 1,3333 and Motion Aspect Ratio = 100*(1,3333 - 1) = 33,33 as you experienced
_Adjust formula_.
I think this formula in your earlier message is incorrect: Aspect Ratio (in Motion/Distort) = - 100 * (1/Adjust-1) if Adjust ≤ 1; seems like the formula: Aspect Ratio (in Motion/Distort) = 100 * (Adjust-1) if Adjust ≥ 1 works at all times including <1 as follows 100*(.875-1)=-12.5.</div>
This not true (well it is true only for Adjust = 1...). As an example if Adjust = 0,8888 then 100*(0,5-1) = -11,12 (wrong value for this pixel adjustment), while -100*(1/0,8888-1) = -12,51 which is the correct vertical squeeze !!
Why 2 different formulas are needed ? because when Adjust is >1 a +horizontal squeeze+ by Adjust is necessary to fix the pixel aspect ratio misalignement, when Adjust is <1 a +vertical squeeze+ is necessary by 1/Adjust... (figures will help as soon as they are ready for... publishing).
I'm sorry these posts are so long, I try to make them as clear as possible, but the topic is a bit messy and, even if only fractions are involved in this math, their actual meaning is not always intuitive...I'd really appreciate any comment also by more experienced users of FCE/FCP...
Thanks
Piero

How do I insert a picture into iMovie regardless of aspect ratio

When I insert a picture, i either have the choice of cropping the picture or having black bars on the sides. How can I insert a picture into imovie and not be dictated based on the aspect ratio. thanks

Klaus1 wrote:
Must be one of the wonderful improvements introduced in iMovie 11.
nope, never.
look:
example #1: a 1:1 pic in a 16:9 screen
option A bars l/r
option B cat-off
example #2: a wiiiide screen pic in a 16:9 screen
option A bars t/b
option B catcut off
and you don't want kitty look like that:
(1:1 aspect ratio distorted to make fit onto a 16:9 screen)

Squashed Aspect Ratio on Photos in iMovie HD 6

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