Using letterboxed footage in my 16:9 timeline (sorry I have searched!)

Hi there,
I am working in an HD project (AJA KONA LH - 1080i 25 DVCPro HD) and I have mini DV footage that I need to include in my cut. These miniDV tapes are copies of HDCAM masters so I'm just using them now in the offline and for viewing purposes, then we'll go back to the HDCAM material for the online. The downside is that they are SD, so I'll have to render anytime I do anything to them, AND unfortunately they are Letterboxed. Will it be quicker for me to pop them through Compressor AND is there anyway to minimize quality loss when I zoom in to force them 16:9 in my timeline?
I have searched the forum, but would appreciate anyone's workflow for a situation like this...
Thanks,
Susan.

Hi Bogiesan
The workaround I'm doing right now is to use the 4x3 footage and do an HDCAM xfer once the rough cut is finalized. I have blown it up - which looks pretty nasty - but I guess it's the only way to get around doing the rough cut and wading through the material (about 10% of the program).
Cheers,
Susan.

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Dom in Sheffield wrote:
Any thoughts - am I off the chart?
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if their footage is truly letter boxed and not anamorphic than you'll either have to letterbox your own footage to match his by cutting off the top and bottom of your image. I think this would be the best way since blowing up letterboxed footage will degrade the image to meet true 4:3. If their footage is anamorphic than you can simply stretch it to correct proportions and then scale it in such a manner that the sides will be cropped. pan and scan when appropriate.

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Message was edited by: buckbito - typo fix

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> that they are not true 30p but really 60i rendered to 30p
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Using letterboxed footage in my 16:9 timeline (sorry I have searched!)

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