Video Aspect Ratio Problem

I have a 5th gen iPod video. When I bought it it had a firmware version earlier than 1.2.0, I cant remember which one. When I converted some DVD videos to MPEG4 @ 320x240 and loaded them on the iPod they played great, the aspect ratio was the same on the iPod as when I played them in Quicktime on the computer. Since then my iPod has been updated to 1.2.0 then 1.2.1 and now the video doesnt fit the screen properly. The video is from a widescreen format DVD and if I go to video options and turn widescreen OFF the video height is fine but now the video stretches off the screen. If I turn widescreen ON then the video is the right width but the height of it is "squished" down too small and the people look short and squat. I have since tried reseting the iPod to the original firmware version but it wont roll back, its still stuck at 1.2.1. Does anybody know whats going wrong? or is this still a bug in the iPod software? Please help. Thanks.
Win XP Windows XP

I have no idea if this would have a bearing on it but the FAQ for viewing and syning video with the iPod had some specs related to video and encoding....notice it says 480x480 for MPEG4..Maybe the ipod is doing something funky when it notices the format is MPEG-4 and addresses it differently on the iPod. ie, stretching it out or whatever.. Just a guess
iPod can play the following video formats:
H.264
File formats: .m4v, .mp4, and .mov
Video: Up to 768 kbits/sec, 320 x 240, 30 frames per second (fps), Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3.
Audio: AAC-LC up to 160 kbits/sec, 48 Khz, and stereo audio.
MPEG-4
File formats: .m4v, .mp4, and .mov
Video: Up to 2.5 Mbits/sec, 480 x 480, 30 fps, Simple Profile.
Audio: AAC-LC up to 160 kbits/sec, 48 Khz, stereo audio.
I also found some sample Quicktime files on Apples site that you can use to test...http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75424

Similar Messages

Help with 720x480 video aspect ratio problem

With the latest update to QuickTime 7.1.3 I've noticed that video captured with FCP 5.1.2 presets, namely DV NTSC 48 kHz, video will be captured and QuickTime will say the frame size is 720x480, but when you view the video in QuickTime it looks more like 640x480. The point is that when you edit this in FCP and view on an external monitor or export to DVD for that mater, it looks like the pixels don’t match up. This is the case on 5 machines and I’ve attached a link to download a still frame. Please advise. It also should be noted that this problem is most noticeable in b&w and sepia. http://www.livingcinema.net/upload/pixel_problem.jpg.zip

The point is that when you edit this in FCP and view on an external monitor or export to DVD for that mater, it looks like the pixels don’t match up.
Not sure what you are referring to here by "don't match up." Basically, what you describe is normal. Your editor is displaying the rectangular pixel reprsentation of video using square pixels which makes its display look wider than "normal." QT, on the other hand, displays the video in square pixels which representats the way your video should look on a rectangular pixel device like a TV.
This is the case on 5 machines and I’ve attached a link to download a still frame.
Looks normal to me for a video to be played on TV. If your edited output is not destined to be viewed on a rectangular pixel device, then set explicit screen dimensions as part of your output conversion routine if other than DV. As you noted in your question, the QT player is adaptive. So when it recognizes the DV "720 x 480 (640 x 480)" parameters, will correctly display the file automatically.

Aspect Ratio problem with Premiere Elements 10

I had old super 8 cine film transferred to video for me in December 2011 and put
it onto a Blu Ray disc as AVCHD files.
The disc is copied onto my computer and displays in the correct 4;3 aspect
ratio on the Desktop and plays correctly in VLC media viewer.
I have Adobe Premier Elements 10, but the video is “squeezed” narrow, e.g.
a circle displays as an oval in Monitor, Timeline and Sceneline views.
When I save the work to a disc it is also “squeezed”.
Pictures/footage from my Sony AVCHD video camera display correctly on the
Desktop and I have not had the above problem when editing it in Premier
Elements 10. I have also edited 4:3 photos and 16:9 video aspect ratios together into
without problems
I would be grateful (and relieved) if you can tell me how to fix this
please.

Thanks to people who showed an interest and replied.
Thanks especially to Kevin at digitacopycat who pointed me towards a workable solution within a couple of hours of posting the problem.
ASPECT RATIO
1. Open Premier Elements 10
2. Select and load the folder you wish to work on
3. In the Tasks Panel, click and open Project
4. Right click-on your folder
5. From the drop down menu select Interpret Footage
6. Choose Pixel Aspect Ratio and click-in the circle next to Conform to.
7. Click-on the down arrow to open the drop down menu
8. Select and click-on HD Anamorphic 1080 (1.333)
9. Click ok
10. All clips in Monitor Panel, Sceneline and Timeline change to the correct Aspect Ratio
11. Render the clips to maintain their correct Aspect Ratio

Still no fix for aspect ratio problems

I was hoping this new version would fix the aspect ratio problems with importing clips other than in the DV codec, but alas, it was not to be.
My problem is that if I import a clip that is 720x486 (non-square pixels, uncompressed), iDVD doesn't interpret it correctly. It places the clip with small black bars (like a little letterbox) at the top and bottom of the screen, then scrunches the image vertically, sprinkling it with stairstep artifacts.
What's frustrating is that versions up to iDVD 4 didn't have this problem and imported clips in any codec beautifully. It's been a known issue for a long time.
Furthermore, Apple's solution is to convert the clip to a self-contained DV movie (hello, disk space!), which is also undesirable because of the quality loss and poor colour compression. After the latest QuickTime upgrade, exporting in DV doesn't work, creating a clip that is half-field and blocky.
Argh! This is a real problem because many of us use iDVD to make screeners for clients, and it looks unprofessional. It's also a very inaccurate and somewhat useless tool when the clips are of clean lines, titles, and smooth, solid graphics, which show the stairstep effect the most.
I'm at my wit's end having exhausted all other suggested solutions (and please don't tell me to use DVD Studio Pro instead). Anyone else come up with a fix or have the same issue?
Previous discussion on this issue here: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=204675&tstart=0

Sorry, but the answer is - for professional use, use
DVD SP
No, it is absolutely not the answer. EVERYONE I know in my circle of professionals uses iDVD for banging-out quick screeners of TV spots, film clips, dailies. In fact, it's one of the main reasons they added OneStep to iDVD. DVD Studio Pro is for authoring commercial-level DVDs, with a learning curve and pricing structure appropriate to that.
I'm not going to spend time learning DVD Studio Pro just to do quick one-offs, for one, and it's overkill anyway. Not only that, but it costs a lot more than iDVD.
The inablity to import a QuickTime clip -- on Apple software, no less -- is not cool, especially since it doesn't seem an excessive thing to ask (and it used to encode just fine). It's a very basic task considering everything else iDVD has been written to do, and crosscoding and re-encoding video is a basic functionality in QuickTime.
I'm not asking iDVD to prove the existence of dark matter in the universe; I'm just asking it to play a QuickTime movie properly. Which is what it's supposed to do.
There was a work-around, supplied by Apple, but it no longer works for me, so that's why I'm asking what worked for others.

Video aspect ratio looks wrong in Quicktime Player

When I export a movie as a Quicktime file (ending in .mov) and then play the movie using the Quicktime Player, the aspect ratio (4:3) of the movie looks wrong, as if it is "squished down" vertically. If I open the file in FCE, the movie looks normal.
The same thing used to happen with the .mov movie file that older versions of iMovie used to create; in Quicktime Player the aspect ratio looked wrong. In this case, if I open the original QT clips (created by iMovie during import) in the Player, they looked normal. It was only if I opened the .mov file created by iMovie that referenced all those clips (in the order they appeared in the sequence) that the aspect ratio was odd. If I open any of those items directly in FCE they look normal.
I think this is behavior of the Player and not a problem with FCE (or iMovie) or the video file. I'm just wondering why this is happening and if there's any way to make the Player show the movie with the correct aspect ratio.
Thanks!

Hi Tom:
Affected video was imported in one of two ways:
(1) From an old Digital8 Sony camcorder, using DV-NTSC 32Khz, directly captured into FCE.
(2) From a Canon GL2 camcorder, using Firewire Basic DV-NTSC (48Khz), captured using an old version of iMovie. The video clips are imported into FCE and rendered.
Affected video is either exported from FCE using Export>Quicktime Movie..., or is not exported at all but simply viewed in the Quicktime Player after capture. That is, capturing from within FCE, quitting FCE, finding the captured video, and opening it in Player.
Recall that the video aspect ratio also looks wrong when playing the Quicktime file generated by iMovie (which references but doesn't contain the actual video clips), but the ratio looks right when playing the actual clips found in the Media folder, within the iMovie project folder.
However, I also have some video that I captured from the Canon for a wedding, and when I play that captured file in Player, it does NOT appear to have the wrong aspect ratio, so I'm a bit confused why this might vary.
Thanks for your help.

H.264 pixel aspect ratio problem after update

Yesterday I updated Premiere Pro CC and Media Encoder CC to version 2014.2. But now I am having pixel aspect ratio problems with the H.264 codec when I export a 1080i50 sequence to PAL widescreen. The problem also seems to occur with other frames sizes.
I am using the same settings as usual with Aspect set to: D1/DV PAL Widescreen 16:9.(1.4587). However, VLC and Windows Media Player play the video with a 5:4 ratio. So it looks like the pixel aspect ratio information is not passed to Media Encoder or to the file.
This problem does not affect other codecs like AVI or MPEG-2, these are correctly displayed.
Is there anyone else having this problem? And more important, does anyone know a solution?

When creating files for computer/online playback (not editing), then best practice is to simply use square pixels with 1.0 Pixel Aspect Ratio, which will ensure that ALL players correctly display your video, no chance of problems.
Export as 1024x576 with 1.0 PAR and that is the square-pixel equivalent of PAL DV widescreen.
For NTSC users, I've seen it two ways, either 864x480 or 854x480.
Merry Christmas
Jeff Pulera

PRE7: Aspect Ratio problem even before opening source media file

Hi,
I am a newbie in Premiere Elements. Read a lot of threads with aspect ratio problems, but didn't find similar problem to mine, so decided to open a new discussion.
I am shooting video with Samsung HMX-H105 SSD camcorder, in 16:9 widescreen HD video.
When I try to make DVD from the MP4 file from the camcorder, it gets skewed even before opening it, when it is seen in the right hand pane with the Media file previews. I am not sure if somebody can understand what I am trying to tell so I have a screenshot of a video that I shot with my camcorder and a video that I have downloaded, shot by someone else with Samsung HMX-H20 in 16:9 HD as well.
So even when I start a new project in 4:3 and not 16:9 my videos always get stretched. This is why I think that maybe Premiere Elements doesn't understand the aspect ratio of my MP4 video files - it can be seen in the left hand side pane, where I have circled (with white elipse) the black stripes above and below the video.
Hope that somebody can help with my problem.

You ROCK
both of you
Thanks wine_snob for pointing me how to find the Interpret Footage option.
And thanks to Steve for solving my problem
In the "Interpret Footage" and "Pixel Aspect Ratio", the working video says: "Use Pixel Aspect Ratio from File: Square Pixels (1.0)"
but on my problem video it says: "Use Pixel Aspect Ratio from File: Other Aspect Ratio (1.778)", so I changed it to "Conform to: Square Pixels (1.0)" and now I have perfectly proportinal video for 16:9
Thank you once again!

Mpeg4 Movies Aspect Ratio Problems

Hi everyone,
I'm a fairly new Mac user (since March 07) and this is my first post on the forums.
I recently upgraded to Leopard and after transferring all my mpeg4 movies back, which I originally encoded using VisualHub, playing them in Quicktime (even Finder) has stretched all the video aspect ratios (way too wide).
However, when I play the same videos using VLC, the aspect ratio is correct.
Is there a setting in Quicktime/Leopard that affects aspect ratio correction/playback?
Thanks for any help!

Is there a setting in Quicktime/Leopard that affects aspect ratio correction/playback?
Are you referring to "player" or "Full Screen" playback here?
AFAIK, the latest update still does not have such an independent a setting for "player" viewing and the only way to do this is by changing the "display" size in the "Properties" window. Basically. if the encoded, original, and current size stats in the "Inspector" window are all the same, you movie should be playing at the correct aspect ratio to which it was encoded.
On the other hand, if you are viewing in the "full screen" mode with "Size" preference set to "Fill" rather than the default "fit," then playback will be "distorted" to fill your entire monitor no matter what its size and shape.

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?

Aspect ratio problem with consumer camera and Premiere Elements 11

Hello everyone - I'm Steve. I'm new here. I do still photography on a pro level, digital and analog, but I am an absolute dummy with video...but then, I don't want to do much, just rudimentarily cut a few family videos, upload them, etc.
However, I can't get Premiere Elements 11 to output my self-shot clips in a correct aspect ratio.
My camera is a consumer-model Canon Legria FS200. I shoot video in a resolution the camera calls XP. The camera says they are 16:9, the camera monitor shows them as 16:9, and when I use the software (called Pixela Image Mixer) that came with the camera to import the clips to disk, I get mpg files that Windows (7) Explorer says are 720x576 pixel, and that VLC player correctly displays as wide-screen 16:9 without me having to tweak its display settings.
However, the moment I import them into Premiere Elements, they appear horizontally squeezed, and I can't seem to output them any other way, with or even without editing them in Premiere.
I tried to use the recipe given here: https://forums.adobe.com/message/5987538#5987538 , (replacing only NTSC with PAL because I'm in Germany), namely, setting the project preset set manually for PAL/Hard Disk etc/ Widescreen 48kHz and check force selected program settings. But no matter, Premiere displays the video in horizontally compressed form, with large black bars to the right and to the left.
On the export side, setting the output to PAL DVD Widescreen and setting the Pixel Aspect Ratio in the output settings to Widescreen does not help, either. Neither can I force VLC player manually to display the correct aspect ratio. BTW, audio is perfect all along.
This is about as far as I can see myself getting without help. Has anyone any idea?
Thanks a lot in advance,
Steve, from Germany

Steve
I see that you are now in the Adobe Premiere Elements Forum with your problem already solved.
I did not see any Why for what you encountered, so I thought I would give you my take on this.
Your Canon FS200 gives video with MPEG2 video compression with a .mod file extension. That .mod file extension can be found in use with some Canon as well as JVC cameras. The .mod file history with Premiere Elements (any version) is problematic. In some instances, the user needs to rename the file extension from .mod to .mpg before it can be imported, but not always. But, the .mod widescreen comes packaged with the aspect ratio dilemma, presenting as 4:3 rather than 16:9. The classical argument is whether Premiere Elements does not recognize a .mod file's 16:9 flag or whether the 16:9 flag got lost.
There used to be a utility contributed by an user to handle the file extension and/or aspect ratio issues. Now, the general fix is to import the file into Premiere Elements (in your case 11) with Add Media/Files and Folder/Project Assets. And in Project Assets, you right click the file, select Interpret Footage, and go to the Pixel Aspect Ratio section of the Interpret Footage dialog where you
(a) dot the Conform To:
and
(a) set the Contorm To: field to (in your case) D1/DV PAL Widescreen 16:9 (1.4587)
Once you are in the program and have the file on the Timeline, if any black edges, you can click the monitor to bring up the image's bounding box. Then drag on a bounding box handle to scale the image just to the point where the black edges are gone.
If you ever need the Adobe Premiere Elements Forum, maybe bookmark this link
Premiere Elements
You should expect to have this issue with any .mod widescreen file that you obtain from your Canon FS200 camera.
ATR
Add On...If you are depending on the program to set the correct project preset, you may want to check into what it is setting based on the properties the first file you drag to the Timeline. A manual setting of the project preset may be in order. Please see
ATR Premiere Elements Troubleshooting: PE11: Accuracy of Automatic Project Preset (New Project Dialog) Setting

Aspect Ratio Problems with iDVD

I am putting together a video presentation with video from several different sources. I have had a whale of a time getting the video to display uniformly at the same aspect ratio. I put all my separate clips into Quicktime Pro and set the aspect ratio to 960 X 540. FINALLY, in Quicktime Pro I was able to assemble the full video so that ALL the footage played in 960 X 540 and looked seamless. I thought I was in great shape.
Then......I thought I would test the video in iDVD because I need to burn about 40 copies of this presentation. Lo and behold, iDVD takes part of the video footage and somehow changes the aspect ratio of certain footage. Part of the video plays in a small postage stamp area in the upper left of the screen, while other segments play in full widescreen just fine. Obviously, my aspect ratios are still messed up somehow, even though the the entire video plays in full 960 X 540 glory in Quicktime Pro. I'm stumped.
Anybody run across this problem in iDVD before?

Wow, nobody qualified to help me with this problem?
I'm finding out, thanks to more research on my part, that iDVD does not like the aspect ratio of 960 X 540. The only reason I used that setting is because part of of my video has an iMovie 9 "trailer" and iMovie 9's "large" export is set to 960 X 540. The weird thing is iDVD handles segments of my video that is 960X540 just fine, but it completely bungles up the iMovie 9 trailer segment that is 960 X 540.
I have also found in further testing that iDVD does like a .move file in 853 X 480 and displays that aspect ratio in full widescreen glory.
Hopefully this information will help somebody someday avoid the headaches I have had.

Aspect ratio problem with Quicktime Conversion from FCE HD 3.5

I have a FCE 3.5 HDV project (16:9 aspect ratio) which I am trying to export using Quicktime Conversion for eventual web-streaming. I have tried various settings including "maintain aspect ratio" and the "letterbox" options. After every multi-hour attempt, the end result is just what I need, except the aspect ratio is always 4:3 and vertically squeezed.
What settings should I use for a small to medium sized version of my movie for streaming on a website, but in the correct aspect ratio? I'd prefer a 16:9 Quicktime frame, or at least a 4:3 Quicktime frame with black bars.

I too have been having some problems, same software. Export to iPod completely ignores the intended aspect ratio and is non-adjustable and squeezes the footage. It looks fine on the canvas but gets messed up on export. A 4:3 video that should be 640x480 ends up being 640x426, and a 16:9 video that should be 640x360 looks to be getting 640x426 as well.
Currently, my work-around is to export to DV file, then export to iPod. Being a double encoding, it is quite wasteful in terms of time and processing power. Is there something else I can do?

Aspect Ratio Problem (black bars on top and bottom in the preview window)

I have iMovie 08 and I have been shooting video on my new Canon HF100. It appears that in iMovie preview window my 1920x1080 (and even the ones I bring in in 960x540) videos appear to be in wrong aspect ratio - they are stretched beyond 16:9 ratio horizontally. The problem persists if I export the movie through Quicktime - the videos are still stretched. In the preview window in iMovie I have the right 16:9 box but it has black bars on to and the bottom. The clips themselves in the time line seem to be the correct aspect ratio.

Also I have found this on the export video screen which narrows it down a bit...
Here's how the source tab of that screen looks...
compared to the output tab, with the black bars that are my issue...
So where did I go wrong here?

Quicktime X and 7 aspect ratio problems

I have scoured the net and not come up with a single solution to this issue.
I have hundreds of music videos, home videos etc in Quicktime 7 format. The ratio of these files varies at a pixel level, but are corrected in Q7 size feature.
It's not just an anamorphic issue, as many videos are cropped from a non anamorphic 4:3 'letter boxed' source.
Now QX does not display them correctly at all, which until recently wasn't the end of the world, but from the last update, iTunes began using the X ratio as opposed to the correct adjusted ratio, so music videos in iTunes, QX, the iPad, you name it, the videos created this way do not display correctly.
That basically is every video on my Mac created from the late 90's to recently.
Any ideas, solutions? How on earth can Apple do something so amateurish, and why is there no major uproar.

So what you're saying is, Apple are telling me "thank you for your loyalty in using our hardware since 1988, and building up a video collection based on our software, but we've decided to do a version of Quicktime that ignores the size tag you have being using for the last 14 years (I started video work on Quicktime in 1997), and screw any videos you did to this point, unless they had square pixels?"
Not exactly. I believe that what they are saying is that QT is growing old. The technology on which is is based was fine for the codecs and techniques of its time, but video technology is constantly changing and it is no longer practical or possible to keep making updates and patches that don't, in and of themselves, create new, more serious problems than they solve. QT X is based on technology designed to make this process of evolution easier and it is likely we will see many new changes over the coming decade. However, in the meantime, they have not done away with QT 7 or Front Row, both of which continue to display your files correctly even under Snow Leopard. I personally continue to use QT 7—mainly because I have it keyed for "Pro" use and prefer its functionality to the what I call "Not quite ready for prime time" version represented by QT X which likely appeals to first time Mac users.
New videos are fine, I just encode them to square pixels anyway and ignore any PAR nonsense at the encode stage, but then if the PAR value is what they are using now, why not allow an option in QX to set that, so at the very least I could resize the old videos to correct format.
Not sure if Apple would be willing to provide what amounts to developmental support for an application they are phasing out. Still, it wouldn't hurt to ask. If enough people should request such an enhancement, they might be willing to at least consider the possibility.
Re-encoding them is just not an option, incurring further loss, on videos that in some cases are already marginal.
While I stated that corrections are normally made during the encoding process, it isn't the only method of setting the PAR value. Unfortunately, it is the most accurate method.
My point with anamorphic is that it will simply change 4:3 to 16:9 if there were some option to hit a check button.
Actually, using modern encoders, you can utilize any custom PAR setting desired but I am usually more interested in other aspect ratios like 1.66:1, 1.85:1, 2.40:1, and 2.35:1 since most of my work is centered on the conversion of movies for use on my TV devices.
More flexibility is needed, especially from a platform that is supposed to be pro. Ever tried formatting videos for a vertically placed Plasma for exhibition work, on a video file that isn't square pixel?
Not as uncommon as you might think. I also layer over still or video backgrounds to frame the main video and fill the unused device display area.
I have videos for example that are 800 x 400 (due to an original source, or a crop from the source, but view at 4:3 with the size setting, as they should. Now they look ridiculous displaying at 2:1, and there is no way to change it.
I would normally employ masking here to avoid one level of re-compression.
The size option allowed it to be displayed as you wanted it to, after encode.
More importantly, the Size (Scale) option allowed you to avoid having to re-encode the file since it can be saved back to the original file container (assuming no other changes were made the forces a re-encoding of the file).
It worked, it was done as Apple wanted, due to the size option being the only way to do to non-square pixels, and now they say, nah, we're not doing that anymore?
You seem to be forgetting that when QuickTime was initially introduced almost 20 years ago, users did not have to worry about scalability options, low-compression, high data rate broadcast standards or anamorphic DVDs because there weren't any such work flows for the Apple/Mac platforms of that era nor could they handle them anyway.
So basically Quicktime now contains no ability to format non-square pixels, unless it is done at the encode?
True, but as hinted previously, Apple and QuickTime isn't the only game in town. Based on your question, I went back and played around with Subler. Had been told that this app would allow the user to embed PAR value but was never able to get it to work. Finally managed to get a 720x480 (636x480) encoded movie trailer to play back as an 852x480 display in both QT 7 and QT X on my Snow Leopard system. This proves that it can be done without re-encoding, but there do seem to be some limitations. For instance, since I normally encode using macro-block 16 dimensions increments and Subler seems to like increments of 12 pixels, some PAR and Size target values may vary by 4 pixels. In any case, you may want to Google the app and give it a try. You still have to process each file but not actually re-compress the data.
It is barely believable that they would do that.
Please excuse me, but I do have to chuckle here. It seems as if you feel that Apple has taken something away from you. I, on the other hand, tend to view it as not missing something I never really had. I do, however, agree that it would be nice if both applications were able to access/change both PAR values and display size values for better compatibility between old and new technologies.

Quicktime X Aspect Ratio problems.

I recorded films on my Samsung HMX-H100N camcorder and imported the files on to my macbook.
Having OSX Lion I am forced to have Quicktime X as a default for Final Cut Pro. MY camcorder
films in 1280x720 however the aspect ratio displayed in Quicktime X is 2275x720. The width is very
stretched out. I downloaded Quicktime Player 7 and the aspect ratio was displayed fine. Is there a way to
have Quicktime X display the correct aspect ratio?

Is there a way to have Quicktime X display the correct aspect ratio?
No. There are basically two ways to correct the problem. One is to re-compress the file and the other, in the case of H.264/AAC content in MOV, MP4, or M4V file containers, is to simply reset the PAR display value and/or the current display size dimensions.
In the case of recompressing the files, you export the file as either a non-anamorphic file (one in which the encoded dimensions of the file equal the display dimensions, in which case the PAR is 1:1) or you encode a valid anamorphic file which sets a non-1:1 PAR value and also stores the actual display dimensions for media players that require them.
Your main problem is that applications like the QT X Player and iMovie '08/'09/'11 use the file's PAR setting to display the width of the video given its height dimension while other applications like QT 7/QT 7 Pro, GarageBand, and MPEG Streamclip display the files based on the actual "Current Size" dimensions stored in the file. From what you've said, it appears that either the PAR value was either changed by your work flow or was originally encoded incorrectly for use by the QT X Player. Unfortunately, while QT 7 Pro can be used to correct the scaled display dimensions for a file having the wrong "Current Size" dimensions and correct PAR setting, QT X cannot correct erroneous PAR values whether or not the "Curtrent Size" dimensions are correct. In the former case, the QT 7 Pro correction will allow the file to play correctly in both QT 7 and QT X, but in the latter case the file will always play incorrectly in QT X and correctly in QT 7.
Luckily, in the case of standard H.264/AAC files wrapped in MOV, MP4, and/or M4V file container, there is a way to correct either or both problems. The question at this point is what kind of files are you working with at this point. In reviewing the manual for your device, it was unclear if the actual recordings are standard H.264/AAC files in an appropriate file container or AVCHD content which has to be process by some sort of included software processing before it is in the required compression format and file container type.
In any case, if/once the files are in the proper format and file type, they can be processed by a utility called "Subler" which is available online free but is supported by user donations. The work flow is essentially straight forward. You open the source file and select the the audio and video data to be included in the final file. You then select the video track, deselect the "Preserve Aspect Ratio", enter the "Scaled Size" for QT 7 playback, create the "Aspect Ratio" value of QT X playback by entering the QT 7 "Scaled Size" width value followed by the "Normal Size" width value, press the "Tab" (or Return) key to "lock in" the last entered value, and save the resulting file. This should create an M4V file which plays correctly in an QT or QT-like media players.

Video Aspect Ratio Problem

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for