Why do premium movie channels alter the widescreen aspect ratio?

Why do channels like HBO HD and Cinemax HD change the aspect ratio of movies? I have seen movies that I own on dvd or blu-ray that are 2:35:1 or 2:40:1 aspect ratio (meaning very wide and you see some thin black bars at the top and bottom of your screen) but when they are broadcast on these movie channels it looks like the films are partially panned & scanned down to a 1:85:1 ratio (not as wide and the bars are gone).
This is really stupid, and the movies are not being shown in their full widescreen orginal presentation. What do they have to gain by cutting off parts of the picture? I have noticed some channels like showtime don't do this, but most do. Obviously this isn't verizons doing its the channel providers, but it's annoying.
And what's with all the logos all over the premium channels nowadays? These are paid channels the screen should be clear of any and all logos and any add overlays. If I want to know the channel and rating I'm watching I'll just press the guide button, it's overkill.

film11 wrote:
They do this for the OnDemand movies as well. I agree...it is VERY annoying. There is NO reason for it. Sure,there are some people out there who want their screen filled, but they can always use the ZOOM button to do that. It's a terrible practice and I never watch movies on channels that crop them (and am cancelling the channels that do it when my contract bundle expires). The only channels that show movies in the correct ratios are SHOWTIME, THE MOVIE CHANNEL, and HDNet MOVIES. (EPIX shows old movies in OAR but crop newer films.)
The others, Notably HBO that started this practice, do occassionally show OAR. But usually only when the director specifically had in his agreement that his picture would only be so displayed when marked to TV channels.

Similar Messages

FCP project not the correct aspect ratio when exporting to Quicktime

Hello All;
I am trying to export a FCP project in its native resolution (1440 X 1080) to Quicktime but everytime I try, the aspect ratio is messed up and people look taller and thinner than they should.
The project is a resolution of 1440 X 1080 as determined by examining the sequence settings in FCP.
I configure quicktime (see below) to a resolution of 1440 X 1080.
So why isn't my Quicktime video the correct resolution when I play it with the IMac's Quicktime player ? I shrink the player to 1/2 size to fit it all on the screen.
My exact settings are below ...
Export - Using Quicktime Conversion
Format - Quicktime Movie
Video Settings - Compressor - MPEG-4
Quality - Best
Not sure if I changed the framerate - if I did, I probably changed it to 29.97
I didn't touch the other settings in the video settings - left them to default
I didn't change the filter settings - I left them at default
Size - 1440 X 1080 (The actual resolution of my source video)
I checked the box - preserve aspect ratio using letterbox (If applicable)
Other settings were left at default
Sound Settings - Format - AAC
Rate - 48 KHZ
Render Settings - Quality - Best
Target Bitrate - 128 KHZ (This was left at default - I did not change it)
Prepare for Internet Streaming - Fast Start checked (This was default - I did not change it)
All other settings not specifically mentioned were left at default.
Thanks. Tim

I don't have much of an answer for you, but to test try not checking the preserve aspect ratio. Rather than reexport the entire 1 hour just export 10 seconds so that you can trouble shoot different things.
Hope that helps a bit,
Eric

Maximize a panel maintaining the correct aspect ratio

Hello everyone,
how can I maximize a panel maintaining the correct aspect ratio?
Thanks

Hi,
this can't be done automatically, since when you enable panel sdjust on rescaling and maximize it it will scale each dimension independent from the other. That is, a panel developed for a 4:3 resolution will appear stretched if maximized on a 16:9 screen.
If you have only a few controls on the panel you could disable automatic rescaling and add an horizontal and vertical hidden splitter attaching all controls to them. When you want to maximize the panel you will need to calculate the necessary adjustment on each dimension and move the splitters accordingly with OperateSplitter so that they resize the controls. Next you can maximize the panel.
In case you have a lot of controls attaching all them to the splitters can be a hassle; in this case you can enable resolution adjustment, change panel sizes calculating the maximum dimensions that respect aspect ratio, next disable resolution adjustment and finally maximize the panel.
Proud to use LW/CVI from 3.1 on.
My contributions to the Developer Zone Community
If I have helped you, why not giving me a kudos?

How to change DV/DVCPRO video to 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio in Final Cut Pro X?

I shot some DV video footage on a Canon XL2 in 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio mode. I captured it on a Firestore and imported it into Final Cut Pro X, and it is now being displayed in an incorrect standard 4:3 aspect ratio.
How can I change the aspect ratio of the video within FCPX once I've imported it?
I've tried playing with the Spatial Conform setting for the video file, but that keeps it in a standard aspect ratio and fits or fills the video into a different aspect ratio. So that's not the answer.
I've tried an old trick I used when working with DV widescreen video and iDVD, but this process doesn't fix the aspect ratio in FCPX. Here's the article for your reference:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2179
Did Apple forget that DV/DVCPRO video--although standard def--can be displayed in 4:3 or 16:9? It seems to force it to 4:3.
Thanks.

@daguerratype
The Spatial Conform is one of the things I tried. Unfortunately none of its settings fixed the aspect ratio. When I choose "Fit", it simply shows it as 4:3 and leaves left and right black borders on a 16:9 timeline. When I choose "Fill", it zooms the 4:3 video and chops off the top and bottom parts.
@Thomas Emmerich
This is a decent workaround. Fortunately my clips are named in such a way that I can easily drop them all in the timeline and do a Command-F (Find) to search by clip name, highlight all of them in the search results, then use the Inspector to modify the properties of all the clips at once. I have to change X-scale to 133% and Spatial Conform to "Fit", and now at least it fits the 16:9 timeline properly.
Thanks to both replies. I still hope Apple adds a way to fix the clip in the Event browser so that I don't have to do this workaround.

Move rejected to trash changes aspect ratio of a clip

I just switched from iMovie HD to iMovie '11. I imported all old projects that I did not yet work on into the new version. This worked fine and I created my first movie successfully. For the current movie I have a lot of raw material in the format of 16:9 (DV). So I rejected parts of a clip and moved these to the trash in order to free space. But after moving the rejected parts, something happend to the aspect ratio of the remainder of the clip. The remaining clip is now distorted to 4:3 (black bars to the left and right, image distorted in height). All other clips are still in 16:9 and the projects settings tell this, too.
Does anyone know how to reset the clip in the event viewer to the correct aspect ratio?
Many thanks,
Erik

It sounds like that in the process of deleting the first half of the clip, the Anamorphic flag was stripped off.
You should be able to fix this in MPEG Streamclip, which is free.
In iMovie, right-click on the Event clip with the bad aspect ratio. Select Reveal In Finder. Drag this clip into Mpeg Streamclip.
In mpeg streamclip, FILE/EXPORT TO DV.
Choose 16:9 as aspect ratio and leave everything else the same.
Import this clip back into your imovie project. When you are sure all is well, you can delete the other one.

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How to crop a whole selecton of pictures with the same aspect ratio?

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Thanks. It works! Prima!
It's a little bit difficult for me to write and understand the English terms correctly, cause I am German.
I did not recognize, that I had to go to the Library Module!
Here I repeat Rikk's way in German:
Im Bibliothek-Modul
Rasteransicht
Bilder selektieren
Im Menufeld Ad-hoc Entwicklung:
Freistellungsfaktor einstellen: 16:9

In Premiere Pro, is it possible to change the project aspect ratio once started?

In Premiere Pro, is it possible to change the project aspect ratio once started?

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Why would a movie disappear from the store?

Why would a movie that's been sold in the iTunes Store disappear from the store? It was a $14.99 movie too.

Thanks,
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How do I automatically scale a layer to fit a canvas while maintaining the original aspect ratio?

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I found the program below on another thread, but it's not working exactly like I need it to. It mentions "maintain aspect ratio," but when I run it, the image I'm trying to place ends up getting stretched to fill the entire canvas rather than the width adjusting to the height once the height has reached its maximum. I have no experience with JavaScript, so I'm having a difficult time adjusting the code to meet my needs. Any help would be greatly appreciated since I am a writer who is WAY out of his comfort zone.
var maintainAspectRatio;// set to true to keep aspect ratio
if(app.documents.length>0){
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Hum Im not sure Im getting you here… Have you looked at Image Processor…?
Why are you NOT just using Fit Image and canvas size in your actions…?
These are all built-in to Photoshop.
If you wanted to do all 3 sizes in the 1 fly-bye then use script to process…
If you need extra file naming conventions then script would probably be best…
All of the above should have NO trouble handling your 3k files…

Impoting from Quicktime to Imovie - widescreen aspect ratio lost

I have a Quicktime .mov file in widescreen format which I imported into iMovie HD6 for further editing. Although it plays perfectly in widescreen in QT, iMovie has imported it squashed to 4:3. iMovie was set to "widescreen Pal", and the viewing window is widesceen, but the imported video has been squashed to 4:3, with black columns at each side. The sides of the picture have not been cut off, the images are tall and thin.
The QT movie was created in Cinematize2 from a DVD created in iDVD in widescreen, its self from a widesceen PAL i Movie HD6 project.
I've searched the boards, but can't find this one specifically described. Apologies if it has already been answered somewhere, but can anybody help?
Albert.

HOW TO MAINTAIN 16:9 ASPECT FROM IMPORT TO BURN
This is the way I do it. There is no compulsion on you to do it my way, but this works (for me). I started this method before iMovie and iDVD were upgraded to 6.0.3, and because not all elements of the various iDVD themes (particularly the pre-iDVD 6 ones) are consistent in keeping to 16:9 throughout the process. I have for years shot in nothing but 16:9 widescreen, partly because it looks better (IMO), partly to future-proof my videos for the increasingly popular widescreen TVs. Living in the UK, I use PAL (25 fps). Wherever you see a reference to PAL in the following you may substitute NTSC (30 fps) in the various settings mentioned, the basic idea is the same. I still use this method, and take these steps, regardless of whether it is always necessary. Worst case scenario: it would have worked anyway. Best case scenario: it works perfectly where it otherwise wouldn’t!
The object of the exercise is to ‘fix’ all constituent parts of the project (video, titles, theme, effects, even audio!) in the desired 16:9 aspect to avoid producing a DVD where the movie is in 16:9 and the menu is in 4:3 or where other irritating surprises lurk in your project, which you only discover after burning a coaster!
First go to http://www.mydvdedit.com/index.php?lang=english and download myDVDedit. This is shareware although the download is free. Send the guy a few dollars/euros, he deserves it. While you are there, read all about it. Now install it in your Applications Folder. You will need it later.
You have finished your iMovie project with music, transitions and so on, and saved it to you Movies Folder. Before you started the project you naturally set it DV Widescreen.
Open iDVD. Give the project a name, and save it as Widescreen if it didn’t default to the same aspect as your iMovie project. Now import the iMovie project into iDVD, choose a theme (any theme you like, even if it prefers to stay at 4:3) and save the project. Do what you would normally do to the theme and its drop zones. Save the project.
Now save as Disk Image on your desktop. Leave it there for the moment when it has finished/appeared.
Open your Movies Folder. Create a new folder. Name it PROJECTNAME – TS FILES (where ‘projectname’ is the name of your project!). Close the folder. You can of course call it anything you like, but htis aids identification.
Now double-click the disk image on your desktop. It contains two folders: AUDIO_TS (which is empty, but please pretend that it isn’t) and VIDEO_TS. Drag and drop these to the folder you created in your Movies Folder. (This takes a moment).
Click on the AUDIO_TS folder and go to Get Info in the file menu. Right down the bottom is where you have to change the permissions. Under ‘Ownership & Permissions’ change this from Read Only to Read & Write. Click the small triangle next to Details, scroll down and click on Apply to enclosed items. You will be asked for your root password. When this has completed (fairly fast, as that folder was empty!), click on the VIDEO_TS folder and do the same. This takes a moment longer, as that folder is full of goodies with which you should not otherwise interfere! Close the Projectname-TS Files folder. You have now allowed yourself to change the properties of the contents of those folders, which leads us to the next all-important step.
Open myDVDedit. Go to File and open the projectname TS Files folder. By all means stare at it shock and awe, but don’t bother finding out what it can do, except for the following:
Top left you fill see a list of files. Lower centre you have a large window. On the vertical menu to the left of that, click IFO.
In the window at the top left, ignore ‘First Play’ (if there was anything to correct in that, myDVDedit will have done so and told you).
Click on VMG Menu en (English). Now the whole thing springs to life.
Set Coding Mode to MPEG-2
Set Standard to PAL
Set Aspect to 16:9 (not any of the other options)
Now save the file.
Click on VTS Menu 1 en (English) and repeat as above.
Click on VTS 1 and repeat as above.
You have now permanently ‘fixed’ the entire contents of the TS folder (the disk image) in 16:9 aspect. Close myDVDedit – you won’t need it again until the next project!
If you have Toast 7 Titanium, open it. ‘Select DVD-Video from VIDEO_TS’. Choose Select from the main Toast window and select your projectname-TS Files folder. You are now ready to burn! You can set the burn speed (2x recommended) before the burn commences. Allow Toast to verify the burn before you eject the DVD-R disk.
If you don’t have Toast 7, then I assume you can burn the projectname-TS Files folder (disk image) via Disk Utility. I say ‘assume’ only because I have never tried it that way.
Either way, you now have a DVD which will play as 16:9 widescreen on any TV set, even the old ones where you can’t ask it to letter-box.

Will FCP tell me what the 'correct aspect ratio' is?

Hi,
This isn't a problem, I'm just curious.
When I import clips in to FCP I am allowed to view them in their correct aspect by checking 'Correct For Aspect Ratio' using the 'Window Zoom' button in the canvas.
Is there a way of seeing the correct aspect frame size in the browser?
For example, I shoot in 'squeeze' mode on my DVX100b. That footage is recorded/imported at 720x480. FCP allows me to edit it as it should look. And then it's up to me to 'un-squeeze' it. That's fine, no problem. But I'm wondering if final cut pro has any idea what the un-squeezed frame size should be (or is it just automatic) and does it tell me anywhere.
Just wondering.
Thanks,
Double ohh

The unsqueezed size is 720x480, and you'll see it in the browser under "frame size" (you may have to enable this by control-clicking on the top of any browser column).
If the anamorphic column is checked in the browser, you'll always get a correct display in FCP. As you've discovered, you'll have to modify your output files (either by changing the frame size or changing the movie properties in quicktime player) to get them to display correctly on a computer screen. Your DVD or video player will always display widescreen material correctly once you've authored your disks in widescreen and set up your DVD player to match your TV screen aspect.
Best of luck.

How can I import .mov footage with original pixel aspect ratio?

So the footage is 720x480 Square Pixels (1.0), 29.97 fps, progressive .mov but when I import it into Premiere Pro, they come up compressed as D1/DV NTSC (0.9091) automatically. When I try to Interpret Footage, it simply adds black bars. Why can't it just import correctly? When I preview the original footage, it plays back correctly but the preview inside Premiere Pro shows the distorted version... Please and thank you!!!

The suggestion about "new item" above was short. Here's the "full" version. In the Project Panel, go to the lower right corner ... click on the "New Item" Icon ... as shown here:
The first item on the pop-up menu that will appear should be "Sequence" ... click on it and just say ok at the next screen without even reading it. It's irrelevant, really.
Then going back to your project panel (we assume you've already imported your footage into it) click & drag a clip from the proj. panel to the timeline, or move one from the "Source monitor" to the timeline ... you should get a pop-up asking if you want the timeline changed to your footage, or your footage changed to the timeline. Take the timeline/sequence settings changed to match footage, and go.
That SHOULD take care of the problem in the vast majority of cases. It is such a simple fix, and so often the easiest and "correctist", that it's worth a try. Navigating the choices of setting up sequences is best left for those people who say, study GPU algorithms for a couple hours before going to bed for the sheer exhilaration of it ... unless, of course, PrPro actuall does a face-plant with your footage. But it mostly works good at it ... once you just let it ... so you might give that a try, takes what ... 20 seconds to see if it works?
neil

Widescreen aspect ratio help

I'm reading this site:
http://www.shapeofdays.com/2005/05/a_demonstration.html
and i read that: "A widescreen standard-definition TV picture is 850 pixels across by 480 pixels down."
questions:
1) so what is the aspect ratio if i change the "standard-defintion" to read HD or Hi-Definition?
2) preface: i created a Widescreen project using iMovie HD 5.0.2 that was shot at 16:9. i created a DVD from the iMovie project and it is 16:9. i "shared" my finished project and selected Full at the first prompts and got a dialogue saying something about the full quality of my project being saved; it produced a QT .dv file of the size of my project (about 3 gb) which is correct, afaik.
question: why is my exported [at] Full dv quality QT .dv file only 720 x 480? instead of 850 x 480?
==
while i'm asking questions: i'm about to export that .dv file to H.264, however i wish to reduce the view size by half --for a lower size-- how do i correctly assign a new properly reduced 50% size so that my aspect ratio is preserved only smaller by half?
thanks.

A widescreen standard-definition TV picture is 850 pixels across by 480 pixels down
A standard NTSC picture is 640 x 480
BUT, DV format saves video in a 720x480 ratio. DV pixels are not square, however. When shooting standard TV, the pixels are higher than they are wide and appear 640x480. When shooting widescreen, the pixels are wider than they are tall, thus giving a 16x9 (850x480) appearance.
As to your specific question about H.264, try exporting to a custom size of 425 by 240.

Exporting movie with 2.35.1 aspect ratio

I used filmic pro on my 4S to capture 24fps video along with a 2.35.1 overlay guide so my video composing will work once everything is edited. I have edited the video in iMovie with 1920x1080 24fps project settings and now I want to export it. Some videos I have seen recommend putting a picture of 2 black bars over the video but I think this is a waste of time and space since I will have to render the 2 black bars.
What would be the correct way of exporting my video with a 2.35.1 aspect ratio in iMovie? It would also be good if there are guides for Final Cut, and Adobe Premiere since I intend to try these out too.

iMovie will render your movie in 16:9 (1920x1080) or 4:3 (standard def), since those are the sizes of television screens.
To show a movie in 2.35:1, you will need to use the set the aspect ratio of the project to 16:9, and then, use the Rotate, Crop, Ken Burns tool on the middle Toolbar to set each clip to FIT. You can then Share the movie, and it will create the black bars for you.
If you want to show your movie on a device (like a computer screen or a web page) that is not constrained by the 16:9 or 4:3 limitation, you may be able to process your movie in QuickTime Pro to trim to exact dimensions, but you should check in the QuickTime Pro discussions to make sure, because I have not tried this myself.

Why do premium movie channels alter the widescreen aspect ratio?

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