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16:9 playback problems
I have authored a few commercially manufactured DVDs in DVDSP. Those originally shot on Sony FX-1s or Z-1s in HDV and were edited in FCP in full-res, then downconverted for SD in Compressor (direct export from FCP) and authored in DVDSP.
I’m a little behind the trend at the moment, just having authored my first in Final Cut Studio 6 (not 7).
I did not select 16:9 Anamorphic in the FCP sequence or anywhere along the chain to the DVD. I played the DVD on several DVD players (Oppo, Philips) and computers (all Macs) and it looks fine.
I took the same DVD to a friend and played it on their DVD player with an HD monitor. The image was stretched left-right and severely cropped on all sides. This includes the menus as well as the films. There was nothing we could do to fix this in playback. The friend is an video artist but not technically savvy — she shoots but edits and authors with an editor. She popped in some of her work on DVD on the same system and it played perfectly.
I’m troubled by this distortion as this will be a commercially distributed DVD. Do I need to select Anamorphic somewhere along the chain? Where? I don’t see options for Anamorphic in Compressor or DVDSP.
Brian Brandt
Brian
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4 Replies
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yeah you need to select 16:9 as the sequence preset in FCP, export to 16:9 MPEG2 and author as 16:9/Letterbox tracks in DVDSP. 16:9=ANAMORPHIC.
Noah
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Hi Noah
I tried this.
I created a new sequence in FCP and clicked “Anamorphic 16:9” in the Sequence Settings window.
I then copied my nested file from the sequence it was edited in (not originally Anamorphic) and pasted it into this new Anamorphic sequence. The result was a stretched image.
If I click the “Anamorphic 16:9” off it looks correct.For curiosity, I compressed the “Anamorphic 16:9” sequence and brought it into DVDSP. The result was also stretched, also in the Simulator.
Am I missing something?
Thanks
BrianBrian
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Now go into the motion tab of your first clip of your anamorphic sequence and reset the aspect ratio and distortion sliders. If neccessary adjust them until the footage fills the frame. Otherwise FCP will automatically pillarbox footage which is not what you want. It must be an FCP 16:9 anamorphic sequence with clips set to match or it will never be a proper 16:9 DVD.
Noah
Check out my book: RED: The Ultimate Guide to Using the Revolutionary Camera!
Unlock the secrets of 24p, HD and Final Cut Studio with Call Box Training. Featuring the Sony EX1 Guidebook, Panasonic HVX200, Canon EOS 5D Mark II and Canon 7D.
Watch Formosa- My indie movie shot with the SDX900 and finished with Final Cut Studio. -
I have tried this in several ways and I’m still getting it squashed to a 4:3 look. Again, it was originally shot on an FX-1, HDV 1080i/60. The editing was not done in Anamorphic sequences. I’ve tried:
1) Selecting 16:9 Anamorphic in the Sequence Settings before pasting the nested file in
2) Selecting and deselecting the Anamorphic click in the command-9 window. I’m not clear about this one: does that Anamorphic check automatically appear if FCP detects an Anamorphic file on input? In other words, should I leave it to whatever the default appears to be for the track?
If I leave both of these Anamorphic check boxes off,and export to Compressor with the 16:9 Best 90 Minute preset, everything looks correct.
Another anomaly has crept in during these experiments: the footage originally looked great, but now sometimes I see “smearing” and stepping during movement. There are 4 films involved in this project, all shot and edited by the same team. So I noticed that some of the edited sequences had Field Dominance: None, others had : Upper.
When I make the new Sequence to drop the files in for Anamorphic, what should I set the Field Dominance to? I thought this HDV should be Upper. Would the wrong Field Dominance cause the smearing, etc.
I’ve done this stuff many times before and never had so many issues.
Thanks
Brian
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