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Set up Project for 640×360 output
(I am sorry for cross posting…I think I originally put this in the wrong Cow “pasture” ha ha)
I am having trouble setting up a FCP 5 project so that I can edit and export in 640×360 (16:9) 24fps format. The basic issue is that I am getting letterboxing of about 80 pixels wide on the right and left side of the video.
I have 80 pixel wide letterboxing visible on both the right and left sides of the canvas window too and when I try to export the video at 640×360 – that letterboxing remains.
My MacBook Pro was taking forever to render my clips at their full 1920x1080i resolution which I captured from my HV20…so I thought I would try exporting those clips out at 640×360 and then re-importing them into a new timeline set up at 640×360 so that, hopefully, the rendering and editing wouldn’t be as demanding on my machine.
I tried setting up a new project and sequence setting and I think here’s where I made my mistake.
My Project Settings are (customized)
Frame Size: 640×360
Editing Timeline 24fps
Field Dominance NOne
Pixel Aspect Ratio HD (1440 x 1080)
Anamorphic: 16:9 Off
Compressor: HDV 720p24
Millions of ColorsMy Sequence settings are:
Frame Size 640 x 360
Aspect Ratio Custom (16:9)
Pixel Aspect Ratio (1440 x 1080)
Field Dominance: None
Compressor: HDV 720p24I appreciate any assistance you can offer. Thanks!
Steve
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5 Replies
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I’m not very familiar with HDV issues, but you should be able to edit on a Macbook Pro with better success than that. Why not start by trouble-shooting your setup for the HDV to see if that can be improved? It’s far better to stay with a normal Easy Setup than to try and create a custom setup like this. The 640×360 approach is not the way to go.
Final Cut Studio 2, FCP 6.0.2, Mac OS-X 10.4.11, Quicktime 7.3.1, After Effects 6.5 Pro, G5 Quad 2.5, Kona-LHe V5.1, 4.5GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce 7800-GT 256MB, G-RAID 2x1TB FW800, 6TB RAID-5 (Enhance E8-ML, Highpoint 2322), Panasonic HVX-200P P2.
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Steve,
What establishes a “video standard” is that it is in fact “standardized,” meaning there are only certain set pixel dimensions and formats, and anything else is considered non-standard. FCP uses only standardized pixel dimensions and video formats and if the video you import into FCP doesn’t conform to one of the standards FCP will letterbox it or pillarbox it to make it fit into the pixel dimensions of a video format that is.
The bottom line is, 640 x 360 is non-standard format and you can’t just customize the pixel dimensions of video formats for use in FCP and expect that it will not try to resize it, you have to choose one that actually exists. This is why its a whole lot easier to use Easy Setups inside FCP, as they already have the standards built in for almost every video format there is.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
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Thanks for your replies guys!
I think what confused me is that I was able to export out my captured video to 640×360 without letterboxing BUT that was when the project was set up as 1080i….so I am going back to working with the full res version and seeing if that will work for me if I put everything on one timeline (one sequence)
Steve
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[Steve Crow] “what confused me is that I was able to export out my captured video to 640×360 without letterboxing”
That’s because exporting allows for non-standard web video sizes. Web video can be whatever. FCP has to deal with video hardware, which requires the standardization I discussed before.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
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Yeah David that makes perfect sense to me now…and this video will indeed be used online (embedded), in a podcast and on Apple TV (different sizes)
Thanks again!
Steve
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