• Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

  Best export settings for SD movie to HD projection

  Posted by Samuel Frazier on March 5, 2012 at 2:01 am

  I made a short doc that’s been accepted into a pretty big festival. I’m very excited, but unsure of the best way to match their settings. They say:

  All films (except those being screened from 35mm) will be captured and shown from Final Cut Pro computers.

  VIDEO COMPRESSION SETTINGS

  compression type APPLE PRORES 4:2:2
  frame rate CURRENT
  gamma AUTO

  VIDEO SIZE SETTINGS
  dimensions CURRENT (final projection will be 1920×1080)

  My movie was actually shot on a DVX100b, so is 720 x 480 at 30p. So, I was wondering:

  1- should just output the film as is at 720 x 480 at 30p
  2- should I do an up-res export to make the film 1920 x 1080 (but w/ bars left and right and the correct aspect ratio)
  3- If I do the up-res export, should I do it with Compressor or would some other software do a better job?
  4- If I use Compressor, how do I adjust the settings to add those bars and keep the aspect ratio correct? I’ve tried a few different ways and keeps getting stretched.

  Thanks ahead of time for any help!!

  Samuel Frazier replied 14 years, 6 months ago 2 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

• 

  Jerry Hofmann

  March 5, 2012 at 10:18 pm

  Leave it all native. Let their hardware do the up conversion. It’s likely better than what you can do in software… SD with a Kona 3 through a strong projector looks pretty good IMHO. Better than a render any day.

  Jerry

  Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann

  Current DVD:
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  8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.
• 

  Samuel Frazier

  March 5, 2012 at 11:27 pm

  Thank you very much! I’m not sure if they’re using a Kona or what, but I’ll go with your advice. It is what they advise doing as well. I just was hoping to avoid any huge mistakes (like my film being stretched), but I’m over thinking.

  Regardless, from here on out it’s HD or no shoot. Sorry, gave up on this world years ago when good SD was the best you could hope for. So, there’s a lot for me to catch up on.

  Thanks!!

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