• Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

  FCP – 5DmkII – TV 4/3

  Posted by Giuliano Bausano on May 13, 2013 at 9:50 am

  Hi everyone,
  I am asking some of your kind suggestions please.

  I did a small 30″ spot with 5DmkII and i edited directly the files.mov in FCP because was a very short and fast editing assigment (almost no editing required), now they asking me a file in Mpeg2 4/3 format for a local TV (btw i am in italy) is it correct to use compressor which fit into a 4/3 file.m2t which looks streched?

  more info:
  i did a lot of DVD and bluray menu with Encore before but mostly of them was done for weddings videos and i usually did AppleProres conversion first.. to be honest it’s the first time i do some work for tv standards, obviously i did some research first so i used compressor to convert the export file.mov i got from FCP, into a 4/3 file.m2t but it looks streched (it’s logical, you may say) but i guess if it is really what thay want? So streched? Should it be PAL interlaced too? Please help me to clear some mess in my workflow 🙂

  Best regards.
  rISO3D

  oh i forgot i am using FCP 7 not FCP X

  Rafael Amador replied 13 years, 3 months ago 3 Members · 4 Replies
• 4 Replies

• 

  Rafael Amador

  May 13, 2013 at 11:18 am

  I don’t think your client will want a distorted picture.
  To put a 16×9 picture on a 4/3 frames without distortion, you have two solutions;
  – Fill the 4×3 frame, in which case you need to crop both sides (left&right) of the picture.
  – Fit the frame, so the picture won’t be cropped but displayed adding black bars on top and under (letter-boxed).
  You have to decide which of both formats you want.
  rafael
• 

  Giuliano Bausano

  May 13, 2013 at 11:38 am

  Thanks a lot for your answer, i guess i will try to fill the frame, 788×576 should be ok?
  Wat about the Mpeg2 please? is it just like a file for a DVD?
• 

  Neil Patience

  May 13, 2013 at 12:23 pm

  Hi Giulano

  4×3 PAL is 720×576 – it sounds like what you created before was anamorphic hence the distortion. As Rafael rightly says you can either provide a letterboxed version (black bar top and bottom) or a centre cut out version (full frame but you lose the sides). My guess is that they would prefer the full frame option as sometimes broadcasters are not keen on letterboxes pictures.

  PAL can be interlaced or progressive, I would create a 4×3 interlaced sequence, you can happily edit your progressive material into that. FCP will letterbox 16×9 material by default but just expand to fill the frame (losing sides) You can adjust left right a little if something important is lost.
  You need to check caption safe area too – if you have graphics they may need adjusting so they are 4×3 safe.

  Did they specify any more detail than just ‘MPEG’ ? – might be worth double checking the spec they require for that. Usually broadcasters publish a delivery requirements document that should give you all the information you need to comply with delivery.

  best wishes
  Neil
  http://www.patience.tv

  8 Core MacPro, Kona 3, Tangent Wave, Mackie Universal Symphony 6.5 FCP7
  i7 2.7 Gig MBP (non retina) 16Gigs Ram Blackmagic Monitor Mini Symphony 6.5 FCP7
• 

  Rafael Amador

  May 13, 2013 at 1:49 pm

  As Neil s, you should ask for the proper specs for the “.m2t”, because normally this should allows higher data rate than the DVDs standard MPEG-2 (.m2v).
  To be able to rise the data rate, you must select “Stream Usage: Generic”.
  rafael

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