16:9

[Jeff Carpenter]

Need a little more info here…

What does “exported to tape” mean? Did you put it back on the GL1? If so, why did you export to MP4 first?

Or are you putting it onto some other tape format?

[Mohsin Syed]

Thx for the response Jeff:

The thing is that I imported it to MP4 to send it to my brother (The project was for one of his friends). And I exported it back to GL1 to see what the final product would look like on the tape. But in both formats (MP4 and tape) it came out letter boxed. So, please let me know how can I get true 16:9 without the letterbox.

Thanks’
M.S

[Jeff Carpenter]

This is an anamorphic project? Meaning, the viewer in Final Cut shows a 16:9 image and not a letterboxed one?

For exporting, use the ‘Quicktime Conversion’ setting and then manually change the frame size to something 16:9. I suggest 480×270.

As for tape, it’s quite possible that it IS going to tape correctly. And by that I mean it’s putting a squeezed image that fills the 4:3 frame. It’s very possible that the GL1 knows it’s anamorphic and is thus SHOWING it as letterboxed on the viewscreen so that the picture looks correct. In other words, it might be the camera viewfinder that’s making the letterbox.

When you play the GL1 tape out to a TV with an analog cable, what happens? Is there a menu setting to change the aspect ratio on the analog output? What happens when you do that?

[Mohsin Syed]

Thx again for the reply:

Sorry I forgot to mention one BIG fact. Its a GL2 not 1. I had it set on 16:9. Now when I captured it into FCP express it wan fine in both the Canvas and the viewer. its when I converted it to MP4 and output it to tape I got this letterbox. Now I have just regular QT. Do I need to upgrade it to QT pro? Also when I capture 16:9 footage into FCP can you tell me what preferences I should set it on?

Thanks’
M.S

[Jeff Carpenter]

You should use the Easy Setup called NTSC – Anamorphic.

If you didn’t do that this time, you can fix it.

In the bin, find the sequence you’re working in and right-click it. Select ‘Item Properties’ and find the ‘Anamorphic’ line. Make sure it’s checked “on.”

After you’ve checked that, does the video still look right? It’s not distorted in any way? If it’s good, you’re fine. Just follow the advice in the last post. If it’s wrong, explain what’s wrong with it.