16:9 movies from FCP 7 showing as 4:3 in iDVD

[Tom Wolsky]

iDVD does not support anamorphic SD material.

https://www.fcpbook.com/Video9.html

All the best,

Tom

Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP6,” “Basic Training for FCS2” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 4 Editing Workshop”

[Adam Schoales]

yes i told it to do a 16×9 project and yes i know it doesn’t “technically” support anamorphic. however as I mentioned I went through the usual steps of changing the scaled size but that didn’t seem to make a difference…

again i have a feeling this is due to FCP 7 or Snow Leopard.

[Tom Wolsky]

Works for me. Presentation is set to Classic and the image is resized to 853X480.

All the best,

Tom

Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP6,” “Basic Training for FCS2” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 4 Editing Workshop”

[Adam Schoales]

sorry you’ll have to forgive me, what is “classic” presentation mode? are you running snow leopard? quicktime 7 or quicktime x?

[Adam Schoales]

I solved my problem, but jebus was it stupid.

Here’s what you have to do (currently – who knows apple may actually fix this in the future but seeing as both iDVD and DVD SP haven’t been updated in a few years I’m not holding my breath). Again, not sure if this was a Snow Leopard or FCP 7 issue but here’s what you need to do.

Edit your entire sequence as you normally would. Make sure your editing in anamorphic 16:9 mode.

Once you’re finished editing your sequence save it, and dupe your sequence just to be safe. Go to sequence settings and uncheck the anamorphic 16:9 box. Your sequence will now be stretched to fit the 4:3 frame.

Export this as you normally would (export>quicktime movie). I didn’t do a self contained file – not sure if this makes a difference. Will do a test tomorrow to double check.

Open that file in Quicktime (7 NOT quicktime x since X removed all the useful features in quicktime). Show movie properties (cmd+j) and click “Video Track” and then visual settings. Uncheck “Preserve aspect ratio” and change to 853×480 (if your using Snow Leopard you’ll notice “Scaled Size” and the values by default are 0x0 – this is normal, and what you want to change). Hit enter, close the properties, save the video. You’ll notice it will now have stretched your image to be a 16:9 image and things will not look funny anymore.

Bring that file into iDVD and you’re set.

Like I said, dont know WHY this is now an issue, it never was before, but I know that when I opened the video exported from the anamorphic sequence in quicktime everything displayed nicely – which it hadn’t done in the past (the anamorphic flag was set for things like compressor but quicktime always showed it as a 4:3 movie). Something changed along the way and iDVD must be getting confused. Where that changed happened (be it FCP 7 or Snow leopard) im not sure. hopefully the issue will be sorted out though.

[Adam Schoales]

Okay so I lied… the method I mentioned before results in an incorrect aspect ratio and a green line at the bottom of the screen. However Tom was correct. Open the file in quicktime 7, hit cmd+j, click the presentation tab, change “conform aperture” to classic (its probably set to production). then proceed as before (video track, visual settings, scaled size = 853×480).

its that presentation mode the screws stuff up. which i think is new in SL.

Hopefully apple will make a knowledge base article.

[Dan Rutledge]

Just wanted to add a quick post. I’ve been around a bunch of forums and seen lots of solutions to this issue including downloading separate programs or editing the rendered files with a text editor! But this is the one. Very simple solution and works like a charm. Thanks for your help. -Dan

[Simon Yapp]

Dear all,

I firstly wanted to thank everyone on this thread as I’ve got to complete a project today and it is in 16:9 – exported from FCP 7 and it was only playing in 4:3 squashed once IDVD had messed it up as documented above.

I have a even simpler solution which is to export from FCP via Compressor as a Apple Pro Res to the 853×480 res. this then plays perfectly in iDVD when you drop it on the menu and tested it.

I am though shocked that Apple are still in 2011 selling a system and software which can’t make a DVD from FCP in 16:9 which does not work without trips to helpful sites like this. Come on Apple!

Thanks again,

Simon

[Matt Radico]

Thanks to everyone responding to this thread.

Simon- what flavor of Apple Pro Res did you use for your workflow? I have tried a number of the settings in Compressor and am still getting a 4×3 image in iDVD. (However it is showing at 857×480 in Quicktime)

I am running FCP 7, compressor 3.5.3 and Snow Leopard.

Thanks for any help you can lend.

Matt

[Scott Parker]

My bacon has been saved by this thread! Thanks!