Aspect ratio issue – ‘squeeze’ becomes 4:3

[Joe Oberster]

What are your Sequence Settings?

Joe

[Elma Okic]

Hi Joe! OK, so I will be very basic here, I am quite new to FCP…

When I saw you mention a sequence I see there is a thumb in the Project with the name Sequence. The settings here are:

Frame size: 720×576
Aspect ratio: DV PAL (5:4)
Pixel aspect ratio PAL -CCIR (720×576)
Field dominance: Lower (Even)
Anamorphic 16:9 is NOT ticked

Now, for importing footage from the camera I followed documentation I found on internet, so I created a Bin into which I Logged and CAptures footage. The footage appears under a film strip thumb, under the Bin folder. Right clicking on that gives option to see ‘Clip settings’ But when I choose it, it says ‘No items have files that are applicable to this operation’. However, ‘Item properties’ on this one give similar info as above (+ compressor DV PAL).

What shall I do? Import/capture again? Or just change some properties, somewhere..?

[Joe Oberster]

Sorry, I’ve never worked in PAL so I don’t know if I’ll be much help, but I was going to suggest that you try playing with your pixel aspect ratio setting. I have shot on “squeeze” in the past, though it was with a Sony Z1, which was the right choice, as your other choice was probably “crop” and you would have lost image that way.

If changing your pixel aspect ratios around doesn’t work, I have a more unorthodox method for you. What I’ve done in the past in a pinch is just create a sequence that has settings for what aspect ratio you want in your end product. Next you drop in your footage to the timeline, and when it asks you if you want to change the sequence settings to match your footage, say “no”. Once your footage is in there, it should look a little squeezed, so just grab your sizing handles and give the footage a little stretch to the edges of your frame. It should be pretty close if not exactly what you want it to look like.

Good luck,

Joe

[Dennis Leppell]

I used camera setting ‘squeeze’ and shot on tape. The recording setting was

This is also known as anamorphic. It is 16:9 ‘squeezed’ to 4:3

I am importing to Final Cut Pro, but the footage looks like 4:3. Why is this?

In your easy setup when you capture, select (Pal or NTSC) Anamorphic. Since you’ve already captured the footage, change your easy setup, then create a new sequence. Drag the footage to the new sequence, everything should be good. If not, double click a clip on the timeline, and select the motion tab. Adjust the distort settings. It should be at -33.33%, but could be 12.5 or 50, depending on format and sequence setting! When it look right, right click, copy, then select all clips, right click, and select paste attributes. Select the distort setting, and every clip should now be adjusted properly.

[Elma Okic]

Thank you both! Very useful stuff. But now I am even worse off!

Before I read Dennis’ post I tried to re-capture the footage after changing Easy Set Up. I had found this forum string: https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/8/1001057 and on the Easy Set Up chose the option to capture DV50.

It seemed to capture well, but for some reason suddenly it did not save to the project. I think it just failed to show as captured footage.

When I went to capture again, I keep on getting Error message – saying that Capture encountered a problem reading the data on tape. But camera is quite new, and I also tried on a different camera…

So now the issue is Re-capturing! I think I am just about completely lost.

[Joe Oberster]

Did you start from scratch again? I would just start a new project with fresh settings and start over. But don’t delete your previous project with whatever footage you’ve already captured just in case.

Joe

[Elma Okic]

Yes, but I can’t capture any more! I keep on getting errors. In batch capture I get ‘Capture encountered problem reading data on your source tape’. When I go choose Capture – Now, it just says ‘waiting for timecode’ (timecode seems ok) 🙁

Easy Set Up settins are DVCPRO – PAL 48Hz Anamorphic

[Joe Oberster]

Do you have another tape to test your capture/camera with? I hate to say it, but if a different tape captures successfully, then you may have a corrupt tape on your hands.

Joe