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Can I change the “scaled size” of quicktime files with Compressor without doing anything else?
Hi all,
I’m trying to automate a process that I really shouldn’t have to in the first place, but I am trying to please a client. I’ll try to explain.
I have a job capturing over a hundred hours shot on DVCam (720×480 shot in 16×9) and since I wanted to automate the process and the client is ok with naming conventions like “tape-1-1.mov” I looked for and found a nice piece of software called Live Capture Plus (https://www.squarebox.co.uk/lcplus.html) which automates capture, keeps timecode on the clips and still captures to the end of the tape even when there are time code breaks.
This is all well and good but for some reason when I open the material captured by Live Capture Plus (supposedly in the DV codec at 720 x 480) in Quicktime Pro, the frame is stretched out horizontally and reads in the inspector under “format” that the file is: “DV/DVCPRO – NTSC, 720 x 480 (853 x 480), Millions, 16-bit Integer (Big Endian), Stereo (L R), 48.000 kHz”. That seems right, but under “normal size” it reads that the frame is: “853 x 480” and the current size is “910 x 432”. I know I can resize “current frame” just pulling on the corner of the playback frame and that size is inconsequential.
The files directly out of Live Capture Plus open just fine in FCP (right aspect ratio, everthing), but the client is freaked out by what they see when they open them in Quicktime Pro, so I have to find a way to give them what they want, if it makes sense or not.
Here is what I want to do. I’ve found that if in Quicktime Pro I just go into movie properties, click on video track and then re-set the scaled size from “853 x 480” to “720 x 480” and un-click the “preserve aspect ratio” check box, then save the file, all is well and good and it opens just fine at 720 x 480 just as the client wants.
I’d like to automate this process and thought that I could do it using Compressor. Is there a way to set up a Compressor setting that just changes the scaled size from 853 x 480 to 720 x 480 without doing any compression or codec changes. I tried it by running it through with the DV NTSC setting, but am concerned that I am re-compressing a DV file a second time. All I need to do is find a way to batch process the scaled size. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Michael Escher
Los Angeles, CA -
4 Replies
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Have you looked at Automator?
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Please post back saying what solved your problem. It could help others, and saying ‘thanks’ is free! -
I fooled around with Automator a couple of hours before I wrote this forum. I admit I was poking around in the dark and didn’t have a “how to” on the program but after a while I gave up and hoped that I could do it through compressor.
I’ll take a look at the link you sent and see if I can figure it out using Automator. Still would be nicer to do it in Compressor.
And thanks Daniel!
Michael Escher
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I don’t think there’s a way to do it in compressor without recompressing, I could be wrong, it’s been a while since I’ve used it.
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Please post back saying what solved your problem. It could help others, and saying ‘thanks’ is free! -
I have to admit Automator looks slick, but I can’t figure out how to get in the guts of it and either modify an existing action or to record my own.
I feel like I am back on my old DOS machine again. ARGH!!
And I believe you are right Daniel, it appears from my experiments trying to do it via Compressor that it re compresses the file, at least it seemed like it from the time it took on each file. The re-compressed files don’t look bad, at least from what I can tell on playback, but I’d rather not take the chance on having that cause trouble down the line.
Anyhow, if anyone out there has a elegant solution to this, let me know.
Thanks ahead of time for any assistance!
Michael Escher
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