Creative Communities of the World Forums

The peer to peer support community for media production professionals.

Activity Forums Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy displaying Anamorphic 16:9 footage on my external monitors

  • displaying Anamorphic 16:9 footage on my external monitors

    Posted by Matt Carl on October 10, 2008 at 10:46 pm

    I have created a FCP sequence with 16:9 settings and have applied my anamorphic video footage to it. Everything looks fine in my FCP viewer window (the footage appears rectangular (letterboxed) with a black bar above and below. Problem is that the external monitors I have hooked up to my computer are still displaying my footage as stretched and tall. Even when I record it to tape it is still stretched. I read in the FCP user manual that it is good to keep 16:9 footage stretched tall when making dubs to preserve resolution but the problem is I need it letterboxed for broadcast on TV. I know when I am editing on an AVID and reformat my footage to 16:9 it displays properly on my external monitors. Why is this different and how can I force FCOP to display the letterbox?

    Matt Carl replied 17 years, 7 months ago 2 Members · 2 Replies
  • 2 Replies
  • Bill Dewald

    October 10, 2008 at 11:03 pm

    If you want an anamorphic timeline, then keep it anamorphic. It’s supposed to be stretched. Your monitor should have a 16:9 toggle to view it properly.

    If you want to force FCP to letterbox your anamorphic footage, cut in a non-anamorphic timeline. FCP will automatically letterbox your footage.

    If you need it “letterboxed for broadcast on TV” then export from your non-anamorphic timeline. But be very sure about what the broadcaster is asking for.

  • Matt Carl

    October 15, 2008 at 1:11 am

    Yep that did it. I placed my anamorphic footage into a regular 4:3 timeline and it forced the letter box out to my external monitors and printed to tape that way. Working this way ensures that people watching on a standard TV will see the footage the way it was intended to be seen and not stretched tall.

We use anonymous cookies to give you the best experience we can.
Our Privacy policy | GDPR Policy