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DVCPro HD Quicktime movie not 960×720
Ok, I have spent the last hour searching the Cow, and Google-ing everything I can think of and haven’t found out how to fix my problem yet. I have a HVX-200a which I have shot 2 concerts on, and am now trying to shoot some “stock” type of footage for an upcoming project. Tonight I decided to record some lightning that was in the area. I recorded a half hour of it at 720, 60p in the camera. When I tried to scrub through it in the “Log and Transfer” window (camera plugged in FW to a Mac Pro 3GHz 8-Core), it wasn’t smooth, so I couldn’t tell exactly where to put my in and out points. So, I decided to transfer all of it, and cut it down to the useable footage after the fact. I imported it all into my sequence, which is set as follows: Frame Size: HD(960×720)(16:9), Pixel Aspect Ratio: HD (960×720), Anamorphic 16:9 set to OFF, Editing Timebase: 59.94, Compressor: DVCPro HD 720p60. Everything drags onto the timeline fine, and in the browser, everything says it is 960×720.
NOW, when I try to go to “File..Export..Quicktime Movie” to export a self-contained movie that is only a few seconds long (so that I can ditch the half hour of footage that is nothing but a black sky), I set it to current settings, video only, no markers, re-compress frames OFF, and make self-contained ON, it creates a movie on my desktop that is 1280×720. I have tried to turn re-compress frames ON, and it does the same thing. I have also tried creating a custom output for the settings that says it will be 960×720, but the resulting file is still 1280×720. The only way that I have been able to create a correct 960 file is to use compressor, but I think it is slightly pixelated when I do that (comparing it to the original file).
Just as a test, I decided to go back to the other 2 concerts that we had shot, and see how they export. They are also exporting at 1280×720, and they had footage that came from 3 different cameras. They didn’t always do that. I remember when we first shot it, I always exported it out as 960×720, and converted it to 16:9 in compressor for approval videos. Now, it’s not doing that anymore. Also, I tried to export something yesterday to track in Mocha. When I finished the track and brought the XML back to FCP, it didn’t line up, and that was the first time I realized that I was exporting 1280×720 instead of 960×720.
I have read about a bug in FCP version 6.0.1 that did this exact thing (I am in version 6.0.5), and found Ken Stone’s website that says to make sure there are no empty frames at the out point, and that should fix it. It doesn’t though, my files are still 1280×720. (the website is: https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/dvcpro_hd_aspect_bug.html)
I’m sorry if this is a long post, I just want to make sure you understand that I have looked everywhere I can think of, and that my system hasn’t always done this. I really want to stay at 960×720, because that is the native frame size, and everything for most of our projects is going to come from our camera. I don’t want any “stock” type footage that we shoot to be at 1280×720, mixing back into a 960×720 timeline in the future. Is anyone else experiencing anything like this? Is there a setting that I messed up or changed inadvertently? If I have to use Compressor to export, I guess I can, I just really don’t want to loose the generation for no good reason. Any help on this would really, really help me stop pulling my hair out, and would let me start to get some actual use out of Mocha too.
Thanks guys,
Steven Beers -
6 Replies
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Are you looking at this movie in FCP or Quicktime Player? In Quicktime Player the file will play back as 1280 I believe. In FCP you should see it still 960.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
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I have tried viewing it in both. Even in the finder though (10.4.11), it says the original source file is 960×720, yet the output is 1280×720. When I open the original in Quicktime, it looks stretched vertically like I expect it to. Also, when I exported the file a few days ago to track in Mocha, Mocha told me that the file was 1280×720, and created an XML with a track in it that didn’t even come close to lining up with my original footage.
Getting my Mocha workflow is really my bigger concern long term. I am really excited to get into that program more and do some tracking, but I can’t see how well it works till I can get something that goes back into FCP correctly.
Steve
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I am so sorry, I lied to you. When I double click the file in the finder, it opens it its own window in FCP, which shows up as 1280×720. When I import it back into my sequence, it does say that it is 960×720. What a pain in the ass. Now I just have to figure out how to get Mocha to see it as 960 instead of 1280. Thanks for the point in the right direction Walter, I appreciate the time.
Steve
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Not sure this will work, but …
In Quicktime Player, open the clip then open the Movie Properties (cmd+J)
Select the name of the movie and then click the Presentation tab. Then set Conform Aperture to “Encoded Pixels”. The image will now squeeze to 960 x 720. Save your movie.
Hopefully Mocha will now read it correctly.
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That did work for Quicktime, but the Finder is still saying it is 1280×720, and Mocha is still saying that it is 1280×720 when I import it. Thanks for the advice though, it did make the video look the way I thought it would in Quicktime. Now I just have to figure out why everything is suddenly being interpreted as rectangle pixels instead of square ones like it used to. After Effects is seeing it as 960×720. I’ll keep messing with it and figure it out. Thanks again.
Steve
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Might be worth an e-mail or phone call to the Mocha tech support people
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