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DVCProHD displays squished on FSI from viewer, not sequence
Working on a 1080i project in FCP 7 with BlackMagic Ultrastudio Express. I’m hooked up SDI to my FSI monitor.
The footage is in a 1080i ProRes 422 sequence. I’m using the Easy Setup of the same name, minus the HQ.
My source footage is both DVCProHD (1280×1080) and XDCam EX (1920×1080). All looks great in the sequence. Fills the frame as it should. But when viewing the DVCProHD in the viewer, it is still being shown in it’s native squeezed anamorphic state on the FSI monitor. Black bars on the side. Looks good in the viewer though. Seems like the BM device should know to expand the footage to full 16:9 and not show it native, but I can’t see a setting.
Not a big problem, but would like it to show full raster when in the viewer so clients don’t keep asking, why is that squished?
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3 Replies
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Hi Brett,
This is a FCP issue and how it handles outputs from the viewer and the canvas differently. When you are viewing from the “viewer window” you are essentially looking at the file from the bin and not the sequence therefore FCP will output the original files pixel aspect ratio and resolution, whereas the canvas is displaying the sequence and therefor the sequence settings.
When faced with using mixed formats in FCP in the past I would usually transcode everything to prores before the edit to avoid just such a problem.
“Think of everything in terms of building capacity.”
Kris Merkel
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Product Manager, Flanders Scientific Inc.
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Well I’m certainly not blaming the FSI monitor. 🙂 I just mentioned the FSI so nobody would confuse computer monitor/viewer with the actual video monitor. It’s a blackmagic issue or FCP 7 setting. I’ve been using FCP for 12 years and output devices handled DVCProHD correctly on output from the viewer in the past. AJA does, matrox does, and BM does. I’m new to this device, but was using matrox and BM intensity extreme before. Both via HDMI so that may be the difference, but I use AJA elsewhere and haven’t had DVCProHD show squished that I can remember ever. Hmm.
Can anyone else concur this is normal?
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[Kris Merkel] “When faced with using mixed formats in FCP in the past I would usually transcode everything to prores before the edit to avoid just such a problem.”
No need for that. I figured it out. With blackmagic, unlike AJA or Matrox, it takes it’s settings directly from the easy setup. With AJA and Matrox, the easy setup needs to match the control panel where upscaling and downscaling occur, and actual output is controlled. Since the BMD box only has one cross conversion from 720p to 1080i, it just passes the signal since I don’t have that setting on.
UNLESS, you choose the DVCProHD 1080i easy setup in FCP. This seems to force all video to be output full width. It leaves the XDCam full raster alone, as it does the ProRes sequence. The end result is exactly what you need if you’re editing with any DVCProHD material.
As for transcoding, seems silly to waste all the drive space since it plays back natively and renders quickly when the project is complete. Ditto with XDCam. But I know many do.
Hope this helps someone else.
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