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FCP and iDVD widescreen problem
My first post, but I’m hoping that some wise person can help me. I am editing native 16:9 widescreen footage in FCP3 for the Mac. All my timelines and sequences are set up for anamorphic widescreen so they all look OK in FCP. I am having to use iDVD to burn DVDs.
1) Should I export my FCP project as a FCP Movie or re-render as a full quality DV QuickTime file?
2) …and this is my main problem. I was assuming that I could shoot, edit and burn to DVD in anamorphic widescreen. That way, people with widescreen TVs could view in 16:9, and those with 4:3 sets could switch their DVD players to 4:3 letterbox (or centre cut-out) and view the disc that way. My problem is that I can’t seem to get my domestic DVD player to letterbox my discs. Whichever setting I use to export or burn, all I get it 4:3 anamorphic on the DVD. This is fine for widescreen TV users, but no good for 4:3 users. Is there a problem with FCP applying 16:9 flags to my footage?
I know that my last resort is to produce TWO versions of the programme on each DVD and get FCP to letterbox up one version for 4:3 TV users, but I’m sure this shouldn’t be necessary. Can anyone offer any help please?
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4 Replies
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1) Final Cut Pro Movie.
2) You need the current version of iDVD and you need Anamoporhicizer https://homepage.mac.com/sith33/FileSharing34.html
All the best,
Tom
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 2 Editing Workshop” Class on Demand “Complete Training for FCP5” DVD
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Never used iDVD, but ordinarily the 16:9 flag for a DVD is set on the disc. Your DVD player then has to recognise that and letterbox it or otherwise according to your player user settings.
Enzo Tedeschi
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Editor
Sydney, Australia -
Many thanks indeed for the advice and download, but I still seem to be having trouble. I thought I’d followed your instructions but still ended up with a squished anamorphic 4:3 frame on the DVD even with my player set to letterbox mode.
I’m using iDVD 5.0.1 with Panther and FCP3 and QuickTime 7.0.3 Pro. I have 16:9 anamorphic footage and I’m editing into anamorphic timelines and sequences. I then export the sequence as a FCP Movie (as a self-contained movie) with the following custom settings:
720×576 CCIR 601 / DV PAL (5:4)
Anamorphic 16:9 checked
PAL – CCIR 601
Lower (even) field dominance
Timebase at 25fps
DV – PAL compressor at 100% quality
Audio settings at 44.1khzI then take that FCP Movie file and drop onto Anamorphicizer (the QT7 version) which then makes a .mov reference QT file. I then drag that into iDVD and burn. But my player still doesn’t want to switch into letterbox when asked to! What am I doing wrong? Thanks so much!
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A bit of further digging on the internet reveals that this problem seems to be far more difficult to fix with iDVD than simply running files through Anamorphicizer. See this link:
https://capital2.capital.edu/admin-staff/dalthoff/widescreen.html
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