FCP not flagging 16:9 capture as anamorphic (automatic 4:3 distort)

[Todd Beabout]

Look at the clips in your bin and scroll over to the “Anamorphic” column. If it is not checked, then click it. After this when you put your clip into the timeline, it should be anamorphic and scale properly.

-Todd Beabout
Vazda Studios

[No169no169]

hi dave,

thanks for the help there, I thought FCP should really be able to flag the footage as anamorphic, so you don’t have to go through re-scaling processes manually in other programs which can get messy. As long as no resolution is being lost. Maybe this is something for an upgrade. But it is strange as sometimes FCP does automatically tag anamorphic footage as anamorphic without needing to be ticked in the browser…

[Tom Wolsky]

It will if you set a capture preset that defines the material as anamorphic. It won’t know otherwise.

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” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy” DVDs

[Ron James]

[no169no169] “FCP should really be able to flag the footage as anamorphic, so you don’t have to go through re-scaling processes manually in other programs which can get messy”

I think you’re confusing pixel dimension with anamorphic flags. You’re not “scaling” anything when displaying 4:3 as 16:9, just adding a flag that tells FCP to display it un-squeezed. And, as Tom says, you can capture it automatically flagged.

[Tom Step]

I shot 16×9 DV50 on Panny SDX900. Captured into FCP with anamorphic flag set to on. Edited on 16×9 sequence, then nested that in a 4×3 and rendered it. Looks correct on the Apple display in FCP Canvas but when I make a .dv file (QTConversion with 4×3 preserve aspect with letterbox settings) for server playout, the image is “squat”. Playing back the same file via QTPlayer looks “squat” also. Properties for the .dv are 640×480 pixels native. When I apply a percent increase of 100% by 112% the letterbox image seems correct but of course the dv dimensions do not. Seems the letterbox gets shrunk to about 90% vertically of what it should be… I also tied to change the pixel aspect ratios, but there’s just too many variables to run the tests… Please help

Thanks,
Tom

[Tom Step]

There are no options in QTConversion except DV/DVCPro/DVCPro50 and screen aspect 4×3/16×9 for me to change anything. Compressor conversion settings are more detailed, and they do come up with 720×480… I’m running a test now to convert via Compressor to see what happens…

Thanks,
Tom

[Tom Step]

So I did the Compressor test and the file created is still incorrect. And my 360Systems ImageServer will not play it (as opposed to playing the QTconversion .dv). One thing I noticed is that the Apple setting for creating DV within Compressor defaults to .mov for a file extension and you have to change it to .dv manually (weird). I have 2 screenshots with all the settings, but don’t know how to post them… (small jpegs)

Thanks,
Tom

[Todd Beabout]

Yeah, I believe there is a difference that changing the extension will not fix. MPEG Streamclip is a free program available here:

https://www.squared5.com/

You can open your .mov DV file and export a .dv file from that program. Give it a whirl.

-Todd Beabout
Vazda Studios

[Matthew Rivlin]

We are having a similar issue and after reading through much outdated FCP material I come to the cow.

We have footage on Beta SP which we capture in FCP with an Apple Prores 422 (LT) setting with anamorphic checked. It captures fine and works great as 16×9 in that project since during the capture it is flagged anamorphic.

Our problem occurs when we use those previously captured anamorphic clips and import into a different project. Is there no way for FCP to import with the anamorphic tag set to on? Any easy way to interp. the footage (much like AE) in bulk or on multiple clips at a time?

[Jason Brown]

Is it possible to capture anamorphic 16×9 DV footage with letterbox, rather than squeezed?