Pixel aspect – Quicktime vs. FCP – Again, Please.

[Dennis Couzin]

My experience is all with PAL’s rectangular pixels, but I think you have no problem.

I leave my timeline with its usual rectangular pixels and go straight to Compressor for the mpeg2 conversion. DVD Studio Pro imports this file to make the DVD files. The resulting DVD plays with the correct aspect ratio.

I can make a QuickTime file straight from the same timeline. It initially plays with the wrong aspect ratio, but this is easily fixed in the QuickTime file playback data as follows:
(1) Open the file with QuickTime.
(2) Go to Window>Show Movie Properties.
(3) Select the Video Track
(4) Deselect Preserve Aspect Ratio
(5) Change the scaled size to give the aspect ratio you want. Do this by increasing one number while leaving the other number fixed.
(6) Press the Enter key
(7) Quit QuickTime Player
(8) Save changes.

The QuickTime file, with or without the playback modification, could also be used in Compressor to make the mpeg2 to make a DVD which plays with the correct aspect ratio.

[Rafael Amador]

[Dennis Couzin] “The QuickTime file, with or without the playback modification, could also be used in Compressor to make the mpeg2 to make a DVD which plays with the correct aspect ratio.”
No that easy.
When you change the Properties your file is not any more a standard NTSC.
When you bring it to any application (FC, MPEGStreamclip) the results are unpredictable.
So change the properties of the movie for display, but when you need to re-process it set the standard specs again.
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

(and here some clips for the friends: https://www.vimeo.com/2694745 )

Some contents or functionalities here are not available due to your cookie preferences!

This happens because the functionality/content marked as “Vimeo framework” uses cookies that you choosed to keep disabled. In order to view this content or use this functionality, please enable cookies: click here to open your cookie preferences.

[Collin Alexander]

Thank you, thank you. Dennis’ solution is great. I didn’t know you could change the properties in Quicktime. That’s exactly what I needed to do. I just change the dimensions from 720 x 480 to 640 x 480, and it plays right on my Virtual VTR.

The master file for the DVD will just be straight from compressor with no tweaking.

Thanks again.

[David Roth weiss]

[Collin Alexander] “Dennis’ solution is great. I didn’t know you could change the properties in Quicktime. That’s exactly what I needed to do. I just change the dimensions from 720 x 480 to 640 x 480, and it plays right on my Virtual VTR. “

Dennis’ method will work Collin, but that’s really not the way to do it properly. Instead, try the following:

1. Open your 720×480 mov file in Quicktime Player:
2. Go to Window>>Show Movie Properties
3. Click on the line with the name of the .mov file.
4. Check the “Conform aperture to:” box
5. Change the dropdown menu to “Production”
6. Go to File>>Save

This make your file display properly in QT Player without changing the pixel dimensions.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[Rafael Amador]

Carps!!
Where did you find David?
Great.
Why there is not a proper QT Player manual?
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

(and here some clips for the friends: https://www.vimeo.com/2694745 )

Some contents or functionalities here are not available due to your cookie preferences!

This happens because the functionality/content marked as “Vimeo framework” uses cookies that you choosed to keep disabled. In order to view this content or use this functionality, please enable cookies: click here to open your cookie preferences.

[Hector Berrebi]

Raphael..

https://www.amazon.com/Apple-Pro-Training-QuickTime-Quick-Reference/dp/0321442482/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237125769&sr=1-1

good book, worth the 20 bucks.

Hector Berrebi
Schibber Group
prePost Consulting

[Rafael Amador]

Hi Hector,
Thanks a lot for the link.
I’ll order from Amazon.
I had no idea was something like that published.
Cheers,
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

(and here some clips for the friends: https://www.vimeo.com/2694745 )

Some contents or functionalities here are not available due to your cookie preferences!

This happens because the functionality/content marked as “Vimeo framework” uses cookies that you choosed to keep disabled. In order to view this content or use this functionality, please enable cookies: click here to open your cookie preferences.

[Tom Brooks]

David,
Now if you could just put this in a Super Bowl ad or get it added to the Ten Commandments or something…
-Tom

[Dennis Couzin]

Thanks David for showing a sleaker solution.
Hiding in the corners of Apple’s cobbled code are great tricks and also legacy garbage. My general preference for entering numbers over trusting jargon, such as “Conform aperture to production”, is not the best approach to QuickTime.
The “proper” solution is one that completely avoids what Rafael refers to as “unpredictable results”. Maybe David’s is one.

[David Roth weiss]

[Dennis Couzin] “My general preference for entering numbers over trusting jargon, such as “Conform aperture to production”, is not the best approach to QuickTime. “

Come on Dennis, “Conform aperture to production” was probably worth at least few hundred lines of code and it’s absolutely as clear and concise as it could possibly be. At least it is if you’re one of Apple’s 18-year-old geek code jockeys who has never worked a day in the video biz.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.