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Thin black border around QT clip in FCP
So I’ve done my searching and can’t seem to find what exactly is going on here. I’ve got some ProRes HQ 1920x1080i files that I convert to ProRes HQ 4:3 Letterbox 720×486 with QT 7. The converted file looks great in every way in the QT 7 player. But when brought into FCP, in the viewer or canvas, the file now has a thin black border around the whole clip.
Here’s some examples… the clip opened up in QT 7
…and the same clip opened up in FCP
Now I’ve also tried bringing in a 720×480 converted file and it yields the same results, a thin black border.
I’ve created a new sequence and dropped in the file and told FCP to match the clip’s settings, same result.
I’m hoping there is an easy answer to why this is happening, but it’s a new one on me. Any help is appreciated!
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7 Replies
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“that I convert to ProRes HQ 4:3 Letterbox 720×486 with QT 7”
How’d you do that? It looks like a pixel aspect ratio problem. Why aren’t you doing the whole thing in FCP?
All the best,
Tom
Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP7,” “Basic Training for FCS” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 4 Editing Workshop” -
From what I can tell about the clip using the QT7 player, the aspect is dead on. It is successfully downconverted to 720×486 (displayed as 640×480). But once it hits FCP it adds that black border.
Explain doing the whole thing in FCP. I currently use QT to transcode/downcovert files because it is much more consistent than compressor. When compressor does work though the issue does not exist on the clip, only with files converted with QT 7.
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You can tell by the images that you put up that there’s a PAR problem.
You edit your material in FCP in widescreen HD. You make a 4:3 SD sequence in FCP. You place the edited HD sequence in the SD sequence. You render and export.
All the best,
Tom
Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP7,” “Basic Training for FCS” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 4 Editing Workshop” -
What use is a letterboxed QT?
In QT 7 player, what are the aperture settings. If you have it to clean, it crops in and doesn’t show the full rasterike FCP does.
I generally export from FCP as QT conversion to h264- single pass- medium+ quality and sized at 853×480. Haven’t seen the reason for a letterbox for a long time.
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Well you taught me something new… set aperture to production and boom there is the border… so it’s quicktime that’s the culprit.
So why is quicktime creating this border where compressor does not?
As far as the letterboxing, when we receive commercials from our clients they often send in HD media that does not have center cut safe graphics, the only way to ensure that the all the graphics make it on the air is to letterbox the HD media for the final SD output at the station level. Some clients send separate SD versions that are full screen, some insist on using the entire raster of a 16:9 frame.
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If you turn on Image + wireframe, you’ll likely see that it’s not a black boarder, at least on the sides, but just black showing through.
Also check you’re motion tab to see if it’s at 100%. FCP likes to scale things to height, and with this already being letterboxed, I suspect you have unnecessary pixels at the top and bottom of the footage. -
I have exactly the same problem.
I have this annoying thin black frame, that really shows-up when I export from FCP 7 to Vimeo.
I am trying to work out how to create an SD sequence.
This is the original format
and these are the sequence settings
Please help, I have wasted two days trying to sort this out.
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