Two different cameras with two different settings, How to bring together?

[Sascha Engel]

Yes, you got yourself into a mess, but not as bad as the BP oil accident – so don’t worry.
If I were you, I would get them onto the same format, so you can work with them in the same timeline, without facing render issues and problems with Mulitclip editing.
Take the 16:9 footage, put it into a new sequence – meaning 4:3 – so it will be letterboxed (which you at the end of the editing also will have to do with the 4:3 footage to visually equalize both).
Set also all the other properties in the Timeline Settings to the same than your 16:9 footage, then Export Quicktime, re-import this movie.
Now, if you drop both of them in a new Timeline, they should just play fine, also in the Mulitclip mode.

Let me know if it helped.

Sascha

[Michael Sacci]

Everything has to match before you can use multicam. Codec, frame resolution, and framerate. Both of your video are HD so this is just a matter of transcoding the files.

You can just convert Camera 1 to match Camera 2 with Compressor, Using a ProRes Interlaced setting with the frame resolution of 1440×1080. Make sure you keep the frame rate at 29.97/

or

This needs to be done to both sets of footage and will speed up future processing since you are working in full raster resolution.
In Compressor transcode both the ProRes 1920×1080 Interlaced @ 29.97 (or 59.94i). I would test short bit of the 1440 footage because their is a little more stuff happening, Compressor has to stretch out the pixel (which is what is happening any time you play it) Turning on Frame Control may help, but only use it if you really need it, adds a lot of time to the process, that is why I saying to do short test.

Then in FCP you match the sequence settings to these ProRes.

You should not be letterboxing anything.

[Sascha Engel]

Now, correct me if I am wrong, but if you stretch out a 4:3 image, don’t you get distortion.
If that is so, wouldn’t Letterboxing be the better option?

Sascha

[John Fishback]

Both are 16×9. The 1440×1080 is anamorphic – a thin raster HD. That’s why Michael is suggesting converting it to 1920×1080 which is full raster. Full raster, as he explained, plays more easily in FCP since FCP doesn’t have to stretch each frame (in real time) as it plays.

John

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[Sascha Engel]

Got it. Thanx, John. I wasn’t aware of that. I thought that he was talking about a 4 to 3 ratio.
Yes, in this case my suggestion of letterboxing is not relevant.

Cheers for the upgrade!

Sascha