[Dan Brazil]

Thanks for the responses guys. I think it may have been a rendering issue.

[Dan Brazil]

Well I have had some success in resolving the issue this way, although it is very guerrilla voice over. The problem is that sometimes when I try and open the capture window while the voice over tool is open, FCP simply won’t let me becuase it claims such an operation is not possible. So I restart over and over and eventually it works again. The behavior is by no means consistent and it varies when it lets me do it. But it has worked and I did get some nice results.

Let me know if you experience any different.

All the best,

Dan

G5 DP 2.5; 4Gig Ram; Blackmagic Decklink Extreme; 23″ Cinema HD Display; Sony HR Trinitron PAL monitor with SD card; 500 Gig Lacie Big Disk Triple Interface; FCP HD; DVDSP3; After Effects 6.5; Photoshop CS; Illustrator CS; plus many others

[Dan Brazil]

The timeline functionality still works, its just that if I am trying to use my Blackmagic XLR audio input I seem to have to have the LOg & Capture window open at the same time

G5 DP 2.5; 4Gig Ram; Blackmagic Decklink Extreme; 23″ Cinema HD Display; Sony HR Trinitron PAL monitor with SD card; 500 Gig Lacie Big Disk Triple Interface; FCP HD; DVDSP3; After Effects 6.5; Photoshop CS; Illustrator CS; plus many others

[Dan Brazil]

So I’ve just had a really stressful/confusing converstaion with the technical guy in the edit suite who has been producing the footage for my client. I was discussing the process by which I achieved the 4:3 version (ie dropping the 16:9 footage into a 4:3 sequence and scaling up to 133%) and he is convinced I am barking up the wrong tree and that I can do it without losing any quality. Everything seemed to be making sense but now I’m baffled once more…

Here’s what he says.

The footage was originally put together in After Effects in a 1024×576 widescreen composition with square pixels. He says that if he was making a 4:3 version of the footage he would simply take that composition and drop it into a 4:3 composition and it would fit the HEIGHT perfectly but it would be the width that would be lost on either end. He would then render it out and all would be nice and pristine. And here’s where I am baffled…on the one hand when I implement your method and I drop the 16:9 into FCP I clearly see the WIDTH being the same menaing that I have to scale up. So why do I think the width is the same and he says its the height that’s the same. Is it beacuse I’m working in rectangular pixels and he’s composed in square (but TV’s use recantagular any way). Or is it because when I am using FCP my screen sizes are 720×576 regardless of whether its 16:9 or 4:3…should I change my screen size to a custom size in sqare pixels perhaps. I mean what choice do I have when I capture off a digi-beta and I am told its been recorded in 16:9 anamorphic?

Please put me out of this madness…

Dan

G5 DP 2.5; 4Gig Ram; Blackmagic Decklink Extreme; 23″ Cinema HD Display; Sony HR Trinitron PAL monitor with SD card; 500 Gig Lacie Big Disk Triple Interface; FCP HD; DVDSP3; After Effects 6.5; Photoshop CS; Illustrator CS; plus many others

[Dan Brazil]

Duncan,

Many thanks for your detailed response – it has proved to be most helpful and I now feel I have a stronger grip on the issues I (and my client) are facing. Its one thing trying to understand a theory but when you put it into practice it really makes alot of sense…by this I mean that I have just made some 16:9 material 4:3 and I now realise how its done – you HAVE to scale up – and man does it look crappy….can’t believe that’s what you’ve goyt to do if you want to make true 4:3 out of 16:9. And it all has to be re-rendered! (FWIW I also found thsi link which has proved invluable in getting my head fully around it https://www.amcro.co.uk/widescr.htm )

But basically this issue all arises because my client doesn’t want to see any bars at all on the DVD and he is also very concerned that the majority of his viewers will be watching on 4:3 TVs and they will not be having an optimum viewing experience if the footage is 16:9. One can argue the point why the project was shot initially in 16:9 in the first place but this is my situation. Would you argue that my client shouldn’t be so concerned about people watching 16:9 footage on 4:3 TVs (they can after all adjust the aspect ratio on most DVD setup menus I guess) or are his fears genuine ones that run across the board?

Once again, many thanks for your help.

Dan Brazil

G5 DP 2.5; 4Gig Ram; Blackmagic Decklink Extreme; 23″ Cinema HD Display; Sony HR Trinitron PAL monitor with SD card; 500 Gig Lacie Big Disk Triple Interface; FCP HD; DVDSP3; After Effects 6.5; Photoshop CS; Illustrator CS; plus many others

[Dan Brazil]

Thanks guys, most helpful

Dan

G5 DP 2.5; 4Gig Ram; Blackmagic Decklink Extreme; 23″ Cinema HD Display; Sony HR Trinitron PAL monitor with SD card; 500 Gig Lacie Big Disk Triple Interface; FCP HD; DVDSP3; After Effects 6.5; Photoshop CS; Illustrator CS; plus many others

[Dan Brazil]

Thanks for clearing that up for me John

G5 DP 2.5; 4Gig Ram; Blackmagic Decklink Extreme; 23″ Cinema HD Display; Sony HR Trinitron PAL monitor with SD card; 500 Gig Lacie Big Disk Triple Interface; FCP HD; DVDSP3; After Effects 6.5; Photoshop CS; Illustrator CS; plus many others

[Dan Brazil]

Thanks for clearing that up for me Shane

G5 DP 2.5; 4Gig Ram; Blackmagic Decklink Extreme; 23″ Cinema HD Display; Sony HR Trinitron PAL monitor with SD card; 500 Gig Lacie Big Disk Triple Interface; FCP HD; DVDSP3; After Effects 6.5; Photoshop CS; Illustrator CS; plus many others

[Dan Brazil]

Thanks guys – I understand now – didn’t realise you had to drag the sequence in.

Dan

G5 DP 2.5; 4Gig Ram; Blackmagic Decklink Extreme; 23″ Cinema HD Display; Sony HR Trinitron PAL monitor with SD card; 500 Gig Lacie Big Disk Triple Interface; FCP HD; DVDSP3; After Effects 6.5; Photoshop CS; Illustrator CS; plus many others

[Dan Brazil]

The trouble with what I’m trying to do is that the source footage actually fully fits the 4:3 timeline EVEN though it is anamorphic.

G5 DP 2.5; 4Gig Ram; Blackmagic Decklink Extreme; 23″ Cinema HD Display; Sony HR Trinitron PAL monitor with SD card; 500 Gig Lacie Big Disk Triple Interface; FCP HD; DVDSP3; After Effects 6.5; Photoshop CS; Illustrator CS; plus many others