[Steven Lambion]

Hopefully this will help.

For dragging from the file browser:
On each video track there is a line in the middle when you drop a clip in a video track with the mouse below this line it overlays over other clips in that track, but if you drop the clip with the mouse above the line it pushes everything to the right to accommodate the newly add clip.

For dragging around clips in the timeline:
Select the clip then hold the control button. Drag the clip to the location you want then release the mouse. All clips underneath will move to the right to accommodate the new clip.

Warning:
If you drag the clip to where the beginning of it is in the middle of a clip that is all ready resident in this location, the resident will split at the location of the beginning of the clip your laying down.

[Steven Lambion]

Is a message coming up saying “unrecognized format”?

[Steven Lambion]

There are a few ways of doing this in Final Cut Pro. I haven’t done this to much, but here’s one idea:

Make a New Sequence set up for the HD aspect you want. Then put the SD sequence inside that. right click it and then select open in viewer. Adjust the size so that all empty space is taken up.

Idea 1:
If it looks good like this then your done.

Idea 2:
if the edges of the SD sequence are cut off and you don’t like this, adjust the aspect ratio of the SD Sequence so it will fit in the HD sequence. Make sure that you don’t squeeze it to much are it won’t look right.

You might need to use third party software to fix quality issues, otherwise use the anti-aliasing, and sharpen effect. Also using layering techniques might help.

Conclusion: there might be a better way of doing this, but I haven’t done much with converting aspect ratios and resolutions.

Hope this helps!!

Video Specialist
Apple Developer
Owner of GranitWorks

[Steven Lambion]

From my experience with Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere, I find that FCP is much less restricting and easier when doing small Projects(I can capture, edit , and export an entire Scene in 40 min.). One feature that I like about Adobe is the Text engine. It has a very nice way of creating very good titles. Yet FCP has a program called LiveType that is a small title creator. This is much better than Adobe’s, but it takes longer to add titles to your project. I also find FCP easier to connect to a camcorder or Deck.

The big question though is what computer you have or like. Adobe Premiere hasn’t been available for macs since 2003, and Final Cut Pro is only for macs.

So if your using windows -> Adobe Premiere
If your using a Mac -> Final Cut Pro (or Studio)

[Steven Lambion]

From my experience with Final Cut Pro and Adobe Permiere, I find that FCP is much less restricting and easier when doing small Projects(I can edit Scene and Export in 20 min.). One feature that I like about Adobe is the Text engine. It has a very nice way of creating very nice titles. Yet FCP has a program called LiveType that is a small title creator. This is much better than Adobe’s, but it takes longer to add to your project. I also find FCP easier to connect to a camcorder or Deck.

The big question though is what computer you have or like. Adobe Premiere hasn’t been available for macs since 2003, and Final Cut Pro is only for macs.

So if your using windows -> Adobe Premiere
If your using a Mac -> Final Cut Pro (or Studio)

[Steven Lambion]

I have run into this as well. I did find a way to fix it, but I kinda forgot what I did. I noticed that my images would be come pixelated around the boarders when use effects like ‘Basic 3D’. I used the Anti aliasing effect and Color Correction. I believe I moved the Color Correction under the Basic 3D and it fixed the problem. So maybe if your using effects, try moving them around.

If this is not the case, go to the Sequence preferences -> Video Processing ->Motion Picture Quality, and make the motion rendering at best. This is not a default setting because it takes awhile to render, but it does help somewhat.

Also make sure that the resolution setting in the render panel is set to 100%.

Video Specialist
Apple Developer
Owner of GranitWorks

[Steven Lambion]

I’m not positive if this is what your talking about, but there is a contextual button in the canvas window with a percentage. Click it and select 100%. Final Cut Pro Automatically puts the Quicktime movie on ‘Fit to Window’, by selecting 100% it will keep your video at full resolution no matter the size of the Canvas window.

[Steven Lambion]

A few suggestions:
Close any other sequence that is open, Quit all other applications, and if all else fails, a restart of Final Cut sometimes works.

If your transfering HD make sure your computer can handle it.

I hope this helps.

[Steven Lambion]

David Roth Weiss answer is pretty much right, but I just felt like adding a bit more. Some times with graphical logos you might need to switch to the rgb color components.

Also you said that the image is pixelated were the blue meets the red. This is a very common thing, these two colors can be very buggy together when used in a graphical image, you might want to change the field dominance to none and/or use the anti aliasing effect.

Video Specialist
Apple Developer
Owner of GranitWorks

[Steven Lambion]

It seems that when you add a clip to a sequence that has a different ratio(from pixel Aspect to frame size), Final Cut Pro tries to adjust the clip to fit inside the Canvas. It sometimes changes the Size and other times it changes the Aspect ratio of the clip.

If you want to have the clip in the original Resolution reset size to 100 and aspect ratio to 0.

-The number one problem is with Photoshop files!! it gets annoying.

Video Specialist
Apple Developer
Owner of GranitWorks