Final Cut Express/iDVD not supporting DV Widecreen - Simple Question

[Jazzyguy]

Hey guys,

Capturing and editing anamaphoric 16:9 from a DV Camera in Final Cut Express, then exporting using Quicktime (not conversion) gives a file that iDVD does not see as 16:9 but squeezes it to 4:3. After esearching this quite extensivly, Apple's workaround is the following:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1611

Which works fantastic but my simple question is... because I now have to use Quicktime conversion (as stated in the link above) does my quality of the video suffer at all?

Any help greatly appreciated,
Jazzy

 

[FSMBP]

Hey guys,

Capturing and editing anamaphoric 16:9 from a DV Camera in Final Cut Express, then exporting using Quicktime (not conversion) gives a file that iDVD does not see as 16:9 but squeezes it to 4:3. After esearching this quite extensivly, Apple's workaround is the following:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1611

Which works fantastic but my simple question is... because I now have to use Quicktime conversion (as stated in the link above) does my quality of the video suffer at all?

Any help greatly appreciated,
Jazzy

It shouldn't degrade the quality as your not really going from one codec to the other.

If you have Quicktime Pro, you can simply take your 'squeeshed' video from FCE and simply open the video in Quicktime and alter the aspect ratio.

I do that because its faster to export normally in FCE, and it takes 2 seconds to change the aspect ratio in Quicktime Pro.

 

[KeithPratt]

It shouldn't degrade the quality as your not really going from one codec to the other.

That's not technically true — you are recompressing — but it probably won't noticeably degrade the image.

If you have Quicktime Pro, you can simply take your 'squeeshed' video from FCE and simply open the video in Quicktime and alter the aspect ratio.

I do that because its faster to export normally in FCE, and it takes 2 seconds to change the aspect ratio in Quicktime Pro.

The better option if you're willing to splash the $30.