I am in desperate need of help with FCE.

[66217]

I just don't get it. I have made a widescreen title using LiveType. I export it to a quicktime movie and it looks horrible, all squeezed. But no problem there, I add it to a anamorphic FCE project and everything looks OK.

But then I export the FCE file to a QuickTime movie and again I have the horrible squeezed video. How can I solve this?

How else can I make a widescreen video with FCE? The anamorphic thing seems to complicated, and then, the camcorder I'll buy does not record in anamorphic video, but it do has 16:9.

Thanks in advance,

 

[ppc_michael]

What do you want to do with your exported Quicktime file? Put it on a tape to watch on TV, put it on a DVD to watch on TV, or watch it on your computer screen?

If you're going to put it on a DVD, then everything is still fine. Just make sure you're making a 16:9 DVD and the DVD player will adjust the aspect ratio properly during playback.

If you're putting it on a tape to watch on a 4:3 TV, create a new sequence in FCP and make sure it is 4:3 (non anamorphic). Drop your 16:9 sequence into the 4:3 sequence, and you will now have a letterboxed 4:3 sequence, that will look correct both on the computer screen and on TV.

If you're making it to watch on your computer, use either "Export using Compressor" or "Export Using Quicktime" and specify dimensions that have a 16:9 ratio, like 640x360.

 

[66217]

Thanks.

It is for a DVD. But why does this happens?
Am I correct in thinking that if I put it in a DVD player to watch it in a 4:3 TV the DVD player would automatically include the letterbox format?

 

[Peel]

Thanks.

It is for a DVD. But why does this happens?
Am I correct in thinking that if I put it in a DVD player to watch it in a 4:3 TV the DVD player would automatically include the letterbox format?

This happens because the format on a DVD is neither 16:9 nor 4:3, but is a compromise between the two. 16:9 SD format is 853x480, and 4:3 is 640x480. But the format size that Video DVD contains is 720x480. If this is a widescreen (anamorphic) format it will be stretched back out to 853x480 for play on your widescreen TV, of shrunk down to 640x360 if played on a regular TV set.

 

[LethalWolfe]

This happens because the format on a DVD is neither 16:9 nor 4:3, but is a compromise between the two. 16:9 SD format is 853x480, and 4:3 is 640x480. But the format size that Video DVD contains is 720x480. If this is a widescreen (anamorphic) format it will be stretched back out to 853x480 for play on your widescreen TV, of shrunk down to 640x360 if played on a regular TV set.

4:3 in the computer world is 640*480 because computers use square pixels, but NTSC digial video is 720*480 because it uses non-square pixels. NTSC is always 4:3 so there is no widescreen format. As you said though you can squeeze a 16:9 image into a 4:3 frame (anamorphic) or use letterboxing to put the 16:9 image into a 4:3 frame. The 853*480 (I've also seen 854 and 848 used) number can be used to create videos for playback on computers (as not all programs will proplery read the "anamorphic" flag on a clip) but it's not an offical dimension.


Lethal

 

[bimmzy]

Thanks.

It is for a DVD. But why does this happens?
Am I correct in thinking that if I put it in a DVD player to watch it in a 4:3 TV the DVD player would automatically include the letterbox format?

The truth about widescreen video is that, it’s a bit of a Friday afternoon job.
What do mean by this?

When 16:9, the widescreen format of television was conceived, the engineers decided to shoe-horn a wider picture in to the same old academy 12:9 format.
The way they did that was to elongate the pixels, making a square pixel essentially third wider.
So a 16:9 signal in NTSC or PAL is squidgey version of what is essentially a 4:3 native video signal, occupying the same space and bandwidth.

A normal TV cannot discern the difference between the two kinds of pictures, and that’s why anamorphic looks funny on a old set.
Wide screen TVs only know when the picture is anamorphic, when they see the 16:9 reference flag above the picture.

Add one of those, and all your equipment will lock to 16:9… assuming they're widescreen capable!