16:9 - Squeeze Mode - digitizing footage

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edgaroso

New member
hi all - i recently shot a documentary with my new dvx100b. it worked wonderfully. i am now getting ready to digitize the footage and am in a quandary. here are my details:

i shot: 24p, 16:9, squeeze mode and i am using final cut 4 (but i may upgrade to 5 in the next week or so) on a g4.

my questions:

* i'm using a sonyvx1000 as a deck. is there a way i can capture using this camera as a deck and retain the 16:9 aspect ratio/letter box look?

* would final cut 5 be best in transferring this footage with the above mention specs?

* if final cut 4 is fine for this, what are the settings you would recommend during the capture process.

* i would rather not use my dvx as a deck since i shot well over 200 hours of footage. is there a deck or camera you'd recommend for being the deck for digitizing the footage?

i have read the current posts and have gotten a few of these questions answered, but nothing definitive. i apologize for how simple these questions may sound. i'm not very technical person but am a very talented filmmaker - go figure!

thanks in advance!

edgaroso :happy:
 
I can’t comment on final cut, but you will be fine transferring the footage from that other camera. The squeeze footage means that the actual image recorded (wide screen) was scaled horizontally to fit in the regular 4x3 box. So if you view your footage from the camera on a regular TV (not widescreen) it will look like it’s smashed horizontally (the people will look abnormally thin for example). The key is that when you edit your footage, you need to spec in the software that the footage is widescreen, and make the composition or editing window set for that too. Then the squeezed footage will stretch back out to look normal. If you want it to appear letterboxed on a 4x3 screen, you will have to stretch the footage to widescreen and put that into a 4x3 composition (scale accordingly), depending on what software you’re using…

Good luck!
 
The key is to use a capture and sequence preset that includes a check in the box for ANAMORPHIC. Any deck will do. Any version of FCP will do.

So -- capture preset DV/NTSC 29.97 48k 16bit Anamorphic. You can create your own from the preset DV/NTSC in the Capture preferences.

Also, make sure your sequence is set to anamorphic... again, you can do this from the preset preferences - or Apple-Zero an already created sequence in your browser.

When you start to capture, the capture preview window will LOOK like it's coming in Letterboxed... but it isn't... just let it capture and you'll see that indeed it is widescreen - no black bars.

Good luck,

CaptM
 
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