Down-sizing to Quicktime

C

cjc306

Member
Hi Everyone,

I've been trying to down-rez a 30 gig quicktime movie (way too big) to something that is of a much more manageable size.

The frame size of the original media is 1920x1080. I am trying to get it to 960x720.

When I go to export it as a Quicktime Movie (NOT using Quicktime Conversion), through custom settings I set the frame size to 960x720. The Aspect Ratio is set to HD (960x720) (16:9).

After doing this, I open up the exported movie in Final Cut and it looks fine. However, when I open it in QuickTime, the image is squeezed to a full screen 4:3 looking aspect ratio.

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

Thank you very much!
 
Your problem is that you are working with anamorphic footage. 960x720 is NOT 16:9 aspect ratio. The reason it is working in FCP is that fcp automatically stretches anamorphic footage back out.

Want a managable .mov file with 16:9 aspect?
1. open existing .mov file in QT and open "show movie properties"
2. uncheck the "maintain aspect ratio" checkmark
3. change 960 to 1280 and press "return"
4. File>Export using your favorite codec.
 
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The reason Final Cut stretches out the image is because the video is "flagged" as anamorphic footage.

What was the footage originally shot on?
 
alright, yea I'm not well versed in the ways of the P2 (yet) but I do know that the hvx records w/ 16:9 chips. What I don't know is if the recorded signal on the P2 is anamorphic (16:9 squeezed down to 4:3) or indeed a true 16:9 signal.

Regardless, I believe the footage you are ending up with is anamorphic and if your final product is a .mov file then the process that I described above must be used. If your final product is DVD then you can leave the footage as anamorphic and DVDSP (and probably iDVD) burn the DVD correctly.


Ps. If you want a true 16:9 straight out of FCP without dealing with the whole anamorphic thing, just export from FCP using quicktime and change the current settings tab to DVCPRO HD 720p24
 
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