primer on exporting 16x9 HD footage from FCP

[robot909]

First, I tried to search, but I do not like the dvx user search feature, and being limited to one search per 60 seconds impairs it somewhat. Anyway, I'm sure there are reasons for that.

My question is , I've got a bunch on 16:9 HD footage from the hvx being edited in final cut pro, and it seems like FCP (5.0.4) makes it difficult to export the clips or the sequence footage and still keep the 16x9 aspect ratio. I've been fiddling with this for the last few hours and its a pain in the arse.
When exporting using QT conversion, most of the time the footage ends up in the 1.33 ratio, sometimes in the 1.5 ration, and a few times in the proper 1.77 ratio. But the clips are not compressed so they are not appropriate for the web.
Enter Compressor. Even there its a pain to get the footage to come out to be 16x9 and be compressed for the web...

I checked kenstone and larry jordan for some white papers on this, I'm sure its got to be simple,
Can anyone help me out with this issue, and maybe make a sticky for future reference?
thanks a lot!!!

 

[CaptainMench]

You mean export to the web?

Here's your best bet...

File - Export - Quicktime Conversion

Then you'll get a dialog box... make sure it says Quicktime Movie and underneath that you'll have options for default settings... pull down to Broadband High.

Click OPTIONS and change size to something you can live with. MAKE SURE you set it to something that is 16x9!! If you don't know... H=(W/16)*9

Good luck,

CaptM

 

[robot909]

Thanks for the help. The math forumla comes in handy. It looks like I HAVE to specify CUSTOM size in the output window and figure out the dimensions. It still is a pain and many times, even if the QT dialog box shows a 16x9 output dimension, it still outputs to 1.5??? I think its some FCP thing, maybe it will be fixed in the future. Also, have you even tried exporting stills of 16x9 footage? it seems to always write out the file in 1.5 aspect. The only way around this is a screen shot...
thanks!