16:9 aspect ratio and exporting

Sorry, I'm a bit confused. As I stated before, I imported using the Anamorphic and I'm already letter boxed in FCP. The problem is when I'm exporting it doesn't stay that way. To give you an example, I can view in the viewer in FCP which is not suppose to be a high res display and it looks 5 times better than when i export to a Quicktime movie. My DVD quality also looks fuzzy and nothing like the original captured video.

I tried what you suggested and it appears that I'm getting a similar track to my original. Both are letter boxed, or appear to be anyway.

I have to figure this out because my video in FCP looks great. Just need to get it onto a DVD looking as good.

Thanks,

glenn

Just to clarify here are my current processes:

I capture 24p 16:9 video form the Canon XL2 which is suppose to be capturing true 16:9 instead of stretching like the older XL1 did. I then connect the camera and capture to FCP using the DV-NTSC Anamorphic setting. When I view the video after importing, it takes up a wider than tall aspect like a 16:9 would so assume its cool. I then produce the picture the way I want it and everything is awesome. Even viewing in what I've been told is a less than optimum viewer in FCP.

So up to this point everything is perfectly fine. However, the next step I do is to export a QT using current settings. This exported movie when viewed does not look nearly as good as what I was viewing in FCP. If I continue and build a DVD with the clips on it, viewing on the TV looks even worse. And also, it doesn't view on the tv as a 16:9 but rather as a normal tv show would. The picture is all fuzzy and I can see flickering anywhere I have horizontal or vertical lines in the picture.

Now, from what I understand, people use FCP to produce real movies, so obviously I have to be doing something wrong. I know the XL2 is suppose to capture really nice images and in fact things look really nice in FCP. So I have to be doing something wrong on the export process. However, so far I've not figured out what exactly I'm doing wrong.

Thanks again for any help anyone might be able to provide.

glenn

I'm sorry but just not seeing where compressor has anything to do with the conversation yet. First of all I have a calibrated monitor but its not external. Secondly, the problem as I've mentioned is that the quicktime export looks worse than the FCP viewer window. As you just mentioned FCP is a poor way to view quality, but the QT export should be a much better way, especially given the fact that this exported QT is what I bring into compressor to work with.

If I open FCP, the viewer is viewing my movie in 16:9 ratio from what I can tell. If I open the exported clip in QT and size it so that its the same height as FCP viewer, the horizontal size is much smaller than the FCP window. ie: its no longer in 16:9 ration but has been converted back to 4:3 or whatever it is.

There has to be something inside FCP causing this because me opening my QT movie in compressor will never make the quality as good as what I'm seeing on my monitor in FCP viewer. So I'm still asking the original question of "how do I export a QT movie that has the same 16:9 aspect of my FCP movie?

Thanks,

glenn

Why does everything in life have to be so complicated? 🙂 I can export this and play it on my DVD on my TV and it looks even worse than what I see right this second. So while I'm sure what you're saying may be correct, there has to be something else to this. My colors are not even correct between FCP viewer window and the exported QT file. The image is fuzzy and nasty in QT but clean as a bird in FCP viewer window. If I needed an external monitor to view for the TV, why is it that FCP shows me the image so perfectly and QT is totally different?

Is there nothing I can read up on to help me export for DVD to get the cleanest image with FCP or do I have to experiment with everything? I can't believe that this is this complicated. FCP should know how to take my video and write it to something that can be played on a TV screen. I shouldn't have to sit here and have this much trouble.

Here are 3 images of the same location in the video clip. I think you will see why I'm a little upset with the quality of the exported QT movie.

Original Clip: http://www.gshutter.com/images/test/original-QT.png
Color Corrected QT http://www.gshutter.com/images/test/color-corrected-QT.png
FCP Viewer: http://www.gshutter.com/images/test/FCP-viewer.png

P.S. These are all captured on the same computer monitor.

Thanks,

glenn

Ok, there seems to be a setting in QT to tell it to duplicate color settings from FCP. Checking this option makes the colors look correct, however, how do you deal with this with other users that will download the videos? I can't make them go check stuff just to get the colors to display properly.

Also, is there a way to get QT to display the image the same way FCP does? To somehow tell it that its a 16:9 image so that it displays wider instead of squishing the entire image into a narrower width?

I still need to mess with the DVD portion as its not working either but figured its easier to mess with QT since I can render quickly and check without having to burn 50 dvd's to test things.

Also, can anyone recommend an external monitor that you use that I might be able to purchase?

Thanks,

glenn

Susan,

Thanks a bunch, that does seem to have fixed that issue. However, I have a couple more questions. 1) Is there a way to apply that motion change to all the clips without having to click on each one? 2) Does this cause any problems later on when exporting to DVD? 3) What settings do you use to maintain the quality of the video? My exported QT movie (despite everyone telling me the FCP viewer is low res) looks much worse (fuzzier) than the FCP Viewer image does.

Thanks for all your help,

glenn

update:

I figured out how to apply settings to all clips... 🙂

My ONLY major issue at this point is the quality of the exported QT movie. Viewing in the LowRes viewer in FCP, I have the movie I expected to get with this cameara. Sharp edges, good color, no flicking lines...

I then build the QT movie by exporting using current settings and I end up with a fuzzy, 2gb QT movie with very little color correcting (must turn on FCP setting in QT to get actual colors I fixed) and the flickering vertical/horizontal lines depending on what was in the original shot. This movie has lots of shots of Atlanta buildings and therefore if the buildings had lines anywhere on them, the lines flicker on the screen. This happens both in QT and on my TV monitor.

At this point, I don't see how compressing or burning to DVD would change anything since the old Junk in Junk out seems to apply. If the exported QT movie looks bad then I can't expect anything else to get better. I have to figure out how to get FCP to export a nice clean movie.

As an example, I have a Elite Videos "Advanced Broadcast" movie. It was shot back before the XL1 was even on the market, and yet the video quality on the DVD is excellent. Very crisp, very clean. I want this type of video... I have the camera, just need to figure out how to get it out of the computer to look like a professional video production. Right now I'm getting junk... And again, the FCP footage looks good, so just thinking I have a setting somewhere that is jacking with me. It can't be this hard... 🙂

Thanks again for your help guys/gals

glenn

double click the clip and then select the Motion tab in the viewer and go to distort... However, you should note that this is really not necessary. I ended up setting up my project differently and accomplished the same thing without having to go through every clip and distorting them.

I setup my project to be a 16:9 24p advanced time line and when I compress it I tell it that its a 16:9 project in compressor. It ends up building the correct sized footage, however, its necessary for you to turn on letter boxing on your dvd player. I'm currently trying to figure out how to force the dvd to play the movie properly. I know it can be done because there are movies that open up that just open in that view format automatically.

Good luck,

glenn