letterbox stretching aspect ratio dvx100a help!!!

I own the DVX100B, essentially same camera. In Letterbox mode, those black bands are already burned into the 4:3 frame. The manual states "Black bands are recorded at the top and bottom of the image."

Therefore, I would guess you should capture as ordinary NTSC 48K. Then you can scale the image up into a 16:9 sequence if you want but it will degrade the picture accordingly. But at least your aspect ratio won't change.

The Panasonic DVX100A/B is a great camera but you should not film using Letterbox mode. You could try the Squeeze mode, but the best method for getting 16:9 from the DVX100 is buying an $800 Anamorphic lens adapter. I outfitted both my cameras with one. This allows you to use FCP's NTSC 48k Anamorphic capture preset to get the best 16:9 from that camera. But if you must have wide screen, try the Squeeze Mode. Good luck.

Hope that helps.

Eddie

I don't agree with audioamigo with his opinion that "letterbox" is a bad mode to film in on the DVX100A or B. It's simply a different way--it really depends on your delivery. Letterbox on the dvx100 is actually 4x3 footage. The camera literally just shuts off the pixels for that area of sensor to simulate widescreen on a 4:3 image. In other words, it's not true 16x9. Squeeze mode gives you 16x9, but the image is scaled up to "squeeze" into it, so there's some image quality lost. An anamorphic adaptor is needed for true 16x9 footage at the best quality on the dvx100a or b.

If you shot letterbox at 24p, capture it as normal 4x3 footage. In other words under "easy setup" select DV-NTSC 24p (23.98).

If you shot letterbox at 24pa, you should be using DV-NTSC 24p (23.98) Advanced pulldown removal.

Which did you shoot?

I asked you yesterday in your other thread, and I'll ask again, but then I quit: what are your sequence settings? It sounds like you are putting sd into an hd sequence.

You should not have any pillarboxing. It seems pretty clear that what you have is DV NTSC with black recorded on the top and bottom of part of the image. I believe "squeeze" mode is the way to record anamorphic 16:9 on the DVX-100a. But forget anything else. It doesn't matter that you have those bars on the top and bottom. As far as FCP is concerned those bars could be filled with pictures of kittens. Uncheck "anamorphic" on all of your master clips in the browser. If you've already done a lot of editing, *make a duplicate of your sequence*, then make sure Anamorphic 16:9 is also unchecked in your sequence settings, then select all clips in the sequence (⌘+A) and then hit ⌘optionv to bring up the "Remove Attributes" window. Check "Basic Motion" and "Distort." This should remove any pillarboxing or distortion from your exports.