My 4:3 footage gets stretched into 16:9

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Level 1

5 points

My 4:3 footage gets stretched into 16:9

I have standard video footage from my (Samsung Galaxy S4) phone, which has resolution 1440x1080 (4:3).

When I import the footage into Final Cut Pro X, it comes in stretched. However, I can't find any settings to fix or force a pixel aspect ratio. So I figured I would fix it later and edited a video: the project has the same 1440x1080 settings, but the video is visibly stretched horizontally. When I export it, it still has the correct resolution, 1440x1080, but when I open it in Quicktime, it still appears stretched and its properties say

Format: 1440x1080

Current Size: 1440x810

This is a recurring problem for me with different phones and video cameras. For the life of me, I can't figure out how to change the pixel aspect ratio of a clip or project in Final Cut. And I can't even create a project with the correct settings. When I open the original footage in Quicktime, it shows up correctly. So, it seems Final Cut Pro is changing it. In the past, with mixed footage, I've just manually stretched the footage that came in stretched, but this time, all the footage is the same. There should be an easy way to fix this for all the clips at once. And I'm sure I'm not the only one having this problem. Has anyone figured this out?

MacBook Pro, Windows 7, i7 2.4ghz 8gb Ram

Posted on Oct 21, 2014 7:21 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 28, 2016 10:05 AM in response to Parkimedes

its a pain in the ***, but just change the scale of your clip to 133,4% on the Y axis. Video gets to 4:3 filling your 16:9 frame horizontally.

Been there....

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Answer 2

Parkimedes Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 21, 2014 2:32 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

Interesting.

It seems FCP doesn't really like 4:3, if there are some round numbers for height that are basically not allowed. As for settings, do you mean the settings for the project? There aren't really any settings to change there. And on the media import, there aren't really any options either.

Maybe my best bet is to create a 4:3 project, with a different resolution, then copy/paste my edit into it, then scale accordingly. I'll try that now.

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Answer 3

Aug 28, 2016 9:45 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Well,

Guess who else is doing the exact same thing? Apple. The "live pic" option creates a 1440x1080 at 15 fps movie alongside your regular pic. When trying to edit it in FCP it gets the 16:9 treatment. Doesn't happen with live pics from the front facing camera, as those movs are 1280x960.

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Answer 4

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Oct 21, 2014 7:46 AM in response to Parkimedes

.

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Answer 5

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,809 points

Aug 28, 2016 9:59 AM in response to RafaLinares

That's always going to happen in a video application because 1440x1080 is a video standard specification. If you want video use the video option of the phone.

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Answer 6

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,809 points

Oct 21, 2014 7:31 AM in response to Parkimedes

It sounds like your phone is shooting 4:3 video at 1440x1080. That's very unfortunate. Thats specification is the standard for anamorphic HD video, so when FCP sees it, it will always stretch the video out to fill a 16:9 frame. 1080 is HD. There is no 4:3 HD. Samsung should never have created this non-standard spec. You might be able to get around it in the Info inspector in settings, and anamorphic handling option might appear.

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Answer 7

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,809 points

Oct 21, 2014 2:54 PM in response to Parkimedes

It seems FCP doesn't really like 4:3

That's wrong. FCP can work with 4:3. Just this exact, specific frame ratio is the specification for anamorphic HD. If whoever is making video at Samsung had any brains they'd know this and would have made the 4:3 format slightly different. Even a single pixel resolution difference in both dimensions would not have conformed it to internationally agreed standards for anamorphic 16:9. It's unbelievably dumb to do this. Samsung is not alone in this. GoPro for instances uses a 960x540 4:3, which also is a compressed anamorphic standard for HD.

Your best bet is to make a 4:3 custom project, put your media in it, and use the distort to reshape the image back to normal 4:3. You're paying the price for the singularly narrow-minded, foolish, and short-sighted behavior of some camera/phone manufacturers.

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