tiny movies

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Level 1

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tiny movies

I am relatively new to FCX - but have had good success with my first project - my wedding video. That was shot in standard DV, and edited in FCX (not HD), and burned with idvd. I was pleased with the results - full screen video. Now I have upgraded to an HDV camera (sony HDR-HC5), and FCX HD. Shot some footage (regular DV - not HD) - which looked great played back from camera to my HDTV. When I brought it into FCXHD(3.5.1) and then burned the DVD with IDVD (6.0.3) - when played on the HDTV the menus were full screen, but the actual movie was very small - centered on the screen, surrounded by black. Not at all what I wanted - and a considerable step backward from my previous experience. What did I do wrong? - How can I get full screen video back?

any help greatly appreciated

Macbook Pro, Imac (intel) G5 dual 2.5, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Feb 19, 2007 7:20 AM

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Answer 1

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,809 points

Feb 19, 2007 8:57 AM in response to babysteps

What format did you edit it inside FCE? Check the item properties to see size and format the edited sequence is. I assume you shot and captured HDV material. How did you export from FCE?

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Answer 2

babysteps Author

Level 1

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Feb 19, 2007 9:43 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

I shot the video in DV (since I can't record a HD dvd), in wide format. Exported it as a self contained quicktime movie. Then brought it into IDVD as a 16:9 formated project and used one of the new IDVD6 themes.

I have done a bunch of reading, and some experimenting this morning. I think the problem may be that I captured it in the wong format (not amorphic). I captured a short clip using the amorphic format and then exported to IDVD, and it seems MUCH better. Just wish that i didn't have to redo the whole project! Is ther any way around that?

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Answer 3

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,809 points

Feb 19, 2007 10:14 AM in response to babysteps

iDVD doesn't support anamorphic material, only native widescreen. You need to use myDVDedit or Anamorphicizer to make iDVD work properly with this material.

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Answer 4

babysteps Author

Level 1

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Feb 19, 2007 11:09 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Thanks Tom - I will investigate these programs. Though the result of my experiments was much better than my previous outcome. With new power comes new complexity - and just when I ws getting comfortable with the pre-HD version of Final Cut Express!

Thanks again for your time and expertise.
Dennis

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Answer 5

Feb 19, 2007 11:17 AM in response to babysteps

Hi(Bonjour)!

It seems that your HDTV is set to keep the original frame size of SD material and not shrinking over the entire screen.

If you set it to "enlarge" SD format to HD one (scale up 5 to 6 times), it will enlarge compression artifacts too, leading to a poor quality viewing experience.

As said earlier, iDVD doesn't support namaorphic material nor HD burning.

Michel Boissonneault

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Answer 6

babysteps Author

Level 1

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Feb 19, 2007 12:25 PM in response to Michel Boissonneault

Hi Michel - thanks for your input. This has been my first experience on this forum, and it has been great so far. Looks like I will have to experiment with which format to record for the eventual best output. I assumed that it was not wise to record HD since it would be reformated with aaccompanying loss of quality anyway - but perhaps starting with the highest quality might yield better results in the end. Only had the new camera and FCXHD for week, so I will try to be patient!

Thanks again
Dennis

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