downconverting hdv

Downconverted hdv to dv when capturing, using fcp 5.1, imac, 1.5 gb ram. Mistakenly set sequence to anamorphic because I thought footage would be widescreen like the hdv. Footage in viewer is letterboxed but when put in timeline it's pillarboxed. Is there a way to keep it letterboxed? I've tried unchecking anamorphic on the sequence but it has no effect. Thanks for any help.

Why would you want to downconvert HDV to DV? They are nearly the same data rate and HDV has a worse color space at 4:2:0 than does DV at 4:1:1?

IMHO - Sony has done a real job on selling folks that HDv is really HD and nothing like DV, but that isn't true. HDV is MPEG-2 content, which was never meant to be a record content.

The only way to get a widescreen format into 4:3 is to Pan and Scan sections at a time in 4:3 space.

> Is there a way to keep it letterboxed? I've tried unchecking anamorphic on the sequence but
> it has no effect. Thanks for any help.

Unchecking anamorphic only takes care of future occurrences. To remove the faulty "left/right letterboxing" on clips already in the sequence, select them all, presss OPTION-APPLE-V (Remove Attributes) and select Distort.

Read up on anamorphic 16:9 here:

[www.lafcpug.org]

(Man, I gotta get up off my lazy butt and write that tutorial.)


www.derekmok.com

If you're using a Z1u, you have a choice when you down-convert HDV to DVCam. You can set the camera to down-convert as 16:9 "squeeze" or you can do "edge crop" (that sounds like what you did) or you can "letterbox" it. If you choose "squeeze" you will get the anamorphic effect you were expecting. It wasn't necessarily a mistake to set your timeline to anamorphic but it's confusing (and there is a new tutorial coming out very soon that will clear this whole thing up).

What do you want to have as a finished product?

Thanks for all the tips. I rented the z1u to shoot then again to capture. I originally planned to recapture the hdv but now I'm leaning toward just finishing the dv version and having a letterboxed dvd. Maybe down the road recapture if necessary.

Derek,
Tried your suggestion, right/left bars removed but image looks squished now. Is there a fix for that?
Thanks for your help.

> Tried your suggestion, right/left bars removed but image looks squished now.

"Squished"? You mean vertically stretched? Gotta be exact here. Anamorphic 16:9 footage isn't squeezed, it's stretched.

If you want your 16:9 footage in letterbox form, apply a Distort - Aspect Ratio value of -33.33. But then, you shouldn't edit in a Sequence set to anamorphic 16:9.

Read the link I posted above. It explains everything.


www.derekmok.com

sorry, stretched is the word. It's letterboxed and stretched. Not pillarboxed anymore. If I apply your -33.33 distort will that fix the problem? Will I then have a properly letterboxed sequence? Or can I copy the stretched, letterboxed sequence and put it in a new sequence that's not anamorphic?
Thanks again.

> If I apply your -33.33 distort will that fix the problem? Will I then have a properly letterboxed
> sequence? Or can I copy the stretched, letterboxed sequence and put it in a new sequence
> that's not anamorphic?

You're not really understanding anamorphic 16:9. If a sequence utilizing anamorphic 16:9 looks letterboxed, then it's no longer stretched vertically, and it's no longer in anamorphic 16:9 mode, which is by definition not letterboxed. Read the link I posted above, please. It explains what exactly anamorphic 16:9 is, how to deal with it, what results you get, with screenshots.


www.derekmok.com

Appreciate the help. I did look at the anamorphic link but I don't see my particular situation. My viewer clips are letterboxed, they are not checked anamorphic. But the sequence was checked anamorphic and the canvas clips are pillarboxed. After applying the suggestion to eliminate the pillarbox, I'm left with clips that are letterboxed and the actors are elongated or stretched.

Hi Patrick

I think Tim pointed yoiu in th right direction a few posts back.
It sounds like you captured your footage as letterboxed 4:3. But you have set your sequence as Anamorphic 16:9.
There is nothing you can do now to make it anamorphic 16:9 without sacrificing a lot of quality quality.

You have a couple of choices:
1. Get hold of a Z1 again and recapture all the media with the downconvert setting set to "Squeeze". That will produce Anamorphic 16:9 DV.
2. Use the standard 4:3 DV sequence setting and finish your edit with the clips as captured.

When you are done, if you choose, you can use Media Manager to "Up-res" your edit, either to Anamorphic 16:9 DV, or better still, HDV. Get hold of a Z1 again, and this time recapture only the media necessary to recreate the edit, but this time using the correct Downconvert setting (Squeeze) for Anamorphic 16:9 DV, or don't downconvert at all and recapture for a full HDV version of the edit.
When its all done, play out your masterpiece DV or HDV, back to tape.

Hope iy helps
Amdy

To remove the faulty "left/right letterboxing" on clips already in the sequence, select them all, presss OPTION-APPLE-V (Remove Attributes) and select Distort. Thank you, that worked, didn't think so at first, just had to uncheck square pixels in the canvas. Made a dvd and it was letterboxed, looked fine. Thanks again.