Digitizing 16:9

I have been working exclusively in 4:3 but now need to work on a project with video shot in 16:9. What format changes do I need to make with New Project to bring it in in 16:9, with the ultimate objective of providing 16:9 clips to a client?

Maybe an easier question. If I take a DVCam original tape shot 16:9 and digitize this material into a standard FCP project (where the imaqge appears fine with upper and lower horizontal black), then make a DVCam copy of this to send to a stock footage library, am I maintaining the quality of the 16:9 original? Or, do I have to digitize the original material into a FCP project with different settings? Does that make sense? I am trying to provide a stock film library with edited-down 16:9 material, maintaining the 16:9 quality.

It's in the FAQ.

[www.lafcpug.org]

Next time don't double post.



www.strypesinpost.com

Sorry for the double-post. Won't occur again. One question, however, to your link information. What is the difference between capturing video in a 16:9 letterbox format, as opposed to capturing the video 4:3 and adding black bars in FCP, i.e., what possible advantage is there in shooting video in 16:9 letterbox if I can just make the letterbox format in my project? One would think that capturing video in a letterbox format would play and look better on a wide screen TV where the image would be played in 16:9. However, if it is the same as capturing in 4:3, adding bars to make a letterbox format, then playing on a wide screen, would the image not be degraded because of stretching it? It's pretty confusing?

When you letter box, you are burning in black bars into the active picture zone. Not so bad when you're working Uncompressed, but on highly compressed consumer formats, encoded pixels/bits that can be used to store image is wasted by encoding black.

Next is that the black bars are now part of the image, so when you watch a letterboxed 16:9 picture on a 16:9 (HDTV) screen, the picture now can't fill the entire screen, and you end up with pillarbox at the sides and bars at the top and bottom, effectively a padded image on all sides.

This may seem a little bit confusing. But you need to understand, firstly, what anamorphic is, and secondly, what letterbox is. They're two different concepts.

Anamorphic, on the other hand, is what happens when you distort the picture so images look squashed when viewed as square pixels, but looks okay when stretched out on playback in a 16:9 screen. To view an 16:9 anamorphic format in a 4:3 screen, the image is usually letterboxed.

Letterbox is adding black bars at the top and bottom of the image as part of the picture. Sometimes this is used to preserve the aspect ratio when (eg. playing back 16:9 footage in a 4:3 screen). This is opposed to pillarboxing, where you add bars at the sides to play back 4:3 images in a 16:9 screen.

Why and when do you need to letterbox? Usually letterbox is added for 4:3 broadcast or when you want to output a 16:9 project onto the now obsolete VCD format. DVDs can carry an anamorphic flag and the DVD on reading the flag will letterbox the image on the fly if it is playing out to a 4:3 screen. Other than that, there isn't much of a reason to have burnt-in letterbox in your video.



www.strypesinpost.com

Thank you. That's what I thought. Great explanation. So, for the most part, consumer, or even prosumer camcorders that offer a 16:9 shooting format are really not offering much at all except a 4:3 image with black bars added. One has to scratch their head and ask ... why? Thank you.

>prosumer camcorders that offer a 16:9 shooting format are really not offering much at all

Usually the letterboxing is an option. You can shoot anamorphic, which gives you a nice 16:9 frame for playback on 16:9 screens (and web). And some people would say- it looks like film!

>why?

Sometimes i wonder why we watch on a rectangular frame. Why not circular or hexagonal?



www.strypesinpost.com