H.264 Compressed With DVCPRO 720 Appear the Wrong Size - FCP 4.5

Howdy,

I'm running FCP 4.5 and have to import a bunch of 1280X720 H.264 clips. They won't play in the timeline so I followed Derek's advice (Thanks Derek for your quick response) and batch converted them to DVC PRO 720p60 at 100% of source file size, but when I import them, they become 920X720 and appear even smaller than that in the timeline (they look 920X640 more or less). I've tried importing them with default and square pixel sizes and it doesn't make any difference.

I've converted them using PHOTO JPEG codec and they appear the right size. Derek recommends against PHOTO JPEG, i assume because of compression artifacting, but unless I can get the DVC PRO clips to appear the right size I have no choice. Anybody have any ideas how i can get DVC PRO to work?

Thanks for your help,

Dean Chamberlain

= G4 PPC, DP 1.25 GHz, 1.75Gb, FCP 4.5, Compressor 1.2.1 =

>Derek recommends against PHOTO JPEG

P-Jpeg is not supported with FCP's RT playback architecture, so you cannot have real time playback when you drop an effect onto a clip.

960x720 is the correct storage aspect ratio for DvcproHD, because DvcproHD is a subsampled format and your pixels are not square. DvcproHD is an old video format that was created to squeeze an acceptable HD video stream into 100Mb/s to fit onto tape and allow you to capture through the Firewire 400 interface. The subsampled compression used by the format means that the clip will be stretched on playback to fit 1280x720. This is fine and this is part of the video standard.

In simpler terms, make sure that you use the DvcproHD preset in Compressor, and set the frame rate to "current", and don't muck around with any of the other settings. When you import it into FCP 4, choose a Dvcpro HD preset and don't muck around with any of the other settings.

Btw, I apologize if I sound a little snotty. That is how I am, and I frequently meet douchebags at work who refuse to learn how video formats work, and they refuse to listen when they ask you for advice on how to troubleshoot a problem.



www.strypesinpost.com

Thanks again. There arn't any DVCPRO presets in my version of Compressor (v 1.2.1) so
i'm going to go with PHOTOJPEG - half of the clips came that way and i've had to deal with having to render FX before i can view them so I'll just have to carry on like that. I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

Don't worry about seeming snotty - i can understand. I'm a kinda smart guy but the video formats and how they display - the subsampling, stretching, etc. is so arcane it's hard to get my head around. But i'm trying.

Thanks again,

Dean

Can't remember much about Compressor in FCP 4. You can probably do a batch export from FCP. But whatever works.



www.strypesinpost.com